National
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Roomba the Robot Turns 15
Fifteen years ago, a tech and pop culture icon was born with the launch of the very first Roomba vacuuming robot from iRobot. Today, more than 20 million of the company’s home robots have been sold worldwide. iRobot forever changed how people clean their home with the launch of the first Roomba vacuum cleaner, disrupting an industry that had remained…
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RE/MAX annual convention celebrates top achievers
Eighteen regions now make up RE/MAX Asia Pacific, with delegates also coming from other countries including as Canada, United States, Poland, Argentina, South Africa and Italy. In regional franchise awards presented by RE/MAX LLC at a session for master franchise owners, RE/MAX Australia was the silver medalist for the franchise sales award, which recognized the region’s significant growth year-to-date 2017.…
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Matt Gay appointed as Chief Technology Officer for the Ray White Group
“Matt will be responsible for bringing all software development into a single technology team that works together on both new product delivery and supporting and enhancing our traditional IT systems,” Mr White said. “His responsibility will include the development of data insights and products to enhance the performance of our members in the field. “Matt will lead some fantastic people…
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South Australian start-up Augment Space allows anyone to create virtual tours
Using the online platform developed by Augment Space, anyone can upload and easily create interactive virtual tours and walkthroughs. The tools available through the platform are compatible with 360-degree cameras – with a plan to include all mobile devices in the future – and the finished tours can be viewed anywhere, on a mobile phone, a tablet or on a…
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Investors finally get the APRA message; RateCity
The most recent round of bank rate hikes have pushed would-be investors over the edge, resulting in a sharp drop in investor housing commitments, according to RateCity. ABS Housing Finance data released last week shows the value of investment housing commitments in July fell by $460 million or 3.9 per cent from the previous month, according to the seasonally adjusted…
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Government Policy Drives First Home Buyers
“First Home Buyers are returning to the market in NSW and Victoria off the back of enhanced Stamp Duty concessions in these markets,” stated Tim Reardon, HIA’s Principal Economist. “In July 2017 – the first month that these concessions took effect – the volume of First Home Buyers in NSW jumped to its highest level since 2012, increasing their share…
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realcommercial.com.au launches a new investment search experience
Investors looking for commercial property in Australia are one step closer to finding the right place for them thanks to ‘Invest’, a new digital search experience launched by realcommercial.com.au. One-in-four people visiting realcommercial.com.au are searching for a property to buy as an investment1, with demand highest in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. The new search experience is a key part of…
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Preliminary clearance rate holds above 70 percent however final results tell a different story
National auction clearance results for the week ending 10/09/2017 courtesy of CoreLogic It will be interesting to see what the final clearance rate looks like on Thursday once the remaining records have been captured. Auction volumes increased week-on-week with 2,225 properties taken to auction this week, up from 2,074 last week, and higher than this time last year (2,062). Across Melbourne, preliminary…
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One third of parents helping children buy a home
The new research from financial comparison website Mozo reflects the difficulty first home buyers have in taking their first step onto the property ladder. Parents lent a collective 65 billion to their children to assist with their property purchases, with 67 per cent of parents not expecting a repayment. On average, parents lent $64,206 to their children. Mozo director Kirsty…
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Core Logic Property Pulse September 8: Housing market putting on the brakes
CoreLogic’s Accumulation Index looks at the total returns from the housing asset class factoring in the change in the value of the dwelling and the gross rental return from the property. The figures show that nationally, the total returns from the housing asset class over the 12 months to August 2017 were 13.2%. Because the return is calculated from value…
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Master Builders Association calls for better regulation of the building industry’s use of cladding
“It’s completely understandable that fires at the Grenfell Tower in the UK and the Lacrosse building in Victoria have highlighted the importance of a regulatory system that has the confidence of both the community and the building industry,” she said. “As Master Builders has consistently said, the challenge is to make more effective the extensive and robust regulatory regime that…
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REIQs most capped Auctioneer wins again
Mr Nickerson, who has won the REIQ title a record-smashing four times (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018), is the first Australian and only the third auctioneer in history to win back-to-back Australasian titles, after New Zealand’s Mark Sumich (2007, 2008) and Daniel Coulson (2012, 2013). “This is unbelievable, it’s just incredible,” a dazed Mr Nickerson said immediately following the announcement. “This…
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Home renovations boost GDP growth
The ABS released the Australian National Accounts yesterday which reported that GDP increased by 0.8 per cent during the quarter to be 1.8 per cent higher than a year ago. “Solid growth in home renovations activity contributed to a pick up in the pace of economic growth in the June 2017 quarter,” Housing Industry Association’s senior economist. Shane Garrett said.…
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Housing loan affordability declines, rental affordability improves.
