By Stephen Johnson, Economics Reporter For Daily Mail Australia
07:01 02 Jul 2023, updated 07:01 02 Jul 2023
- Cairns apartments available for $90,000
- Unit cheap as house prices rise in June
Apartments near the beach are still available for just $90,000 as house prices climb across Australia despite a series of aggressive rate rises.
Young people locked out of the housing market, who can work from home and don’t want a big mortgage have coastal options in Cairns in tropical far north Queensland.
Manunda near the city centre has an already affordable median apartment price of $213,228, CoreLogic data shows, but one bedroom units are available for less than half that price.
A one-bedroom unit at Manunda is now available for $90,000 with a pool in the complex.
A 20 per cent mortgage deposit would only set someone back $18,000 leaving a $72,000 home loan with monthly repayments of just $434.
In nearby Woree, a studio apartment is even cheaper at $89,000.
Townsville is also affordable with Cranbrook in the city’s west having a median apartment price of $198,311.
A one-bedroom unit is on the market for $85,000.
Darwin is also cheap with a median unit price of $378,000, making it the most affordable capital city market in June following a monthly drop of 0.12 per cent, new PropTrack data showed.
But in the city centre, a one-bedroom unit is available half that price at $199,000.
The 50 square metre size may be small but there’s a communal pool and views over Darwin Harbour.
The Reserve Bank last month raised interest rates for the 12th time since May 2022 – taking the cash rate to an 11-year high of 4.1 per cent as it continued with the most aggressive pace of monetary policy tightening since 1989.
But house prices kept rising in June with Sydney’s median price climbing by 0.6 per cent to $1.32million.
Apartment values rose by 0.7 per cent to a middle price of $781,000. Melbourne house prices rose by 0.24 per cent to $909,000.
Brisbane prices went up by 0.18 per cent to $818,000 but apartment values fell by 0.53 per cent to $546,000.
In regional Queensland – covering everything from the Gold Coast to Cairns – apartment values last month dropped by 1.29 per cent to $569,000.
Adelaide house values rose by 0.46 per cent to $712,000.
Perth, Australia’s most affordable state capital city, saw its mid-point house price rise by 0.34 per cent to $618,000.
The gains, however, weren’t universal with Hobart house prices falling by 0.45 per cent to $710,000 as Darwin house prices slipped by 0.07 per cent to $557,000.
Economists are expecting the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates again on Tuesday, taking the cash rate to 4.35 per cent.
But PropTrack economist Angus Moore said that with rates almost at their peak, buyers were returning.
‘The 2023 house price recovery continued in June, despite the Reserve Bank lifting the cash rate for the 12th time since May last year,’ he said.
‘Interest rates will continue to be a headwind for prices, but, unlike in 2022, the peak of interest rates is likely close.
‘Higher interest rates are being offset by a limited flow of new properties hitting the market, as well as strong fundamentals for housing demand.’
153 Alpine Retreat Rd near Queenstown, sold by Ross and Nona James – the house at the centre of two court cases.
The F word was cited in two court cases over a $125,000 commission on a $3.1 million house sale near Queenstown.
A judge weighed up whether Luxury Real Estate’s Terry Spice said “f*** you” or
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- We take a look at four luxury £1m-plus properties for sale near Windsor Castle
- Windsor Castle is an official residence of the monarch, now King Charles III
- Windsor’s appeal has easy access to the capital, Heathrow airport and the river
Windsor Castle is the longest-occupied palace in Europe and has been used by the reigning monarch since Henry I (who reigned 1100 to 1135).
Having been Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite weekend home, it is now an official residence of King Charles III – with his eldest son having recently moved nearby into Adelaide Cottage.
With these royal connections in mind, we take a look inside four properties up for grabs near the castle.
Windsor’s appeal is not only its royal history as it has easy access to the capital – less than an hour by public transport to London – and Heathrow Airport.
It also has good schools, both private and state. Some overseas parents with children at nearby Eton College often buy property in Windsor for when they visit.
Daniel Copley, of Zoopla, said: ‘If you fancy having some regal neighbours, there are currently some beautiful properties for sale in Windsor, including a Grade II listed apartment and a spacious townhouse with a garden which provides direct access to the Long Walk.
