Delivering Multi-Unit Development in Caulfield South
Purchase Strategy
In early 2013, our client asks us to do a feasibility on a site they are wanting to buy at an auction in Caulfield South. We did the feasibility in less than a day showing the project return on cost at 25% and return on equity of approximately 100%.
The previous vendor bought the site, got the planning permit, and flipped it for a small profit. The site was permitted with 11 apartments, one basement and three levels walk up. Apartment mix consists of 4 one-bedrooms, 6 two-bedrooms and 1 three-bedrooms.
Our client bought it at auction for $1.2m.
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We changed the previous permit (above image) acquired at auction
Proposed Development
We advised our client to make permit changes through secondary consent application with council and keep the number of units the same to avoid planning delays. We amended the internal floor plans to make it more efficient and suitable for owner occupiers.
We reconfigured the unit mix to be large two and three bedrooms apartments with double bathrooms and two carparking to target local owner occupiers (downsizers and working couples).
Our new mix was 9 x two bedrooms apartments with 2 bathrooms and 2 carpark avearging 75sqm and 2 x three-bedroom apartments with 2 bathrooms and 2 carpark averaging 90sqm. This redesign met the market's need allowing us to sell out in 4 weeks.
Fixtures and Fittings
For the Caulfield South apartment market, we used good quality fittings and fixtures as we were targeting a specific price point:
- Caesar stone benchtops in kitchen, bathroom and laundry
- Engineered timber flooring
- Reverse cycle air-conditioning
- 600mm Miele appliances (cooktop, oven, rangehood & dishwasher)
- Glass spalshback and chrome tapware
- 2Pac kitchen and bathroom joinery
- Private storage
- Security intercom
- Car stacker system to enable 2 carparking for each unit
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Lessons Learnt from Caulfield South apartment Build
- When a site is selling with a badly designed permit and is not feasible, you can reconfigure the unit mix to make it more feasible. In this case, we redesigned it to make it an owner occupiers’ product instead of an investor’s product.
- When you are targeting local owner occupier buyers, make sure you give them quality finishes, larger internal areas, 2 bathrooms and 2 carparking to maximise pricing.
- Having a sales team with strong project marketing experience was key. Their feedback and experience were invaluable in selling out the project (off-the-plan) in 4 weeks during a slow market. We did not pick the big agents because they just put any sale staff on. We engaged AlphaMAC because the directors had more than 20 years of project marketing experience with big developers and was hands-on out in the field selling with their sale focused team.
- We were able to lock in a good build price at the time because the small builder we appointed wanted to enter the apartment market and it was their first apartment project.
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Our property developments Track Record
Our credentials are outstanding. Over the past 30 years, the team has personally been involved in the development and management of over 200 successful dual occupancy and multi-unit property development projects for our Sydney and Melbourne clients, amounting to over 3,000 individual titled properties sold with sales value in excess of $2 billion.
Our vast experiences in dual occupancy projects delivery ranges from townhouses through to multi-unit high-rise apartments. This successful track record and experiences allows us to deliver solutions that are always creatively different and cost effective for our clients.
Our strong reputation in delivering results consistently for our clients comes from having a vast network of consultants with strong relationships in all areas of the dual occupancy property development processes such as architects, designers, engineers, town planners, builders, financiers, conveyancers, project marketers and real-estate agencies.
Our vast experiences in dual occupancy projects delivery ranges from townhouses through to multi-unit high-rise apartments. This successful track record and experiences allows us to deliver solutions that are always creatively different and cost effective for our clients.
Our strong reputation in delivering results consistently for our clients comes from having a vast network of consultants with strong relationships in all areas of the dual occupancy property development processes such as architects, designers, engineers, town planners, builders, financiers, conveyancers, project marketers and real-estate agencies.