READING Property Partners will be stepping up its presence in Queensland to take advantage of the bargains to be had in a slowing property market.
CEO Doug Osborne says the subsidiary of Reading International was monitoring southeast Queensland for some time but demand and prices were too high.
“Developers, fund managers and institutional investors were outbidding each other for tracts of land and existing investment properties and as a result ended up geared to the eyeballs - we preferred to take a low key approach, and it’s paid off,” says Osborne.
“A number of companies are now urgently attempting to restructure their balance sheets by slashing debt through various asset sales, which is a great opportunity to invest for a good price.”
Reading International has been relatively unaffected by the financial crisis.
Osborne is confident that now is the time for ‘cashed up’ developers to enter the Brisbane market, and plans for Reading to develop commercial, retail and residential real estate in southeast Queensland.
“While global demand for resources has slowed, Queensland is still expected to be underpinned by strong population growth, investment activity and undersupply over the medium term,” he says.
Reading Property Partners completed the Reading Newmarket Shopping Centre and is building commercial property Vantage Indooroopilly, with a proposed transit oriented development in Taringa undergoing application.
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