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OPINION
Rooms to spare: Andrew Cocks
Australia’s housing crisis is a bit of a misnomer really. What we are really suffering is a housing to household mismatch where large family homes that were once occupied by several people now accommodate just two.
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OPINION
Andrew Cocks: Half-baked reform falls flat
For a policy that had done the media rounds when it was first put forward in the June Budget, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s “affordability busting” land tax proposal for first home buyers garnered a lot of attention in the past week or so.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
Andrew Cocks: Uncertain times require certainty from leaders
Business needs certainty. It enables sound evidence-based commercial decisions to be made along with the ability to plan ahead.
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Elite Agent
Andrew Cocks: Challenging time to be in government
Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying, “The government you elect is the government you deserve”.
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OPINION
Andrew Cocks: Investors hold the key to rental relief
There’s been no let-up in the recent tales of distress resulting from the dramatic worsening of rental affordability and vacancy afflicting our capital cities and regional centres. And we’re only at the start of what is shaping up as an extended period of strong rental demand.
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OPINION
Andrew Cocks: The countdown to polling day begins
For a relatively short election campaign, it feels like we have been bombarded by electioneering for months. Certainly, far more than the mere six weeks Scott Morrison has allotted from his Sunday visit to the Governor General at Yarralumla to May 21, the day we will go to the polls.
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OPINION
The upside and downside of regional shift
Attend an open home in the regional city of Newcastle and you’ll see a flurry of phones out, Facetime on and the real buyer sitting in a Sydney lounge room, looking to pick up relatively affordable real estate or planning an escape from the big city hustle.
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Elite Agent
The ‘vaxing’ issue facing the real estate industry: Andrew Cocks
Vaccination against COVID-19 is the topic on everyone’s mind at the moment. Richardson & Wrench Managing Director Andrew Cocks examines the difficult decisions real estate agencies and agents face and whether or not vaccination status could be the difference between winning a listing or not. It has taken a Greater Sydney lockdown, along with COVID-19 incursions into Queensland, daily reports…
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Real Estate News
A Budget right for its time
There’s plenty for the property industry to like in the 2021 Federal Budget, not because of any specific measure but in the myriad provisions to keep cash and confidence flowing in our pandemic-constrained economy.
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Elite Agent
Andrew Cocks: First-home buyers seize the moment
In the past few months, calls for the Reserve Bank to 'do something' about runaway house prices have become louder, ignoring Governor Philip Lowe’s repeated response that it is not the job of the central bank to meddle with house prices.
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Elite Agent
D-Day looms for the end of government props: Andrew Cocks
Six months ago, the nation prepared itself to step off the fiscal cliff. Not much liking the rocky landing back in September, the day of reckoning was delayed but now both the moratorium on tenant evictions and JobKeeper support have run their time and March 28 is D-Day.
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Elite Agent
Stamp duty: A bad tax that has to go
You have to look long and hard to find a notable figure who had a good word to say about taxes. One such person was US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr who in 1927 declared, “Taxes are what we pay for civilised society”. There’s plenty of truth in that statement, but who pays and how much is a…
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Elite Agent
Here we go again
The housing downturn gave us a two-year glimpse of what it takes to achieve housing affordability and not all of us liked what we saw. With rates of home ownership in decline and a boom that had gone on too long there was justified alarm as the housing affordability crisis took its toll, before the downturn finally happened. But while…
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OPINION
First timers homing in to opportunity: Andrew Cocks
There’s been a predictably mixed response to the release of CoreLogic figures showing another month of declines in Sydney house prices. From some there have been howls that the sky is falling, the boom turned to bust, and the imminent collapse of lives and livelihoods. But there is one group for whom the slow-down we had to have has given…
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OPINION
Mortgage Stress: While it’s not pretty, it’s not new
Financial stress is not something you would wish upon anybody, whether it’s due to loss of a job, business failure or unmanageable debt. Mortgage stress falls within its own special category given that the family home is often the single largest asset held by many Australians and embodies so many of the values we cherish most – family, shelter and…
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OPINION
Seeing red over bank blacklists: Andrew Cocks
Planning for population growth in our capital cities is no easy task. There will always be entrenched opposition to change particularly when the benefits to many have to be balanced against the costs to a few. As Australia’s population has grown, and the shift to the cities become more pronounced, we’ve had to adjust what it means to achieve the…
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OPINION
Scare mongering the enemy of first home buyers: Andrew Cocks
The many measures adopted to encourage more first home buyers into the property market have so far failed to produce the upswing that everybody had hoped for, leaving many to wonder if there is a solution to the declining rates of home ownership. But put yourself in the shoes of those contemplating the big step into a lifetime mortgage and…
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Elite Agent
On the road to salvation: Andrew Cocks
If you’ve travelled Sydney’s M4 in the past few weeks you’ll have noticed what a difference an extra lane can make; faster on and off ramps and a freer flow of traffic all equating to less time on the road and more time at work and home. The official opening of the revamped M4 on the weekend attracted predictable opposition…
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Elite Agent
Time for swift action on building products and safety: Andrew Cocks
There’s an important lesson to be learned from the agreement reached between the South Australian Government and Tesla to build the world’s largest lithium-ion battery, and it’s got nothing to do with climate change, sustainability or energy security. It’s about the speed at which it has progressed from an idea on Twitter to an actual signed agreement with completion date.…
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Elite Agent
Budget housing measures fair and responsible with some welcome innovation says R&W chief
Scott Morrison’s 2017/18 Budget passes the test for fairness and responsibility whilst offering some innovative opportunities that will support and encourage affordable housing for those most in need, according to Andrew Cocks, Managing Director of Richardson & Wrench, Australia’s oldest real estate group. Mr Cocks said the Treasurer had outlined a number of measures that would directly assist first home…
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Elite Agent
2017 Budget preview – What’s in it for housing: Andrew Cocks
Scott Morrison’s 2017-18 Federal Budget would have to be one of the most anticipated in recent memory. Speculation about its content has generated enormous media coverage, as well as a lot of angst in response to the leaks and red herrings on the subject of housing affordability. It’s all the more remarkable given that the Commonwealth Government has limited means…
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Elite Agent
Tightening in everyone’s interest
Richardson & Wrench Managing Director Andrew Cox says property investors need to are going brace themselves as interest rates are on the way up – irrespective of any moves by the Reserve Bank or APRA. NAB’s and Westpac’s lift in rates to investors last week, preceded by the Commonwealth Bank in January, may just be the beginning of nastier surprises…
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Elite Agent
As the Saying Goes: Andrew Cocks
There’s a reason why some aphorisms and proverbs stick around for centuries. In a few choice words they express timeless nuggets of wisdom; truths that could apply to any number of situations or people. In this vein there are three much-used proverbs the new Premier of NSW might bear in mind as she puts her stamp on government. A new…
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Elite Agent
An Old Dilemma with No Easy Answer: Andrew Cocks
The shock resignation of NSW Premier Mike Baird last month was illuminating in many ways, but most especially in its stark illustration of what will be an increasing demographic trend over the next couple of decades. And yes, it will have an impact on real estate, says Richardson + Wrench MD Andrew Cocks. Baby boomers reshaped whole economies when they…
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