So in September of 2013 I published a post talking about the difference between Company Title and Strata Title. The example that I used to illustrate this was a one bedroom apartment located in Potts Point in Sydney. This time capsule of a property had been boarded up for over 20 years and was in largely original condition. Whilst that post was talking about the restrictions that may be in place with Company Title, today’s post is quite different. The apartment itself was snapped up quickly (for a value of around $435,000) and someone’s been pretty busy over the last 8 months!
By the looks of the sales pictures the unit was taken back to its bare bones and given a new lease on life. With only 53 sq m to work with it’s a pretty small canvas but what a result! Who would have thought that in less than a year the same place would be showcased with descriptions such as beautiful polished hardwood floors, a streamlined Caesar Stone kitchen with integrated stainless steel appliances and a stylish designer over-sized bathroom (over-sized for 53 sq m I’m guessing). They even managed to squeeze in a concealed laundry.
As with the first sale it came on to the market and was under offer in no time, this time at $610,000! Click here to see the agent’s listing. Although I’m not a professional renovator I think we can safely guess that the renovation itself would not have cost $175,000 so there is a tidy profit in store for this savvy flipper. The catch with this property though is that it still falls under company title so landlords looking for a good investment would have no luck as leasing is not permitted in the building. I’m guessing that it will make a nice pied-à-terre for an executive on the move! Check out some of the before and after images below.
One of the most fascinating things that I’ve seen in the media recently regarding property development are the incredible ‘ghost cities’ that are being developed in China. The first I heard of this was in 2011 when Journalist Adrian Brown of the Australian Dateline program visited multiple new cities that had been built throughout China. The statistics are incredible with reports stating that there are over 64 million apartments vacant across the country. The background to why these cities have been built is intriguing and somewhat complicated. Many experts theorise that it has a lot to do with China’s tax policy. With no local property taxes, governments still need to make money so this is largely done through the development of land. With land sales being illegal in China this works by the government leasing large tracts of land for development of these massive estates, the scary thing is that this happens sometimes regardless of other services and infrastructure being there to support such large cities. Throw into this mix the emerging Chinese middle class with excellent savings records and a non-transparent stock market and investment in property is an attractive option for many, either as an investment for themselves or as a future home for a child. It’s reported that many people purchase their property with cash, and with no mortgage or property taxes to worry about it could be seen as a relatively easy investment to sit on. The results of this are evident however, just take some time and view the following footage, it’s astounding.
There is an interesting article featured in 
Landlordism 