As you all know, I moved here to the beautiful Gold Coast in November 2008, but I started to study the property market in QLD for the last few years now and since I had moved here in November, there is one important thing I wanted to share with you where it could possibly save you thousands of dollars.

New high rises like "Q1", "Circle on Cavil" and "Chevron Renaissance" beautiful units with great views but they were all sold at very high prices and I was always concerned of these high prices wondering if investors would get any capital growth or rental returns.

Well now I know why I was always concerned.

I remember early 2003's when I was in Melbourne running my brothers property company, one of our consultants had returned from holidays on the Gold Coast, and whist he was here, him and his wife decided to invest in a unit in one of the "Chevron Renaissance" buildings, in the amount of around the mid 600's.


We sat down and ran some figures on weekly contributions, worst case scenarios if he didn’t get the rental return he was supposed to receive and to see if it would fit his personal financial cash flow. Let me tell you he was maximizing his borrowing and position that I wouldn’t recommend anyone to do and I told him so.

You see every person or couple have different cash flows and every property may suit one person but not another and it’s so important that everyone selects the right property to suit their own cash flow and circumstance. Anyway I told him that I wished that I was wrong but I didn’t think it would have the capital growth like a house would have or its rental return.

Well listen to this…..I was at the Auction the other week where you have approx 300-400 people in a large room ready to bid on 50 properties, one at a time. Well I kept my ears open for the 2 bedroom unit in "Chevron Renaissance". It came up and it sold for the mid 400’s, now you would think it would fly out like hot cakes but it was completely the opposite only a couple of hands were bidding. So I was thinking of the consultant who had purchased in 2003 they have held the property for approx 6 years and to lose around $200k tells me its not a very good investment.

The reason I am telling you this is that if you were thinking of getting an investment in one of the new high rises, make sure you do your research and know where the capital is coming from plus do some checking on the rental returns and its occupancy rate. I personally do not like any type units especially holiday ones because of the low land value and very high body corporate fees and not to mention the high management fees.

Anyway now that I have been here on the Gold Coast for a while, I know why High Rises they will not get capital growth now or in the near future.The only people making money on these new high rise units are the real estate agents selling the properties, the management on site and the property developers and that’s it.

We all have heard of the word "Scarcity" right?

High rise units here are not scarce, developers can buy up a couple small apartment buildings to give them the land they need any where along the beach and build another modern high rise. So what happens to the ones they built 5+ years ago, they start to look old and non impressive.

Yes I believe the GC is probably one of the best places to live but you have to be careful
where you are placing your money.

There is one area that I have always keep as a favorite that I highly recommend now and for the future and that area is the Coomera. The potential there is great as it is located in the middle of Gold Coast and Brisbane, people can get the best of both worlds. Work in Brisbane but live the lifestyle of the Gold Coast. But let me also say that Coomera itself before long will be untouchable to invest in because of the capital growth from the new Town Centre being built, so if you’re looking at investing in around Coomera do it now while the prices are right.

If you have been thinking of investing on the Gold Coast or around Brisbane make sure you talk to me first. Lets discuss what you are after for the long term and allow me to tell you where and what will be the best for your personal situation.

We can run some figures together and see if the property will suit your personal situation/cash flow and more importantly, we can estimate what your weekly contribution could be.

You see…. I watch the market here daily I know almost every property that is up for sale on the Gold Coast so there wouldn't’t be many properties that I do know about.

Now on the other side of the coin in relation to the units in high rises, there have been properties that had almost tripped in the last 6 years, yes you heard right almost TRIPPLED. Were they units?……NO, they were houses.

But if your mind is stuck on Units then I believe this may be the best way to do it. If you holiday on the Gold Coast constantly and you would like a place of your own to visit then you may consider investing in a 3 bedroom unit and lock one of the bedroom rooms up so you can put all your personal belongings in and when ever you come up for holidays in between your holiday letting, you would have everything in place.

But if your after capital growth then you should consider investing in the Coomera area, around the Ipswich corridor, Nth of Brisbane and similar areas.

Lately many have asked me to look for a particular type of property that they are after here on the Gold Coast, well YES I will do it for you just to make it worth my time I will need to work out something that will be a Win-Win position for both of us.
Please give me a couple of weeks to work this out.

If you have any comment or question please reply back from this email.

I wish you all the success with your financial future.

Mr. Dino F. Livanidis
dino@npis.com.au
0418-872280