‘Windsor itself also has a lot to offer residents including a buzzing town centre with plenty of shops and restaurants, great transport links to London and excellent schools.’
Four homes for sale near Windsor Castle…
1. Five-bed house, Windsor, £1.15m
This semi-detached Victorian house is in Windsor town centre and has a self-contained one-bedroom apartment in the basement and permit parking.
It has an asking price of £1.15million and the sale is being handled by Lawsons Residential estate agents.
2. Three-bed house, Windsor, £1.2m
This three-bedroom townhouse is spread across three floors and has an abundance of period features.
It is on the market for £1.2million and is being sold by Hardings estate agents.
3. Five-bed maisonette, Eton, £1,195,000
This five-bedroom leasehold property is in Eton, a town that is on the opposite bank of the River Thames from Windsor.
The Grade II listed building is on the market for £1,195,000 and is being sold by Romans estate agents.
4. Six-bed house, Old Windsor, £1.45m
This detached house is in a private development in Old Windsor, just a short walk to the river and has a one-bedroom annexe.
Old Windsor is part of the area where singer Sir Elton John has lived for more than 40 years.
The six-bedroom property is being sold by Hardings estate agent and has an asking price of £1.45million.
An artist’s impression of the proposed Arrowtown winery and distillery. Illustration / Supplied via Mountain Scene
A battle is brewing over a former American’s plans to build a wine-making and distillery facility on his rural property near Arrowtown.
Mike Almquist, who built a winery in Washington State in 2008 and added a distillery a year later, bought the Mount Soho Winery property from original owners Ed and Carol Lamont in 2018.
The property, bordering McDonnell and Hogans Gully Rds, is best known for its Mount Soho (renamed Vingard) function venue; however, it’s also been consented for wine storage and a cellar door since 2005.
It’s understood the Lamonts made wine from their grapes two or three times, and Almquist has also twice made wine, “but I quickly came to the realisation the building is more of a beautiful modern-day chapel than a modern winery”.
The building isn’t suitable for remodelling, he says, so he’s instead chosen a site in a gully, “so no one would see it”, for a new building that would also include wine tasting and a cafe/restaurant.
He commissioned Queenstown’s Wyatt + Gray Architects to design a large shed-like building that fitted in with the rural environment.
It would be invisible from McDonnell Rd, and while you might see the roof from Hogans Gully Rd, that would eventually be screened by “a full beech forest”.
The building would also be eco-friendly with a massive array of solar panels.
About 75 per cent of the facility — with a floor area of about 1200 square metres — would be dedicated to wine-making, with almost half the space used for barrel storage.
Almquist submitted his resource consent application in February this year.
Then, after a local “threatened” his council consent consultant with a judicial review if his non-notified application was approved, he changed it to a fully-notified application.
He says he’s “very puzzled and frustrated” by the planning process.
“I’ve never been through this before, and it’s pulling teeth, it’s very difficult.
“The New Zealand government said they wanted talented immigrants to come and build businesses.
“My consent application will ultimately take almost a year and cost $100,000-plus.
“This was not what I expected when moving to the other side of the world, buying an already-consented winery to make Central Otago wine.”
Almquist notes he’s surrounded on one side by the planned Hogans Gully golf resort and on the other by a retirement village, “so I’m not exactly sure how a winery on a rural piece of land, making wine from the grapes of vineyards on my site, is such a no-no, especially since it’s been consented since 2005″.
Several neighbours have lodged objections on the grounds the winery/distillery is “a commercial industry activity” that’s unsuitable in a rural area — Warren and Lisa Bates, for example, call it a factory.
Peter and Tiffany Campbell say they wouldn’t have invested in the area if they’d known an activity of this nature could be established.
“The commercial use of this building will result in significant adverse effects on residential amenity”, they say, including hours of operation (till 10pm), traffic (with a bus park and 27 car parking spaces), noise and light pollution (from cars leaving at 10pm).
Almquist says producing wine and spirits wouldn’t be noisy and only run from 9am till 5pm, Monday to Friday, while deliveries of glass and grapes would last only 14 hours a year.
The Overseas Investment Office has given approval for the purchase near Puketapu. Photo / NZME
An overseas-owned company has plans to turn a 322ha farm near Napier into forestry.
But a farming advocate says the pace of change that farms are being converted is a growing concern for the region