National
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HTW property clock shows general stability, but Sydney and Melbourne in decline
This month’s Herron Todd White property clock paints a picture of relative stability when it comes to market positioning, but with a few notable exceptions. Melbourne is officially “starting to decline” in both the housing…
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The power of certainty
As we head into the second half of the year, 2020 has been one of those years we wish we could forget. First there were bushfires, then floods, and now we are in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, more than ever, we need to sell leadership and mindset when we stand in the living room of would-be clients.…
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Buy a private QLD island for less than $400K
If you’re the type to have your Desert Island Discs list ready and waiting in case the BBC call you up to appear on their show, then you’ve probably already considered the joys of living on a secluded island. For everyone else, Worthington Island is just a half hour boat trip from Gladstone Airport, just off the coast of the…
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Survey: Aussie property investors buy an average of 300km from home
Gone are the days when property investors go and ‘kick the tyres’ themselves, so to speak. A new study by MCG Quantity Surveyors shows an abundance of Aussie-based property buyers are looking further afield for their investments, with 300km being the average distance between owners and their investment properties. Mike Mortlock, director of MCG Quantity Surveyors, analysed depreciation reports commissioned…
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Billion-dollar buildings may become stranded assets
A new report released by the Australian and New Zealand Green Building Councils today warns that billions of dollars of industrial buildings face becoming ‘stranded assets’ if they cannot prove that are low or zero carbon. Green Star in focus: The case for sustainable industrial buildings finds Green Star certified buildings reduce emissions by two-thirds at a minimal 2 per cent…
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Direct Connect and PropertyMe making moving easy with new integration
From August 10, Direct Connect will be integrated with leading property management software PropertyMe, providing property managers with an even easier way to submit their connections. PropertyMe is one of the largest and most complete cloud based software solutions for property managers, so for Direct Connect there were benefits in joining their panel of integrations to support value partners already…
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Auction clearance rates buoyed by a strong preliminary result across Melbourne
Auction clearance rates buoyed by a strong preliminary result across Melbourne This week’s preliminary clearance rate has come in at 65.9 per cent on the back of higher volumes than both last week and last…
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Changing times lead to new C21 mobile agent offering
Century 21, a real estate organisation with over 120,000 staff in 82 countries, recently launched their C21 IGNITE model, which tailors the franchising experience to agents wanting to operate remotely. Realising that the real estate industry was evolving, C21 introduced a new fully supported model for high performing real estate agents to operate their own business without the need for…
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Report: REA Group resilient against ‘unprecedented market conditions’
REA Group has announced its results for FY20, and considering the state of our economy, the figures are very pleasing.They report revenue of $820.3m, down only 6 per cent, with operating expenses of $328.2m, down…
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Westfield malls fall 10% in just six months
Owner of the Westfield malls, Scentre Group, has seen the value of Australia’s largest shopping centre portfolio plummet in value by 10 per cent, over the past six months. The official report will be released on August 25, but they have stated the ‘expected fall’ was “principally due to the estimated impact of the COVID-19 pandemic”. Scentre released figures last…
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Winners revealed for Openn Negotiation agent awards
Australian real estate tech platform Openn Negotiation held its third annual awards night yesterday with agents across the country tuning in live to the virtual event. Hosted by comedian Peter Rowsthorn, the night celebrated the agents and agencies achieving outstanding success using the digital sales process, which recently reached a $1 billion sales milestone. While Openn Negotiation has its founding…
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The race is on: home loan rates drop to 1.95%
It was only a fortnight ago that Loans.com.au broke the 2 per cent floor, offering introductory home loan rates of 1.99 per cent. Then Homestar Finance shaved 0.01 per cent off their variable rates, with a one-year fixed rate of 1.98 per cent. Now it’s Easy Street Financial stepping up, with an ongoing variable rate of 1.95 per cent. The…
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Residential land purchases rose 33% in June
