Apartment market ‘a phenomenal place to be in property’

“Well, Australians love property. So absolutely I think everyone’s got an opinion on the matter,” Mr Wilson told host Phil Tarrant when asked about the doom and gloom talk surrounding the apartment market.

“One thing’s for sure, that what’s transpired in the buildings you would’ve read about or seen about is not great news. And obviously I feel very sorry for anyone that’s caught into that situation. Having said that, the ABC released some stats [recently] that around 668,000 apartments have been built in the last 18 years. So, if you look at it in terms of a percentage, it’s almost my minute.

“Having said that, not to dispel anything with the people that have bought in those buildings, obviously those situations do need to be rectified and developers need to ensure their building quality properties. But overall, the apartment market, I think, is a phenomenal place to be in property.”

At Ayre Real Estate, Mr Wilson focuses on the apartment market, predominately residential-based, he said.

“I’ve been in the market for about 20 years, and most of that time was in Sydney City marketplace and the surrounding inner-city fringe suburbs, and most of that was focusing on apartments. The agency that we’ve just created is really there to specialize in that space because we just didn’t feel anyone was actually doing that well enough,” he explained.

“There’s a whole host of things around apartments, which a lot of the traditional agencies tend to overlook in terms of stratum, how they manage, the intricacies of not only managing property and investments, but also how do you best market those properties. And so our agency really is structured in a way to help investors and sellers and buyers get the most out of that transaction.”

Going forward, Mr Wilson said it’s important for any investor to do their homework, regardless of whether it’s an apartment or not.

“Look I am a little biased. I think you’ve got to do your homework, and you’ve got to buy the right investment for yourself,” he said.

“There’s definitely a pipeline of projects that are still under construction or in planning phase. If you look at the market, generally we’ve got very little stock for high-end purchases for people who are downsizing. We’ve got an increasing population, we’ve got lifestyle people that want to be close to amenity who want to be in these markets.

“And you know, I just think the medium to long-term view of this marketplace in Sydney and Sydney surrounds is super strong. And if you look at any of the key CBD-based environments from Singapore to Hong Kong to New York to London, wherever it may be, it’s those environments which are most sought after. And I think that trend will continue.”