National

  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    The RBA cuts rates to 0.75 per cent

    The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut official interest rates by 25 basis points to a record low of 0.75 per cent. Going into the meeting of the RBA, markets were predicting that there was a 79 per cent chance that there would be a rate cut at the October meeting. This year, the RBA has cut rates three times,…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    House prices are booming again in Melbourne and Sydney

    House prices across the nation have seen their biggest jump since March of 2017 in what is a return to boom times for many capital cities. Once again Sydney and Melbourne led the way, both jumping 1.7 per cent for the month of September, while Canberra was the other strong performer leaping 1 per cent, according to the latest data…

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  • Weekly Auction Wrap: Sydney’s busiest week of the year

    In a weekend where Victorians were busy watching the AFL Grand Final, Sydney recorded its busiest Saturday of the year for auctions. Sydney recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 78 per cent from 939 auctions, according to the latest CoreLogic data, which was up from 608 this time last year. With attention elsewhere in Melbourne, there were only 103 auctions,…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    realestate.com.au puts more data in agents’ hands

    realestate.com.au has launched the first customer app that enables agents to track how their listings are performing anywhere, at any time, direct from their mobile device.  Ignite will enable agents to link their profiles so they can view active listings and track their campaign performance whilst on the go. Agents will also be able to view and respond to buyer…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    Cameron Kusher to lead REA’s economic research

    REA Group has appointed one of Australia’s most-respected and experienced property commentators Cameron Kusher to the newly-created role of Executive Director of Economic Research.  Mr Kusher joins REA from CoreLogic, where he spent more than 10 years, most recently as the Head of Research. REA Group CEO Owen Wilson said Mr Kusher would work alongside REA’s well-established and influential Chief…

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  • Ray White Rural’s annual muster for 2019

    Ray White Rural & Livestock held it's annual muster on the Gold Coast yesterday with almost 200 agents coming from all over Australia to learn and get inspired. The speakers at the one-day conference at the Marriott Resort, Surfers Paradise were economists, industry thought-leaders, elite agents, progressive entrepreneurs and even disruptors. Stephen Nell, Ray White…

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  • Ray White Rural celebrates its 2019 winners

    MORE than 200 guests from as far as Albany in Western Australia, Timboon in Victoria, Tumbarumba in New South Wales, Port Augusta in South Australia and Barcaldine in Queensland attended the annual Ray White Rural & Ray White Livestock awards on the Gold Coast last night to celebrate the achievements of the top offices and…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    Stable population growth to support building activity

    Population growth figures released this week are good news for the residential building industry, according to the Housing Industry Association. The latest ABS data shows Australia’s annualised population growth rate remained at 1.6% during the March 2019 quarter. HIA Economist Angela Lillicrap said the stable population growth is a welcome development for the residential building industry as it recalibrates to…

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  • New data from OpenAgent reveals the behaviours of top-performing agents

    The behaviours that differentiate top performing agents from those in the middle and bottom of the pack are consistency, persistence, attitude and thoroughness, new research shows. An analysis of the listing success of more than 2000 agents across Australia by referral partner OpenAgent has revealed the first quantifiable data to identify the behaviours – and…

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  • Knight Frank appoints new board member

    Knight Frank Australia has appointed National Head of Asset Management Services Linda Rudd to the company’s Board of Directors. Ms Rudd has been with Knight Frank Australia for more than seven years in the Asset Management Services (AMS) line of business and more than 15 years in the property industry. As part of a broader restructure following the appointment of…

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  • Property giant Ray White kicks off Australia’s biggest game of Hide & Seek

    Leading agency Ray White has just launched its latest brand campaign called Hide & Seek, a playful take on the childhood game in a bid to entice both buyers and sellers into the market. The property giant’s franchised network of more than 1000 offices sold just over 75,000 homes, worth $40.7 billion across Australasia despite the…

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  • Launch of Downsizing.com.au links developers and agents to lucrative over 50’s market

