Brisbane's apartment market is generally accepted as oversupplied, with the conventional wisdom being that large, luxury and unique units are outperforming their smaller and lower-quality investor-stock counterparts.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Developers have seen this as an opportunity for boutique builds to surge, as a clear demand for new high-quality housing stock has been seen in Brisbane's property market over the past couple of years.
A boutique development can be a unit block with a few high-end apartments, or the redevelopment of a large block into multiple houses, and such builds are becoming commonplace in Brisbane's prestige suburbs.
Lilleybuild has just put the first of six homes on the market in what director James Lilley is calling "Paddington's first luxury subdivision", a lifestyle precinct called the Norfolk Estate.
It will comprise of six luxury homes and Mr Lilley said he and his colleagues at P&R Lee Builders were responding to demand in the market.
"Our experience is that the lifestyle sector is where most of the action is," he said. "We're finding that that type of dwelling is being sought out because people are selling up their acreage or large family home because their children have grown up or moved away."
Not only was demand higher for that stock, but it was easier for buyers to get loans, Mr Lilley said.
"We see the lending market as a two-tiered market," he said. "They're very strict in their credit requirements for units, but boutique developments are considered to be owner-occupied generally so conditions for those buyers are very good, the best I've seen in 40 years.
"If you're a homeowner or an owner-occupier and you've got some deposit or lending history, banks love that at the moment."
Lilleybuild is considering moving into the high-end townhouse market, as was another prominent builder, Graya Construction.
Andrew Gray, co-owner with brother Rob, said the boutique development market was tempting.
"I am seeing a lot of developers doing those smaller boutique high-end developments now," he said. "We're pretty content doing high-end houses at the moment but in the future we're looking at it."
Both Lilleybuild and Graya Construction agreed cashed-up downsizers were driving the trend. "There's a lot of people who are downsizing," Mr Gray said. "They don't want the maintenance of a house."
