National
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Melbourne may be the new hotspot for Chinese Investment: Juwai.com
Chinese buyer demand for Australian property by might be down from the boom period of the last two years but by no means will it taper off, according to Jon Ellis, CEO of Investorist. Mr Ellis, CEO of Investorist, says that buyer demand from Chinese investors is down in 2017, but needs to be seen in context. “Yes the…
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Sydney and Melbourne drive property price rise of 1.9 per cent
Price rises in Sydney (2.3 per cent) and Melbourne (3.0 per cent) were partially offset by falls in Perth (0.8 per cent) and Darwin (1.4 per cent). “Residential property prices, while continuing to rise in Melbourne and Sydney this quarter, have begun to moderate. Annual price movements ranged from -4.9 per cent in Darwin to +13.8 per cent in Sydney…
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LJ Hooker surpasses $7 million fundraising milestone
LJ Hooker today announced it has surpassed a landmark fundraising milestone, having raised more than $7 million to date for charity, including more than $570,000 in just 12 months via the LJ Hooker Foundation. LJ Hooker Foundation was established last year to bring together the fundraising efforts of its people across its Australian network of offices who come together to…
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Lenders slash home loan rates as competition for customers heats up ahead of spring selling season: Mozo
The financial comparison site found that 31 lenders have slashed variable rates since August 1, while competition in the fixed rate segment of the market is at its highest in almost 12 months. One in three lenders have cut at least one fixed rate term since the start of August. “Our database shows the number of fixed rate cuts has…
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Ray White international awards celebrates high achievers
The Auckland business has won the award in the Ray White group for the third year in a row. “We are thrilled, proud and very grateful to our community for their ongoing trust in our team,” said Ray White Remuera principal Megan Jaffe. “We are honoured to again be the number one office, credit goes to the team effort as…
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Airtasker founder launches ‘LinkedIn for real estate’ platform Soho
Soho is a property network and app that makes properties discoverable and to help manage everything about property, from storing files to chatting to an agent or property manager. Describing the platform like ‘LinkedIn for Property’, he says, “The big difference with what we are doing as opposed to other startups is we work closely with the industry to bring…
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Dulux predicts colour and design trends for 2018
‘Heartwood’ is a shade of pink described as between a “smoky taupe and dusky mauve” and isn’t a surprising choice given the design world’s obsession with ‘millennial pink’ and the shade’s popularity. While Dulux Australia hasn’t released a colour of the year, it has forecasted key colour trends and combinations that we will be seeing in homes. Dulux Australia says…
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Auction volumes increase with clearance rates remaining representative of the state of the market.
There were 2,490 auctions held across the combined capital cities this week, up from 2,258 last week, making it the busiest week for auctions since the beginning of June. Based on preliminary results, the combined capital city clearance rate was recorded at70.3 percent this week, up from 66.9 percent last week, although this will likely revise lower over the next…
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NSW Fair trading update on deadlines, by-laws, fire-safety, fraud prevention and holiday lettings
Real estate audit deadlines NSW Licensees are reminded that the deadline for real estate audits is 30 September 2017. The qualified audit must be lodged within 3 months after the end of the audit period and for most agents, must be submitted with the Director-General by the due date. If a qualified trust account audit is not lodged by the…
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Purplebricks launches in USA
Purplebricks Group plc via the London Stock Exchange announced a launch of it’s hybrid agency business model in Los Angeles, USA last Friday. In line with its planned region by region rollout which they say has been successfully adopted for entry in the UK and Australian markets, Los Angeles marks the entry point before extending across the state of California…
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Strict New Fair Work Laws for Franchisors
With Federal Parliament passing new workplace laws, Cameron Hancock, Commercial Lawyer at BusinesDEPOT , says that the amendments are going to be a wake-up call for Franchisors. “Franchisors no longer can turn a blind eye to poorly behaving franchisees. The onus has shifted…the franchisor now holds the onus of proof to prove that they took reasonable steps to prevent franchisees…
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Growth in owner occupier and investor finance continues price increase: REIA
REIA Real Estate Market Facts for the June quarter 2017 show the weighted average median price for houses for the eight capital cities increased to $768,227, with prices increasing everywhere except for Adelaide and Perth. “The weighted average median price for other dwellings increased to $604,456, again driven by median price increases in Melbourne and Sydney and, to lesser extent, in…
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CoreLogic Property Pulse: Affordability deteriorating at affordable end of housing market
Over the 12 months to August 2017, the most affordable 25% of residential properties nationally recorded value growth of 2.9% compared to growth of 8.0% across the middle 50% of suburbs, and 11.4% growth across the 25% of most expensive suburbs. According to analyst Cameron Kusher, across all market segments the national annual rate of value change has started to…
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Family and Community the winning combination for Kris Cunningham
The Josh Phegan team held their annual Blue-print conference in Queenstown at the base of the stunning Remarkables on Tuesday the 12th and Wednesday the 13th of September 2017. At the event, four incredible finalists from across New Zealand were invited to share their story of triumphs from humble beginnings in the annual Changed Agent Awards proudly supported by PropertyPress.…
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Are You Ready for Paper to Turn Off?
Remember when they turned off analogue TV? My nan was really upset about it at the time. “What’s wrong with how TV has always been?” was the main question, but beneath it was fear, deep-seated, that her routine of 5.30pm Wheel of Fortune would be ‘disrupted’. She resisted the change until the mandated switch to digital TV took effect and…
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RE/MAX Auctioneer showdown on convention stage
Greg Parker from RE/MAX Regency, Robina, had claimed the title in 2015, while Paul Gaffney from RE/MAX Executives, Holland Park was last year’s winner. With New Zealand contender Eric Chase from RE/MAX Zest in Remuera unable to make it to the Convention because of unforeseen circumstances, Ben Kloppers from RE/MAX Realty Group in Warkworth nobly stepped in and gave the…
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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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