Property developers plough ahead with new projects despite Coronavirus housing fears

Melbourne might be one of the most tightly locked-down cities in the world right now, but a welter of recent property deals shows developers are betting on a rapid return to normality. "Definitely!" said Joe Gersh, executive chairman of specialist real estate investment bank Gersh Investment Partners, who just helmed a $53 million deal to develop 1,500 new homes at Donnybrook on Melbourne's northern fringe.

The agreement between Thailand's massive Supalai group and Australia's largest residential developer Stockland was agreed in principle in November but inked just last month. Even with coronavirus trimming forecasts for migration-driven population growth, the developer's view did not change."The [investors] looked at this dispassionately," Mr Gersh, who also sits on the ABC board, said.

It is a similar story in the inner city, where developers Mirvac and Milieu will construct 500 homes in Brunswick in a build-to-rent project scheduled for completion in late 2024."We really see COVID as a bit of a speed bump not dissimilar to the dip in the market of about two years ago" Jason Goldsworthy, national manager of build-to-rent for Mirvac, said.

"We've got another 1,000 apartments being delivered in Victoria under this same model." This build-to-rent model sees developers construct and own buildings of apartments, and then let them to tenants — generally for long terms. The nation's largest super fund, AustralianSuper, revealed in June it had invested in developer Assemble Communities, which specialises in similar developments and is constructing almost 200 apartments in Melbourne's inner city.

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*Daniel Ziffer & Andrew Robertson - ABC News (August 2020)