'Residential Asset Classes – Challenges and Opportunities' breakfast event

Maddocks sponsored the Property Council Australia’s, ‘Residential Asset Classes – Challenges and Opportunities’ event. James Beauchamp, opened the panel discussion with an overview of the state of the housing market and the role of emerging asset classes including build to rent (BTR) and purpose built student accommodation (PBSA).

James said “while for some it feels like we’re on the verge of an exceptionally difficult and challenging dip in the cycle, there is immense opportunity in these emerging asset classes”. His introduction set the scene for valuable panel discussion into the challenges and opportunities for these emerging asset classes.

James' takeaways from the panel discussion:

• BTR is gaining serious momentum in the current market - it should work in tandem with Build to Sell to fix housing supply issues
• International immigration will pick up significantly which should mean increased demand for PBSA, which is still relatively misunderstood by stakeholders including Government, planning authorities and parents – further education in this space is important
• Some institutional developers such as Stockland are evolving their mixed use strategies, leveraging residential to activate other uses and vice versa in their creation of communities.

Judging for Excellence

Bettina Sheeran, Partner and Head of Innovation at Maddocks, is a judge in the 27^th UDIA Victoria Awards for Excellence, which recognises and rewards the very best and innovative in urban developments across the State. This has involved reviewing the award submissions and, in recent weeks, attending site tours of the projects that have been shortlisted. Bettina is really enjoying the judging process, in particular the rare opportunity to see behind the scenes of some of the finest developments and examples of property innovation the industry has to offer.

Bettina said “it’s been wonderful to see the really high quality and innovative projects that have been shortlisted. I’ve loved being able to contribute to the awards – it’s important that these remarkable projects and developers are recognised for the value the bring to the industry and the property market.”

All winners will be announced on Friday 2 December 2022 at the UDIA Awards for Excellence Gala Ceremony. For more information, visit the UDIA website.

Maddocks on Tract with fast growing Geelong region

We have long been part of the Geelong development industry's fabric, supporting our clients' goals in this growing region. Our development team, together with our valued industry partners Tract Consultants, hosted a lunch with our clients at Tulip Restaurant. Dr Jonathan Daly, Gareth Smith and Jessica Hurse from City of Greater Geelong attended along with developers clients to discuss how developers and council can work together to deliver growth in the region.

Michael Taylor-Sands also shared insights on what the new amendments to Victoria’s Windfall Gains Tax will mean for regional development.

Adam Jaques provides an overview of the event:

• Developers and Council’s representatives engaged in an open conversation about the challenges developers and the Council face in delivering sustainable development in Greater Geelong and also had an opportunity to reflect on each other’s achievements
• The expected disproportionate impact of the Windfall Gains Tax, commencing in 2023, cast a shadow over the conversation and both the industry and Council agreed that it could create further challenges to delivering sustainable growth.