    Property developers and agents have a new way to reach the real estate market’s most active and motivated buyers with the launch of Downsizing.com.au, which is Australia’s leading over 50’s property portal. Downsizing.com.au was founded as Seniors Housing Online by NSW-based sisters-in-law Catherine and Amanda Graham in 2003. It has built a loyal following among clients and consumers and served…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    PropertyGuru planning Australian IPO

    Southeast Asian online realtor PropertyGuru Group is said to be planning to list on the ASX in the coming months. PropertyGuru operates real estate classifieds sites in Asia as well as a number of other property related businesses. The company is one of Southeast Asia’s leading online property groups and operates in Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. One of…

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  • First Home Buyer Deposit Scheme moves ahead

    The Government’s introduction of the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Bill (NHFIC) will provide a platform to establish the First Home Buyer Deposit Scheme announced during this year’s Federal election. The HIA welcomed the move, with Managing Director Graham Wolfe saying the introduction of legislation by the Treasurer, the Hon. Josh Frydenberg, to support the home ownership aspirations for…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    Regional areas record strongest rental yields

    Australia’s regional areas have once again proved they are the best source for strong rental yields, with one Queensland country town recording a rental return of 11.7 per cent, according to the latest report from Corelogic. The Corelogic top rental performers report identifies the top 100 suburbs where houses or units have an estimated gross rental yield of 5 per…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    Home lending bounces back in the lead up to spring

    New ABS data released this week shows home lending is back with a bang, posting a 5.1 per cent jump month-on-month in new home loans settled in July. Owner-occupiers saw the biggest growth, increasing 5.3 per cent in value in July compared with June figures, in seasonally-adjusted terms, excluding refinancing.  Investors have continued their come-back into the housing market, with…

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  • First home buyers surge in July

    First home buyers are continuing to take advantage of a less competitive environment and more affordable house prices, according to the Housing Industry Association (HIA). HIA economist Angela Lillicrap said yesterday’s ABS Lending to Households and Business Data for July indicated the number of loans to first home buyers was up by 1.3 per cent for the month and 4.0…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    How population is impacting house prices

    Population movements are one of the key reasons house prices rise and fall, and according to Herron Todd White, it’s not just about how how many people are moving to or from your city, but also the demographics of those people. The leading Australian valuer has studied the impact that the current population trends have been having in our major…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    New Property Tree dashboards reinvent agency reporting

    Agency owners and operators who use Rockend’s Property Tree will notice a new change to dashboards – and it’s set to reinvent agency reporting. The new, re-imagined and enhanced set of dashboards offer access to a richer set of visually appealing reports, fuelled by real-time data, that are customisable by the user. The new release includes five dynamic dashboards available…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    The RBA leaves interest rates unchanged at 1%

    The RBA has left the official cash rate unchanged at one per cent at its September meeting, however, more cuts lie ahead if global conditions continue to weigh on the economy. In a statement that largely mirrored the August update, RBA Governor Philip Lowe suggested Australia is still in for an extended period of low interest rates. “It is reasonable…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    House prices jump across the country

    Buyers are coming out in numbers in Australia’s two major cities and it was the driving force behind the first big jump in house prices that we’ve seen in many months. According to the latest data from CoreLogic, Sydney house prices rose by 1.6 per cent, while Melbourne jumped by 1.4 per cent. Across the country, dwelling values increased by…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    The Agency reports strong growth

    Industry newcomer The Agency has notched up an impressive year of growth, with financial results indicating annual group revenue increased 86 per cent during the 2018/19 financial year to $31.3 million. It follows on from 75 per cent growth and 70 per cent growth during the prior two years. Across the board, The Agency figures…

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  • New Delhi conference proves huge business platform for RE/MAX

    An Australian-New Zealand contingent has recently returned from the fifth annual Asia Pacific Convention for the global real estate giant, RE/MAX, which took place in New Delhi, India from August 19 to 21. RE/MAX Australia and New Zealand managing director, Michael Davoren, said the event represented a continued building of relationships. “After a succession of conferences, people are now talking…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    Rent.com.au improves earnings in tough market conditions

    Rental property website rent.com.au has reported improved earnings for the 2018/19 financial year, amid a slowdown in the property market nationwide. The company had a net loss after tax of $2,497,183 for the year ended 30 June 2019. This was up from the previous year by 8.7 per cent, however topline revenue was lower by -6.9 per cent. Established in…