Housing finance figures released by the Housing Industry Association (HIA) today show that buyers returned to the market in June, reflecting both improved confidence and the announcement of the HomeBuilder scheme. While the total number of home loans still dipped well under the figures for June, 2019, there was a 9.7 per cent rise in lending to those buying established…
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RBA: Economic recovery “likely to be both uneven and bumpy”
The Reserve Bank of Australia has maintained the current policy settings, leaving the cash rate on hold at 0.25 per cent in their August meeting. Below are truncated comments from Governor, Philip Lowe: “The global economy is experiencing a severe contraction as countries seek to contain the Coronavirus. Even though the worst of this contraction has now passed, the outlook…
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Ex-AFL player kicking goals in real estate
Nathan Wright played for St Kilda Football Club between 2013-2018, before an injury sidelined his career prematurely. Now, he has gone on to join another stellar team, as a sales executive with Barry Plant Bayside, turning a hobby he held while playing in the AFL to a thriving career. “While playing AFL, I was lucky enough to purchase a couple…
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Housing values drop for a third month in a row
Australian housing values have suffered a third consecutive month of declines. CoreLogic’s home value index dropped 0.6 per cent over July, an ever-so-slight improvement from June’s 0.7 per cent drop, but a drop all the same. CoreLogic’s head of research, Tim Lawless, explains: “The impact from COVID-19 on housing values has been orderly to-date, with CoreLogic’s national index falling only…
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Clearance rate rises on the back of lower volumes and fewer withdrawals
The combined capital city preliminary clearance rate improved this week, coming in at 65.3 per cent on the back of lower auction volumes. CoreLogic reports 1162 properties were taken to auction at the weekend with…
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High-yield commercial property investments still in demand
Investment in high-yield commercial properties, especially those with long-term tenants, is flourishing despite the pandemic, according to RE/MAX U’s Deepen Khagram. “Investors are very focused on yields and we are achieving very good outcomes with commercial property that we are taking to the market,” he said. Mr Khagram recently re-sold a 7-Eleven Service Station in Burpengary East for $5.4m, representing…
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HomeBuilder yet to halt downturn in building approvals
Despite the many incentives in play to help potential home buyers, residential building approvals fell by an additional 4.9 per cent in June. As HIA Senior Economist, Geordan Murray explains, this trend existed long before COVID-19. “The COVID-19 shock has occurred on top of a well advanced cyclical downturn in home building activity that began back in 2018,” he said.…
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Home loans rates drop even lower
After home loan rates dipped under 2% a week ago, with Loans.com.au offering introductory rates of 1.99%, Homestar Finance have pipped them as the lowest variable rate in Australia, with a one-year fixed rate of 1.98%. As Rate City reports, the loans do revert to an ongoing variable rate of 2.49 per cent, plus required a 20% deposit and upfront…
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Government looks to extend First Home Loan Deposit Scheme
As the Federal Government readies to bring down its October budget, an expansion of the first-home buyer loan scheme could be on the cards, following a rush of demand. National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation figures show that over 40 per cent of the 10,000 available slots have been filled in less than a month. In comparison, the first 10,000…
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Rent prices take first quarterly fall since 1972
In the first quarterly fall since 1972, rent prices were down 1.3 per cent for the June quarter, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The downward trend coincided with the biggest drop in consumer prices since 1931, with the consumer price index for the June quarter falling 1.9 per cent. “Weak rental market conditions…
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New Australian homes will soon be required to meet Green Star status
Double-glazed windows, air filtration systems and LED lighting are some of the elements new Australian homes will have to feature in order to achieve ‘Green Star certification’. A draft of the Green Star Homes Standard was released today, as part of the Building Council of Australia’s Future Homes Strategy. “The Standard is being developed collaboratively with rigorous consultation and input…
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Homely secures auctioneer Damien Cooley as a brand ambassador
Real estate portal, homely.com.au, has named acclaimed auctioneer Damien Cooley as their new brand ambassador. Off the back of announcing a massive partnership with 400 top real estate agents from across the country, Homely has today shared that two-time REINSW Award for Excellence in Auctioneering recipient, Damien Cooley has become their first official brand ambassador. Mr Cooley has been brought…
