New wave of developers
JASON Drummond is among those cashing in on the hot Gold Coast property market, but he doesn’t even own his own house.
The 33-year-old is paying $195 a week in rent at the Varsity duplex he shares with friends and two years ago did not have enough money for a deposit on a property.
Now he is selling duplexes in Palm Beach for more than $800,000 a pop.
Mr Drummond said he started with a “good idea, lots of research and an investor to back him”.
His most recent project – a triplex at Palm Beach – just hit the market with a price tag of $775,000 to $835,000 each.
“I bought the block for $670,000 about a year ago,” Mr Drummond said.
“There was an unlivable house on it, the sewerage was blocked and it was in really bad condition but I had always planned to knock it down.”
The accountant, who sold one of the homes this week, said it all came down to location and availability of land.
“Identifying the block was the hardest part and you really have to have a high-risk tolerance to get into these sorts of projects,” he said.
“Most of my friends have a massive interest in doing something similar but it all comes down to affordability.
“The land in Palm Beach is getting really hard to buy up as well. When I started it was about $600,000 and now it could be anywhere from $800,000 and beyond.
“That is just a block of land with an old house.”
From duplexes to boutique residences and trendy units, the new breed of developer is pushing the boundaries, according to REIQ Gold Coast chairman John Newlands.
“There is a huge emergence of the duplex trend popping up across the Coast and it is certainly replacing the old with the new,” Mr Newlands said.
“Three years ago you couldn’t subdivide and develop with these sorts of projects because of density restrictions but now changes have been made to town planning the Gold Coast is really upscaling and suburbs like Southport and Labrador are getting renewed interest.”
Mr Newlands said the trend offered a solution to the “serious” lack of land on the Coast. “Gold Coasters don’t have to rely on big developers to give them a new estate,” he said.
Mr Newlands said parents who own big blocks are deciding to knock down the family house and build a duplex.
“It solves the downsizing issue as well because most of these people don’t want to leave the suburb, they just want low-maintenance living.”