This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
AN unfinished Gold Coast apartment building with 60 units has come to the market after contractor Descon entered into liquidation with the building 90% completed.
Financial backers of developer Busikon have taken control of the Southport project, known as The Waverley Residences .
Adam Colley, Daniel Walley and Derrick Vickers in their capacity as receivers and managers of Busikon have appointed Ray White Special Projects together with RWC Gold Coast to market the building at 15-17 Waverley Street.
The Waverley Residences has 14 one-bedroom, 32 two-bedroom, and 14 three-bedroom units across eight stories, all with basement car parking and storage cage access across three levels. The building also features a rooftop terrace that will offer communal spaces including a gym, private dining, and outdoor lounge.
The development was originally due to be completed in May of 2022. Deposits were returned to apartment buyers last month.
“We are expecting strong interest from those looking to finish the building, strata and sell the apartments, plus those interested in retaining the building as a rental asset,” Mark Creevey of Ray White Special Projects said.
“We have a lot of buyers who are keen to lock in the long-term growth of the Gold Coast, but there are very limited buying opportunities of this nature and scale.”
Local, interstate, and international buyers are tipped to show interest.
Expressions of interest campaign close on Thursday, 7th November.
Busikon engaged Descon as the contractor to deliver The Waverley Residences. The companies are linked through mutual director Danny Isaac. Descon had completed a significant proportion of the development before being ordered into liquidation by the Supreme Court of Queensland at the start of May this year.
Descon is unable to complete construction. Busikon’s lender for the development exercised their rights under their security and appointed the receivers to Busikon.
Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said the Gold Coast property market continued to post strong gains throughout 2024.
“Gold Coast houses and units mean prices have now well exceeded previous peaks, at $840,000 for units and $1,175,000 for houses, while rents are also now seeing record increases in regional Queensland. Construction costs have been rising for some time which has limited much new development,” she said.
Prices for new apartments on the Gold Coast have hit a new high of $1.77 million, as a drop in the number of new project launches collided with a spike in sales, slashing six months’ of supply from the market, according to Urbis.
The Gold Coast recorded 331 new apartment sales in the June quarter, up sharply from 240 sales in the previous quarter, leaving just 1,321 apartments for sale.
Southport recorded the second-highest volume of sales of all properties under $750,000 in the last year with 973 sales, Ray White data shows..
According to Neoval, the median value of all units on the Gold Coast is now at $789,000, higher than both Brisbane ($642,000) and Melbourne ($612,000).
Conisbee said supply issues will continue as construction industry insolvencies continue to rise. Longer-term, Brisbane and the Gold Coast are facing the major risk leading up to the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics of competition for both labour and materials dragging down construction capacity.
There is a $7.1 billion venue infrastructure program in place for the 2032 Games.
