One of the biggest mistakes we see made in property investment and development is the lack of a plan or strategy when new projects are first contemplated.
Projects are increasingly becoming more complex due to difficult funding conditions, a difficult sales and leasing market, more complex sites with mixed use projects, and general slowdown in various regions and sectors of the market. All these factors have put pressure on development returns and if not managed tightly, can lead to significantly higher risks.
DMA Partners has been successfully providing development strategies to our clients since 2008, and we have seen the demand for this skill and experience grow significantly since that time. Often the consultant team is engaged and the design is commenced without a clear development strategy. This delays commencement of the project as the consultant team looks for solutions without key market research, options analysis and a detailed feasibility study.
A feasibility is far more than punching numbers into a spreadsheet. It’s based on a deep understanding and experience for every element of a project, how it goes together, its likely time frames and risks. The result is a strategy that drives a well-conceived brief based on market fundamentals of supply, demand and gaps in the market.
However, more often than not, the design team doesn’t receive a brief and a strategy outlining the required parameters that will make the project commercially viable. A DMA Partners’ Development Strategy incorporates these fundamental elements into the consultant design brief from the outset. Working with the design team, our strategies respond to the risk and capital constraints of the financial market by providing a development plan bespoke to the market, the site and our client’s resources to maximise their value.
Our multidisciplinary team has experience in spades across every phase of the development. This industry-specific experience, along with expertise in development advisory, market research, management, leasing and marketing, enables us to find solutions where others cannot. We have also increased our sector diversity from a very strong base in the retail sector to further include mixed-use, residential, retirement/aged care, sporting facilities/clubs, hotels and industrial.
The outcome of our development advice is a more efficient process, shorter time frames, higher returns, far more valuable and functional assets, more importantly less risk and ultimately less stress to all involved.
