Unprecedented times for Brunswick's apartment growth, but can it last?
It's unprecedented times for Brunswick and surrounding suburbs Brunswick East and Brunswick West. Never before have the trio of postcodes been so popular with Melbourne's apartment builders with 13 separate projects currently under construction.
The yield of apartments from these projects is set to exceed 1,300 dwellings. Brunswick East leads the way with seven projects under construction, followed by Brunswick with four and Brunswick West with two.
Sourcing Urban.com.au's Project Database, the area is traditionally dominated by medium-sized apartment projects averaging 40-50 dwellings, although the current count of 1,300 apartments under construction is skewed by two large projects which jointly account for approximately 700 apartments under construction.
The largest with 400 plus apartments is Brunswick East's Hayball-designed Ettaro which is rapidly approaching completion at the hands of LU Simon, whilst York Brunswick West has seen works begin on the second phase of the project for developer R.Corporation.
Most recent to begin construction have been The Moreland and Protec Property Group's The Dux located adjacent to Anstey Station. A long time favourite of Urban.com.au, Anstey Precinct as it has been christened is a pocket of Brunswick dedicated toward urban renewal/higher density living.
Joining The Dux under construction within Anstey Precinct are Hendrix Apartments and 8 Bresse Street, with the much publicised Nightingale Apartments on Florence Street set to begin its build. Post its visit to VCAT and subsequent minor design alterations, Nightingale is now poised to become the latest project within Anstey Precinct to offer "delivery of tangible, meaningful, visitable and assessable built outcomes," following in the footsteps of The Commons.
Further to the 13 projects under construction, Urban.com.au has identified a further 10 apartment projects set for an imminent construction start.
Among them is Alpha 14 Property Group's Crest on Sydney Road, the aforementioned Nightingale Brunswick and what shapes as Moreland's tallest project to date, Brunswick Heart. Set over 14 levels, site preparation for the RotheLowman-designed project is complete with a builder set to take site possession shortly.
These 10 projects combined will add another 800 plus dwellings to Moreland's ballooning apartment market.
Whilst construction and projects at sales remain robust within Brunswick and its adjoining suburbs, there are signs that the surge in apartments may be slowing.
2016 has brought a discernible slow down in the number of larger apartment projects filtering through Moreland City Council's online planning platform. Indeed scant few new listing within Moreland have been added to the Urban.com.au Project Database in recent times as developers seem content in delivering on the healthy backlog of approved projects.
With the persistent talk of market oversupply, the easing of projects at planning could also be a sign that developers have cooled on the Brunswick market somewhat given it has traditionally been the domain of smaller sized apartments aimed toward investors and singles/couples.