Gold Coast unscathed by Asian crisis
Gold Coast unscathed by Asian crisis
By Dewi Anggraeni
MELBOURNE (JP): Being a tourist haven, Queensland's Gold Coast often does not immediately appear as a sought after residential area as well. Yet the population grows by 13,000 per year, and each week, 100 new homes are needed by new arrivals from other areas in Australia, as well as from overseas.
Among those who have found a home on the Gold Coast are Veriani and Barry Gozahli, Indonesians from Jakarta. To Veriani, this corner of Queensland is the best place for living and bringing up a family. Robina, the very pleasant residential estate where they live, is just over an hour's train ride from Brisbane, the state capital. With the newly opened fast-rail link, the traveling time will be significantly reduced.
"We are close to Queensland University in Brisbane, and Griffith University Gold Coast campus is practically next door. My children happen to go those universities," said Veriani.
"The climate is very friendly," she added, "It's nice and warm with just the right humidity all year round. Extreme weather eludes us, no flooding, no cyclones, no fires."
She and their three children have been living in Robina since 1990, while her husband Barry, who has a property business in Jakarta, travels to spend time with his family whenever his business allows. Apart from socializing with their Australian friends, the Gozahlis also keep in touch with around 30 of the Indonesian families who also live on the Gold Coast. Not all Indonesians who live here have their own business like Barry and Veriani. Many are working in the hospitality industry. With soaring unemployment and an economic crisis at home, it is understandable that these expatriates have no immediate intentions of leaving the Gold Coast.
This tourist haven on Australia's eastern coast indeed emerged relatively unscathed from the storm of Asia's economic crisis. In fact, it is rearing for a new decade of development growth. While figures show that the numbers of Asian tourists to the Gold Coast in 1998 have dropped by 24 percent, those from other areas of the world have been coming in droves, encouraged by the competitive rate of the Australian dollar. The numbers of visitors from Europe have climbed by 8.9 percent, New Zealand by 3.8 percent, and the Americas by 12.7 percent.
Expecting a continued growth in 1999 out of the United Kingdom, Europe and the Americas, the state and federal governments have devised plans accordingly. They are spending A$800 million to have the Brisbane-Gold Coast road widened to an eight-lane highway. In the meantime, $200 million has been raised from privatizing the redevelopment of the Gold Coast's Coolangatta airport, to allow international flights to bypass Brisbane airport. The total budget for new development projects underway or planned is $9.2 billion.
One high-profile project in Surfers Paradise, the Gold Coast, which has had a write up in Harpers Bazaar magazine, is Versace Hotel, owned by the well-known Versace fashion house.
Realizing Surfers Paradises' power to draw domestic and international tourists, City Council is continuously investing in the upgrading of the area. Shopping malls, streets and lanes along the beach have been remodeled into a shady mini city. Tropical palms line streets and lanes, looking somewhat like a dream under the newly installed fibreoptic lighting. And since the council is not happy with the current highway cutting into Surfers Paradise, it is working on a project to divert it.
The Gold Coast must be real estate equivalent to an already pretty person being continuously and progressively made up to be a movie star with no expense spared, even using silicon surgical fillers wherever deemed necessary. Apart from building new shops, hotels, entertainment centers, apartment blocks, roads and rail links, making the city increasingly alluring to tourists and conducive to live in, the Gold Coast City Council is also designing a very unusual project. As if it were necessary to cast in concrete the municipality's reputation as a surfers' paradise, it is constructing an artificial reef at one of the beach locations, Narrowneck. The $2 million triangular shaped reef is expected to produce perfect left and right waves for surfers. The mind boggles.
It is interesting to note that, while there is a considerable amount of foreign money invested in the Gold Coast, the bulk of investments still come from Australians. Mirvac's $110 million property development project, Liberty on Tedder, for instance, so far attracts mostly buyers from Queensland itself, with some from other states. Shareholders of the airport upgrade are all Australians. This strong faith shown by locals has made the Gold Coast even more attractive to foreign investors who can afford buying into this tourism-driven haven, as it is not so vulnerable to irresponsible speculators. And violent fluctuations seem unlikely.
It is human nature, however, to try to exploit what appears to be an opportunity. Many unscrupulous individuals fronting as real estate agents have been known to trap unwary would-be investors. Judy Spence, Queensland minister for fair trading, promises to draw new legislation covering the property marketing industry. Unlicensed real estate promoters have taken large commissions and sold properties by promising unrealistic financial returns, the minister discovered.
Barry Gozahli agreed that a crack down on these practices is necessary.
"It has not only happened in Australia," said Barry, who went on to relate his experience, where he met a property business dealer in Jakarta who tried to sell him a property on an undeveloped and unserviced site on the Gold Coast for an exorbitant price.
"Lucky I know the Gold Coast well, but how many people have been conned? I wonder," said Barry.
So if you have money to park in the Gold Coast, do take time to find a reputable, licensed real estate agent to assist you.