Cannes fastest selling GC apartment project

Cannes fastest selling GC apartment project

Marquee Development Partners’ Cannes Waterfront Apartments project, located midway between Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise, was named the fastest selling new Gold Coast apartment project in the first quarter of 2020, with 61 of its 96 units taken up in a three month sales rush.

The Urbis-Gold Coast Apartment Essentials Report found 265 new apartments were sold across the Coast between January and March 2020, with 41 per cent of sales occurring in the Surfers Paradise and Chevron Island catchment.

The Gold Coast Central Precinct, which takes in Surfers Paradise-Chevron Island, Broadbeach, Main Beach, Southport and Labrador, trumped all other precincts for price growth, with new apartments recording a $135,443 increase compared to the average sales price recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Marquee’s sales at Cannes and a further 10 sales at its nearby Catalina project on Chevron Island gave the developer a 27 per cent market share of all new apartment sales on the Gold Coast.

Buyer demand has continued even during COVID-19, with sales at Cannes since March (2020) bringing the project to more than 80 per cent sold, after 70 apartments were secured for more than $54 million.

Marquee Development Partners CEO Mark Spedding says the success of both Cannes and Catalina can be attributed to the right mix of location, apartment product, pricing and amenity.

“The starting point is always the location. Cannes is situated on an absolute riverfront site, just a five minute walk to a patrolled beach, and Catalina is just a few hundred metres from the new green bridge connecting Chevron Island to Home of the Arts, as well as the retail village,” he said.

“Our approach has always been to deliver a boutique offering, with quality designs, amazing amenity and low body corporate fees. We also focus on creating buildings tailored to owner occupiers and long term residents, with no short term letting.

“The feedback from buyers is that they want to live in a home-style environment, where they are part of a real community, instead of amongst hundreds of apartments with short term guests.

“Across all our projects, the attention to detail in our resident recreation areas is what stands out most. We’ve carefully designed our rooftop decks to offer multiple private zones so residents can feel like they are entertaining friends and family in a private residence.

“Cannes have performed particularly well with downsizers who appreciate the great location and building design, but also the excellent value for money. We have buyers on wait lists for certain apartment types that have sold out, which shows just how unique this building is.”

Urbis Senior Consultant Lynda Campbell says buyers are favouring Surfers Paradise-Chevron Island again due to the introduction of boutique high rise projects, with larger apartments and premium amenities.

“In recent years, the Surfers Paradise-Chevron Island area has predominantly had larger-scale high rises with smaller apartments aimed towards the entry level market and investors, however, this is turning around to focus on owner-occupiers and more luxury apartments,” she said.

“This change in development trend has not only boosted sales in the area but has also lifted pricing, as buyers are generally wiling to pay a premium to live in a building with fewer, but larger apartments and high quality lifestyle amenities.

“Overall the new apartment market has shown a positive start to a challenging year, with the first quarter sales rate (265) remaining above the two year average of 237 sales per quarter, which demonstrates resilience and the underlying demand for the right type of product.”

Cannes Waterfront Apartments boasts two, three and four bedroom apartments and penthouses, now selling from $564,900 to $2.55 million, with construction expected to commence by September (2020).

Catalina on Chevron Island offers two and three bedroom apartments priced from $569,000 to $1,119,900, with building works to commence in August (2020).

Both projects have a limited number of apartments that may be eligible for the $25,000 HomeBuilder grant.

Source: Marquee Development Partners