Majority of off-the-plan apartments worth less than purchase price, data shows

Shaky confidence in the capital city apartment market is hitting off-the-plan buyers hard, with a significant rise in the number of newly constructed units now worth less at completion than the price they were originally purchased for. Key points: According to CoreLogic data for August, more than half of newly constructed off-the-plan apartments in Sydney and Melbourne were worth less than the owners bought them for Nearly a third of off-the-plan apartments in Sydney were worth at least 10 per cent less CoreLogic's Tim Lawless said there had been an oversupply of apartments in the high-rise sector 7.30 can reveal that 60 per cent of off-the-plan apartments in Sydney, and 52.9 per cent in Melbourne, were valued lower than their contract price at the time of settlement. The latest figures from property data provider CoreLogic for the month of August shows that nearly a third of off-the-plan buyers in Sydney were moving into new apartments worth at least 10 per cent less than the price they purchased them for. Just two years ago, less than 16 per cent of newly constructed NSW units were valued below contract price after they were completed. "We were seeing values rising at about 15 to 20 per cent per annum in Sydney and Melbourne," Mr Lawless said.