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Welcome to the February newsletter. In this edition we’ll hear from Stewart Armstrong who shares his insights in the Property Development market. Thanks also to Anita McDermott for an overview of what’s been happening socially in Sydney and Brisbane.

Property Development Industry Update with Stewart Armstrong

The Property Development industry is very busy with plenty in design and development. Certain sectors are throwing up some interesting obstacles which are pushing developers to be more innovative with design and purpose.

Planning agreements and DA’s are proving a slow process now with speculation within the market that this is based on the outcome of federal and state elections.

Land purchasing has slowed with developers and vendors holding a standoff due to land valuations being somewhat misaligned. Similarly, there is a slow rate of residential sales both on and off plan which has led to a shift in direction for some developers now driving towards community and retirement living developments, many predicting the residential market will return to strength in 2020/2021.

Property Development Industry Update

Positively, the committed infrastructure spend will deliver direct benefits and unlock further growth, with the Government committing to provide infrastructure that meets the needs of a growing population. In turn frustration looms within some developers who believe that with this commitment, we should be ensuring the development of property is keeping pace and that we are doing everything we can to make sure these newly accessible regions are ready for new tenancy.

Hot sectors! From attending the Property Council event this week I believe we’ll be seeing the Industrial sector taking reign in terms of development benefitting from the push towards ecommerce and keeping up with the demand of online shopping transport and logistics. Commercial will be hot on the heels with record low vacancy rates in Sydney and Melbourne and plenty of investment and the apparent IT / digital boom expecting to fill this demand for the next few years.

Speaking with a few developers in these sectors the pipeline is looking very positive with strategic growth plans starting to be executed. Some would have you believe it’s all doom and gloom, but we are in a cycle and job opportunities are still very much out there for those interested. And what a great place to work this is !!

CGC Social

The month of February saw those January blues - both CGC offices had been feeling - recede as the market began to pick back up and continues to grow with lots of tenders expected to drop in the coming weeks.

Culture and People Manager photo opportunity

Our People and Culture Manager Glynis (otherwise known as CGC’s in-house guru) has set the tone for our quarterly wellbeing theme to ‘Get Active’ by signing a few of us up for Park Run – a free 5km timed run which happens in parks across the world on Saturday mornings. It’s a fantastic initiative and happens across Sydney in countless parks. Maria and Lindsey are already regulars at the Park Run in Brisbane with Lindsey almost clocking her 50th run! David (Hopey) and Lindsey have also taken this quarter’s theme on board and are currently training for Tough Mudder! The entire team wishes Hopey and Lindsey all the best! What a great way to get active!

We also had a few birthdays in February which means CAKE…or chicken nuggets (what?!!)  Happy birthday again Stewart (Sydney) and Maria & Jamie (Brisbane) all being another year older and a little wiser?

Our Senior Consultant Christina’s January Birthday celebration rolled into February where the CGC staff gathered at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) ArtBar to have a look at the exhibits and a boogie (Happy Birthday again Christina)

And finally, we have some CGC anniversaries this month with Fiona Eskbank & Matt Issa celebrating 1 year with the company – Big congrats folks and here’s to many more!! 

CGC Recruitment consultants party