The latest REIA Housing Affordability Report found the proportion of median family income required to meet average loan repayments increased by 0.2 percentage points to 31.4 per cent. REIA President Malcolm Gunning said at the same time, the total number of loans and the number of loans to first home buyers increased by 9.6 per cent and 14.0 per cent respectively,…
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From High Street to Cloud Street
While the feedback of disgust at the concept of using about 10 of these floppy disks for an end of month back-up was unfathomable, it did get me thinking about the time when the now archaic floppy disk was going to be the end of paper; a goal which has been achieved in many industries… but not in property. The…
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Harcourts Walk A Mile in Their Shoes 2017 Raises $100,000
Although the sight of men in business suits walking in women’s high heels turned a few heads across Australia’s major cities on September 1, their public display was to support the very serious issue. Raising awareness on the issue of violence against women, The Harcourts Foundation organised over 800 Harcourts staff, family, friends and supporters, and raised $100,000 to support…
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RBA rates decision September 2017
The decision was widely anticipated and it is the 13th month in a row the cash rate has not moved from 1.5 per cent. In a statement accompanying the decision, RBA Governor Philip Lowe said the construction boom seems to have reached its peak. “Residential construction activity remains at a high level, but little further growth is expected,” Dr Lowe…
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realestate.com.au launches ‘Marketplace’ to sell off the plan property
REA Group says demand for property in Australia has reached all-time highs over the last year and buying off-the- plan is becoming more desirable for many. More than 50% of Australians searching on realestate.com.au are now considering buying an off-the-plan property as a way to get into the market at an affordable entry point, while still maintaining their lifestyle. Realestate.com.au’s…
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@realty director says agents need to shift their practices as technology changes
Technology means the real estate industry is shifting and the digital capabilities of running a real estate business needs to catch up. That’s according to James ‘JJ’ Taylor, director of @realty which uses digital technology to give agents the freedom to work remotely while being under a brand. With a growing number of agents nationally, @Realty enables real estate agents…
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Realestate.com.au launches ‘This is the Place’ ahead of Spring selling season
“It’s exciting to launch the new campaign right in time for the Spring season to really celebrate that moment when Australians find their ‘place’,” Andrew Rechtman, realestate.com.au Executive General Manager – Residential, said. “When you’re selling your home, you want the most amount of people to see it and when you’re looking for a place to live, you want to…
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Richardson & Wrench Stars Shine Bright at the 2017 Annual Awards
The depth of talent within the Richardson & Wrench group has been highlighted by some outstanding performances across all of R&W’s markets. A true standout was Bondi Junction Principal Andre Frack claiming three of the most coveted trophies at the group’s annual awards on Saturday. Frack won the Most Outstanding Principal, both transactions and income earned, and took out the…
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Auction volumes fall with the clearance rate clinging to 70 percent
National auction clearance results for the week ending 03/09/2017 courtesy of CoreLogic The final clearance rate across the combined capital cities has been sitting in the mid-high 60 percent range since June and it is likely that this will be the case again on Thursday when our final results are published. All but two of the capital cities saw the clearance rate…
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Core Logic Home Value Index August 2017
Using the upgraded hedonic index methodology, the CoreLogic August home value index results for the month confirm a slowdown in housing market conditions in Sydney, while Hobart emerged as the country’s best performing capital city based on growth in dwelling values over the past twelve months. National dwelling values remained flat during August, with capital city values edging 0.1% higher.…
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Where are the most popular places to retire in Australia: CoreLogic
With only 2,904 residents, the small council area of Queenscliff on the Bellarine Peninsula in southern Victoria, recorded the highest proportion of retirees aged over 65 years (40.3%) according to the ABS data. The small council area of Quairading in Western Australia’s Wheat Belt region enjoyed the greatest house value growth over the year (+21.5%), followed by Shoalhaven in New…
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Vacant land lot prices increasing and creating housing affordability issues: HIA
