Comments on: Hervey Bay Holiday Accommodation …

By: Annie

Annie — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:24:56 +0000

I can’t help wondering if the figures are taking into account the trend for retirees relocating to Hervey Bay. A lot of our newest ‘retired’ residents choose to buy apartments and units rather than houses. Hervey Bay is still a very strong growth area and still growing in popularity. At the very least it keeps our building industry healthy.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:34:18 +0000

I have to agree with both Jonangel and Stuart’s comments. There are no more visitors coming to town, they are just spread thinner. Four and a half years ago, we had occupancy of 48%, over the next two years we would increased it to 56%, then the last two years we have dropped back to 52%.
In that time frame there has been a 35% increase in beds avaliable ,it could even be more. I can’t imagine the banks loaning to developers who build units/apartments, unless more than 60% are sold, so that should put a stop to any new devlopements. The council has done very well out of the past developements and has encouraged it, now we have an abundance of apartments for sale, with very little movement. In this downtime it would be good if the council could clean up the Esplanade, to take advantage and showcase our best asset. “The Beach” prehaps thats another debate.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:32:29 +0000

I’m with you 100% on that one Jon – I feel very sorry for all the little investors who have bought units in all the new apartment complexes. At such low occupancy rates they must be really struggling now.

Stuart

By: Jonangel

Jonangel — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:56:14 +0000

I am of the view that until such time as average occupancy rates hit 70%, no more units should be built. Likewise until we encourage more and diverse work to our region, we should slow down the building of houses.

To saturate the market in any field is counter productive, just look at the wine industry.