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  • Sydney Swans and realestate.com.au announce major partnership

    The Sydney Swans have announced realestate.com.au as the club’s new major partner and their official property search partner. The three-year deal provides realestate.com.au with access to a suite of digital assets, as well as increased presence at all Sydney Swans home matches, in the form of at-ground branding and a new exclusive realestate.com.au hospitality lounge directly beneath the scoreboard. The Sydney Swans have also announced that realestate.com.au will adorn the back…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    Property Tree surpasses 3500 customers as cloud adoption increases in Australian real estate industry

    Almost twice as many agencies now use cloud technology over server-based software, according to research by Rockend, who note 62 per cent of property management agencies rely on the cloud in an increasingly fragmented market. MRI Software Company, Rockend, is seeing this within its own cloud-based suite, with Property Tree surpassing the 3500 active customer mark this month. According to…

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  • Sunshine State dominates at Belle Property awards

    It was a big night for the Sunshine State at Belle Property’s national awards night this week, with two Queensland agents taking home the biggest gongs. Bulimba’s Tony O’Doherty was awarded the highly-coveted National No. 1 Sales Agent of the Year Award, while Andrew Oostenbrink, of Carindale won numerous awards.  Hailing from Ireland, Mr O’Doherty has been a Brisbane local…

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  • Gold Coast real estate identity is top seed

    RE/MAX broker owner, Danny Woolbank, has been a force with the squash racquet since eight years of age. After a decade of repeatedly winning Queensland titles for his age, he entered the Australian Institute of Sport when he was 18. Since Mr Woolbank joined the ranks of Masters, which is for over 35 players, he has won three Australian titles…

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  • Weekly auction wrap: Clearance rate set for a two-year high

    It was another strong weekend for auctions, with the nationwide preliminary rate sitting at a very strong 76.6 per cent. If the final clearance rate finished above 70 per cent, it will be the first time since May 2017 and a really strong sign for property prices headed into the spring selling season. Sydney led the playing field with 81.7…

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  • Domain Profits Down But Upbeat About Outlook

    Releasing their full-year Financial Results last week, Domain Group’s profits have fallen 30 per cent compared to last year, with the property slowdown in its major markets of Sydney and Melbourne hurting the bottom line. After an ‘extraordinary’ series of events, listing volumes around the country were down 20% to what is a 20-year low. Sydney and Mebourne in particular…

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  • Going paperless could save you $5K this year

    Millions of workers around the world are often overwhelmed by the amount of paper they have to deal with on a daily basis. Real estate professionals in particular can at times be overloaded with more documents than they know what to do with.  Moving away from paper in the office not only has the potential to save your office more…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    Young Australians want home of their own, but work and study come first

    While early adulthood is traditionally the period when young adults begin to live independently, new AHURI research reveals many young Australians are putting their longer term housing aspirations on hold to meet other life goals such as completing education or gaining secure employment. In 2015-16, only 17 per cent of young adults aged 18-24 years lived independently, with most (66…

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  • realestate.com.au launches first-to-market content in app

    realestate.com.au today launched content in app, a first-to-market experience allowing users to access property news, data and insights within the realestate.com.au app. The experience is now live on the realestate.com.au iOS app, with Android users receiving the update from next week (Monday 19 August). With over 29 million launches of the app every month, a…

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  • Elite Agent The News Source for Real Estate Professionals

    Domain has launched school-based search experience

    In an Australian property listing portal first, Domain Group (ASX: DHG) has launched a new school-based search experience allowing property-searching parents to search by school name on Domain and find properties in that school catchment area.  Until now, it has been difficult for parents with specific schools or school catchments in mind to access school…

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  • LJ Hooker honours top performers at International Awards

    LJ Hooker has recognised its top performers across Australia and New Zealand at its annual conference and International Awards gala, held earlier this week on the Gold Coast. LJ Hooker Network Chief Graeme Hyde said the awards night is the most important event of the year, especially in a challenging market. “Despite the market challenges faced by the real estate…

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