The Module Sells Out

The 130 apartments in Beecroft Place, which used to be The Module at Beecroft Shopping Centre, sold out in six hours on Saturday. The doors to the sales office for Beecroft Place, in a plum location at the heart of the suburb’s village at the corner of Beecroft Rd and Hannah St, opened at 8am, with buyers queuing from about 7.30am.  Beecroft Place’s singlebedroom apartments were priced at $595,000, the twobedroom homes at $745,000 and the three-bedders at $1.075 million.  “To get that level of sales all on one day is certainly unprecedented,” Mr Rees said. “We had a three-week lead-in period and each week the demand got stronger.”  Construction is expected to begin on the development in the middle of August, with completion expected by the middle of 2017.  There are just three apartments left in The Croft development at Beecroft, on the corner block bounded by Beecroft Rd, Chapman Ave and Wongala Crescent.

Kopy Katt opens in The Arcade

Less than a week since taking the keys, Kopy Katt, from the Module, is up and running in the Arcade.

Revised DA

A new DA has been submitted, DA 1006/2014/a, mainly to incorporate 93 Beecroft Road, the LJ Hooker building that was previously excluded.  The DA also includes additional units and changed layouts, presumably to incorporate the new building.  Submissions regarding the application must be into Hornsby Shire Council by 27 May.

This extract from the notification shows the proposed appearance from the west.

Chinese Investment in Sydney Housing

An interesting article by Michael West in the Sydney Morning Herald today describes how some financial experts are predicting $60Billion of new Chinese investment will be spent on Australian housing in the next six years!

The article warns of new money laundering legislation aimed to crimp the influx of Chinese funds where the money was improperly obtained in China.  Real Estate agents are currently exempted from the requirements of Australia's Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act.  So investors from abroad are buying houses to avoid having to comply with that act, rather than risking putting dirty money into Australian savings funds, where the act applies and penalties could be imposed. 

The consequence of removing the Real Estate exemption would be a significant increase in compliance paperwork by estate agents.

Beecroft Rd Church Sold

The disused but heritage listed old church at 179 Beecroft Rd was sold by Hornsby Shire Council this morning for $3M. 

We don't yet know who has bought it, or what their intentions are.

Save the Gang Gangs

A DA is being considered by Hornsby Council to develop the bush area at 89 Malton Road, close to the Byles Creek park and the lovely Byles Creek walking trail.  This area of bush contains the last known breeding pair of gang gangs, and a protest meeting is being held this Saturday morning in the park at Beecroft Railway Station trying to persuade the State Government to buy the land from the developers and turn it into a wild life sanctuary in perpetuity.

 

Please come along and hear what Dr Davis and others have to say on this issue.

The Powerful Owl also breeds in this area of bush.  You must want to save him surely!

Lyne Park Childrens Playground

The new childrens playground at Lyne Park has been nicely installed, with a paved footpath from Lyne Road in case the ground is wet, and the park is fenced off so the Off Leash dog park is unaffected.

 

Traffic around Beecroft Shopping Village

Following a very near-miss involving two Arden children nearly being squashed by a truck, the Wongala-Chapman corner site has been closed, pending a proper traffic-management plan being submitted.  The Police were present last week and apparently were appalled by the traffic issues. This week the middle site was operating with traffic backed up into Beecroft Road.  What will happen when construction of the Module is added to all this?  

Amazing Sales Weekend

Two incredible auctions held today were both attended by over 70 people and each had more than 30 bids, resulting in sales well above reserve.  It's not easy to see how the authorities can control Underquoting, when things like this happen.  Our sales people (Douglas Macarthur with 5 Summerwood, and Peter Raco with 7 York) were as surprised as the owners when the final bids were knocked down.

Five Rentals away in one day!

Over last weekend, we rented five residential properties in one day, in Rodney Ave, Lamorna Ave, Pennant Hills Rd, Mawson Ave, and Carver Place in Dundas Valley.

Downloading from our Website

The raywhitebeecroft.com.au website has a new feature, with downloadable documents.  For instance the Rental Property Application Form is there and can be downloaded directly from the website.  Click on the button 'Contracts' then click the link.

Swimming Pool Fence Regulations

As has seemed inevitable for months, the NSW government has given up on trying to enforce pool fence certification this year.  As happened just before the rules were to come into force in 2014, they have again announced a twelve month slip until end April 2016. 

“We have listened to stakeholder requests for more time and examined the evidence from certifiers,” Minister for Local Government Paul Toole said, announcing that pool owners will be granted a 12-month extension to obtain a compliance certificate before the property can be sold or leased. 

“The evidence showed there was a high failure rate for initial inspections and a heavy demand to make pools compliant,” Mr Toole said. 

One issue is that the certificates are only valid for three years, so those who were ready for the 2014 deadline will soon need to apply for another inspection in order to renew their certificates, further clogging an already overloaded system! 

It would be good to see statistics for how many of the registered pools have been checked and certified since the scheme was first introduced!

 

RBA Reduces Interest Rates

The official cash rate has been reduced to a new record-low of 2.25 per cent after being left on hold at 2.5 per cent since August 2013.

The Reserve Bank’s decision has come as a surprise: a finder.com.au survey of 30 economists and commentators found that 28 expected the cash rate to remain unchanged.

However, a rate cut is hardly a shock given the weight of speculation that has occurred since the last board meeting on December 2.