VIC MARKET OVERVIEW
VICTORIA
VIC Market Overview with Andrew Egan & Callum Williamson
Cutting through all the negative press around development costs over the last 6-9 months, what opportunities or trends have excited you the most? Whilst there certainly is negativity around increasing costs from a civil and built form perspective, putting this in isolation, the exciting take outs from the industry is a positive outlook for the second half of the decade. Australia remains a sought-after location to live and this is somewhat reflected in the increasing immigration numbers, all of which point to a continued strong demand for housing. Whilst not really a trend, something which keeps up optimistic is the strong appetite for high quality stock: zoned and approved land in proximity to infrastructure and trunk services remains highly sought after with no shortage of buyers for this type of product. Market-wise, what are you forecasting for the remainder of 2023 and how will increased lending costs impact the various markets? There are and always have been cost-related challenges that the development sector faces; debt costs, development costs, build
costs and government levies and charges. However, the fundamentals of greenfield development land remain; there is a chronic housing supply issue in Australia and with post-COVID immigration numbers forecast to outstrip pre-COVID numbers, the demand for housing will continue to rise. Daily newspaper headlines and Prime Minister Albanese’s latest funding boost for states to unlock housing supply is reflective of this. Which market sectors or asset types do you anticipate being most in demand over the next 6-12 months? There’s no question that zoned land with an approved structure plan in place will continue to be the most highly sought after asset type in the greenfield land market in the short term. There remains uncertainty on timing of new Precinct Structure Plans and if you are securing a project within an approved area, the purchaser can somewhat de-risk their purchase from a timing perspective. However, looking through the major east coast growth corridors, zoned land still faces challenges due to the location of key infrastructure i.e. roads and trunk services. Whether you’re looking in the Priority
ANDREW EGAN Director B&S Land
CALLUM WILLIAMSON Director B&S Land
42 – August / September 2023
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