Adding value in Brisbane

According to Ms Jennison, “From the perspective of adding value, there’s a lot of opportunity in Brisbane for the renovation strategy.”

From Streamline Property’s perspective, she said it’s been a popular way to add value for clients.

“That’s something that we certainly help a lot of investors with; identifying a property that has the potential or has good price disparity between entry and exit point within the suburb.”

That’s a way value can be added, with Ms Jennison commenting that the business is helping a number of their clients through both structural and cosmetic renovations to achieve this.

Weighing in, Mr Jennison said there are a number of key things investors need to be looking at if they do decide to go down this renovation route.

In particular, people should be looking at both the layout of a house, and its location.

In terms of having a decent layout, Mr Jennison, who has a background in building, said in some cases, the way a property faces can be “critical”.

“A lot of people don’t like to face east-west because you get that afternoon,” he noted.

So north-south, or good layouts are important – but also “something that can be changed around a little bit without major construction and structural issues” is a good idea.

And when structural changes are required, Mr Jennison said investors must be sure to check if the property’s “got good bones”.

With this as a pre-requisite, he said “anything can be changed in the house”.

But this does also “depend how deep your pockets are sometimes,” he conceded.

In addition, Ms Jennison highlighted that development opportunities as “huge” in the capital city – although it’s becoming a really tight market.

Especially where investors are trying to secure some of the more typical splitter blocks to create subdivision sites.

“I think it’s one of the hardest types of properties in Brisbane at the moment,” she commented, with people paying a premium.

While it is still possible to acquire those sites, Ms Jennison considered them as not feasible to develop instantly “based on the prices required to secure them”.

Even where this is the case, she called the development strategy, particularly in the Brisbane market “a great land bank” and long-term opportunity for certain investors: “If you’ve got a long-term investment time frame, capital growth is your primary priority and you’re wanting to manufacture additional equity.”

In the same conversation, Melinda and Scott Jennison also outlined how a lack of construction in Brisbane is tipped to be the driving force behind sustained gains for property investors.