Shoptop Apartments Planned for Hobart Commuter Suburb

Plans are in the works for a shoptop apartment project at Taroona, a major residential suburb 15 minutes south of the Hobart CBD. 

HA Developments Australia, the sole director of which is listed in ASIC documents as Ha Thu Thi Truong, has applied to the Kingborough Council for an 18-apartment project. 

The site at 150 and 152 Channel Highway, Kingborough, is owned by HA Developments and totals 1905sq m.

Designed by Spark Architecture, the plans detail the demolition of the existing residential buildings onsite and the construction of a mixed-use project. 

Surrounded by the Taroona Shopping Centre, the project would provide two retail tenancies and a cafe on the ground floor with 18 apartments atop. 

Two levels of basement carparking totalling 65 spaces for bikes and cars are provided. 

The news of a new residential project will be welcome in Tasmania, which has among the greatest rental shortages in Australia.

▲ The four-storey building would create much-needed housing in the suburb, which is along a scenic drive between Hobart and Kingston.

According to PropTrack’s data for August, Hobart had the largest monthly drop in vacancies and now has the lowest vacancy of any market at just 0.87 per cent.

PropTrack senior economist Anne Flaherty said that although capital city vacancies had been steady overall across last month, there were significant differences by state, with Melbourne and Brisbane recording a rise, while Perth, Hobart, Darwin and the ACT all recorded declines of 0.10 of a percentage point or more. 

“While vacancy rates were down in most capital cities over the month, they remain higher compared to 12 months ago in every market bar Darwin and Hobart,” Flaherty said. 

“Despite this, conditions remain extremely challenging for renters, with vacancy at sub-2 per cent levels in every market.”

As well, Hobart was one of three major cities with the strongest house price growth in August at 0.63 per cent, between Perth at 0.79 per cent and Adelaide at 0.45 per cent, after a period of “outperformance” during the pandemic.