“Land price increases in Australia are unrelenting,” HIA Senior Economist Shane Garrett said. “The substantial increase in the price of residential land continues to be the single biggest factor behind recent deteriorations in housing affordability,” Mr Garrett said. The HIA-CoreLogic Residential Land Report shows that a typical vacant lot of land for housing increased in price by 2.1 per cent…
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REIQ Host Real Tech 2017 and launch Agent.ID
The REIQ Real Tech 2017 Conference was created to fill a gap in the Queensland market – a conference that was solely dedicated to bringing only relevant technology to the real estate practitioner. REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said the idea sprang out of her recent trip to Inman Connect in New York. “It was an inspirational event and I realised…
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The Threat of Fraud Is The Real Fraud
In a recent industry survey conducted by InfoTrack, 40 per cent of real estate agent respondents reported concerns about fraudulent activity when using electronic and digital signature technology. The hyper-vigilance that seems to dissuade agents from digitising contracts doesn’t seem to apply to the same degree of scrutiny to good old-fashioned fraud. The survey indicated that only 2.17 per cent…
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Finalists announced for Annual REA Excellence Awards (AREAs)
The AREAs celebrate success and achievements across the real estate and media industries in the categories of Innovation, Service and Marketing and Community and will be held in Melbourne on November 16. For the first time, the competition will include a Gold AREA – Agency of the Year award, which will recognise agencies who work hard to set themselves apart…
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New Home Sales Continue to Ease from Record Highs
“July’s result was driven by a 15.7 per cent decline in multi-unit sales and a more measured reduction in detached house sales. The large drop in multi-unit sales this month is in contrast to strong sales volumes late in 2016 and early 2017,” outlined Mr Reardon. The HIA New Home Sales report – a monthly survey of the largest volume…
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Coast swells with RE/MAX agents
Eighteen regions now make up RE/MAX Asia Pacific, with delegates also coming from countries such as Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Poland, Argentina, South Africa and Italy. Many arrived early to partake in meetings or the charity golf day at Royal Pines on Tuesday and Wednesday. Indigenous dancers from Australia and New Zealand signal the start of the formal program…
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Banks shut the door on new interest-only borrowing
APRA’s June Quarterly ADI Property Exposures data released today shows a 7.0 per cent drop in interest-only terms for new lending from the previous quarter. The drop comes despite a 10.6 per cent rise in new lending in all categories since March 2017. RateCity.com.au Money Editor Sally Tindall said today’s APRA data showed banks had responded to the regulator’s demand…
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Corelogic launches new generation Hedonic Index
CoreLogic, has launched its new-generation Hedonic Home Value Index using updated methodologies and processes to provide insights into housing market conditions across the regions of Australia. The upgraded Index, which will continue to be published on the first business day of each month, combines a property’s key attributes, such as land area, number of bedrooms, bathrooms and car spaces, with…
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View.com.au partners with Independent Media Publishers
The partnership with Independent Media Publishers (IMP) follows a decision by realestateview.com.au to rebrand as view.com.au and launch Property 360, a property price estimate tool of over 10 million properties offering consumers the ability to track the value of their home and calculate property price estimates. View.com.au says the commercial cross-promotional arrangement with IMP will provide the portal with increased…
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Auction volumes at their highest levels in 12 weeks
National auction clearance results for the week ending 27/08/2017 courtesy of CoreLogic Over the corresponding week last year, the clearance rate was 74.5 percent and 2,153 auctions were held. It is expected as more results are collected that the final auction clearance rate will revise lower to remain within the high 60 percent range, where clearance rates have been tracking since early…
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How to respond to queries from clients faster and more cost effectively
Launching the new PM Assist service at ARPM 2017, Aimee Engelmann, CEO of outsourcing company Beepo, said one of the key factors of the growing pressure comes back to people and resources, with the allocation of workloads and the growing amount of administration within the sector. “A leading brand recently blind surveyed their offices and found that over 200 of…
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