The Power of Apartment Amenities

Competition is rife for property buyers in Melbourne trying to find the apartment that is the right fit. New residential developments are packaged with polished marketing creating an image that this apartment complex has it all.

Yet-to-be-built apartment complexes have upped the ante in their design, layout and amenities. Plush entertaining settings with state-of-the-art facilities – including private gyms, swimming pools, theatre rooms and rooftop dining areas – are in vogue, pushing property developers to continually market a feature that will set themselves apart from the pack.

It is easy to see why Melbourne is experiencing an ‘apartment boom’ with off-the-plan sales more popular than ever. According to Future Living, a 2013 discussion paper identifying issues and options for housing in Melbourne, by 2031 an additional 80,000 people will be living within the parameters of the CBD. Trending precincts such as Southbank and Docklands, as well as inner-city suburbs such as South Yarra, Richmond and Brunswick East, will account for these growth rates. A staggering 93% of new dwellings in the City of Melbourne are apartment complexes.

A sense of community coupled with having luxury at your fingertips and the semblance of a balanced lifestyle is perhaps the Australian dream for young urbanites, one fuelled by desire. Reality, on the other hand, tells a different story. Recently built apartments in Melbourne’s city-centre have earned a reputation for having bedrooms with no windows, stiflingly low ceilings and, more alarmingly, shrinking apartment space sizes.

Gym room with window view, Daihocsi, Flickr

What about the design of the apartment? Are there critical layout flaws consumers are willing to overlook in exchange for lavish communal areas?

Luke Spence, a Business Development Manager, is one person who is able to provide an insight into the current climate of apartment development trends. Working for Beller Real Estate, Spence is responsible for generating growth in key areas such as Prahran, Melbourne City, South Yarra and Windsor.

Beller – the third largest independent real estate agency in Melbourne – has amassed an attractive portfolio, handling new developments alongside existing ones, and managing studios to penthouses. ‘Our experience within the inner-city apartment market is uncompromised,’ concedes Spence.

As to whether incorporating innovative communal areas adds value to a new development, Spence was inclined to agree, ‘Facilities such as gyms, pools and rooftop areas add appeal to the market and set a building aside from the rest. Tenants and owners see value in added amenities’.

Established fitness facilities are perceived to be an added bonus for tenants, who regard it as an opportunity to save on membership fees. The catch: that money is swallowed up elsewhere. ‘Facilities always drive up the quarterly pricing of body corporation fees (for maintenance, upkeep and servicing),’ reveals Spence.

When it comes to marketing, developers may prioritise communal areas over the actual design of the apartment itself, selling a lifestyle over practicality and ultimately leaving a bad taste in the mouths of perspective buyers. How important is living space? Spence assuredly notes that living space will always be the main decider for a purchaser, ‘Living space will always trump common areas and facilities, as it will return a higher result for the owner and landlord in the long term’. While a façade of luxe amenities may appeal to buyers initially, astute investors will not be taken in, ‘I doubt someone would purchase an apartment of 44sqm, just because the building has facilities such as a pool, spa, gym and rooftop area,’ says Luke. He further adds that in his experience, communal amenities do not overshadow the quality of an apartment, in terms of its design.

Future Living indicates high density developments create a platform for tenants to forge positive social interaction in communal areas. Good design must be at its core and must be visible from the communal garden to the layout of the apartment. In the long run, the apartment complex needs to operate as a functional and sustainable neighbourhood from the gateway to the shower door.

Large multi-storey developments close to the CBD will dedicate whole levels to communal areas, enticing buyers with in-house spas, saunas and other recreational areas. To a skeptic, these amenities are a blatant marketing ploy aimed to hook you in; to a realist, these amenities an opportunity to offer potential buyers the best of both worlds, the bonus features that accompany well-designed apartment.

Words: Ross Battaglia