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Rent hikes ‘inevitable’ as vacancy rates soar
While the latest CoreLogic figures show that rental prices dropped by half a per cent nationally during the June quarter, projections suggest that a hike of rent prices is inevitable. The national vacancy rate fell to 2.2 per cent over June, according to SQM research, with Propertyology finding that only four of the 52 largest cities and towns in Australia…
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Laing+Simmons tackle mental health
Laing+Simmons has struck a new partnership with Making Meditation Mainstream to bring mediation to local people and help tackle the challenges of mental health in the community. Each Saturday at sunrise, Making Mediation Mainstream takes members of the community through a peaceful, and free, mediation experience. Since launching in 2018 on the Northern Beaches, the movement now operates from 14…
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National rent prices fell over June quarter
National rents have fallen by half a per cent over the June quarter. New figures from CoreLogic’s Quarterly Rental Review show that, although COVID-19 was a significant factor in the drop, the rental market was already weak. Rent values dropped 0.3 per cent in the month of June, and 0.5 per cent over the entire quarter, the largest quarterly fall…
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Auction volume increases, but Victorian withdrawals weigh down results
Continuing lockdowns in Melbourne again saw a high volume of properties withdrawn from auction this week, weighing down the national preliminary clearance rate, which came in at 59.2 per cent. This week’s preliminary figure was the same as last week, but came off the back of higher volume. CoreLogic reported 1344 capital city homes were taken to auction this week.…
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Regional house prices rise despite pandemic
While home prices in every capital city aside from Hobart and Canberra fell during the last quarter due to the continuing COVID-19 crisis, homes are rising in value across much of regional Australia. The latest Domain House Price Report shows that ‘median dwelling values’, a combination of houses and units, rose over the last quarter, albeit by 0.1 per cent.…
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AFG teams with 86 400: Australia’s only digital mortgage offering
86 400, the first bank in Australia built for smartphones, has signed a partnership with Australian Finance Group Ltd (AFG), expanding its broker distribution network. AFG is one Australia’s largest aggregators, with over 3000 brokers, and a loan book exceeding $140 billion. 86 400 enables electronic signatures, digital ID verification, collection of expense and income information, plus is the only…
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Home loan rates offered for under 2%
Loans.com.au are making a big play, offering introductory home loan rates of 1.99 per cent, which are touted as the lowest variable rate in Australia. They are also offering a two-year discounted variable rate of 2.09 per cent. These rates are available to “new customers who apply for an owner-occupier loan paying principal and interest repayments” with a 20 per…
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Mixed results for Q2: all unit prices fall, houses rise in select capitals
Results are in for the second quarter of the year and, according to Domain, all major capital cities saw unit prices fall across the June quarter, with house prices rising in Adelaide, Canberra, and Hobart. It appears the…
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RBA declare pandemic downturn worst since the Great Depression
The Reserve Bank of Australia is optimistic about the future of the economy, despite conceding the pandemic downturn was the “worst contraction since the Great Depression”. “Consumer spending in May and June had been stronger than expected and had also held up better than in most other countries,” the RBA said, in minutes released from the monthly monetary policy meeting.…
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Shopping mall windfall kicks against COVID trends
Two Sydney shopping centres have been bundled up and sold for $91.5 million, a price in step with valuations made in a pre-COVID market. This is despite shopping mall vacancies hitting a 20-year high in May. The Pemulwuy Marketplace and West Ryde Marketplace were taken to market by the Charter Hall Retail Partnership No.1 Trust. “Both centres represented an opportunity…
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JobKeeper extension applauded as “right move”
The Property Council and Master Builders Australia are among the many industries to applaud the government’s extension of the JobKeeper program. “Today’s announcement by the Prime Minister and Treasurer provides businesses and their employees with the certainty they need for the coming months as we continue to grapple with the public health and economic impact of COVID-19,” said Ken Morrison,…
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