INDUSTRY NEWS
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Ray White Rural young guns shine in Ekka sun
Liam Kirkwood, the young gun business owner of Ray White Rural Townsville and Charters Towers, has won the ALPA Queensland Young Auctioneers competition at The Ekka. The 23-year-old from Townsville said he was stunned by his victory in a strong field of 10 competitors at the RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane. Ray White Rural Roma licensee AJ Riley, also 23, was…
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InfoTrack named a top 10 leading innovator in technology
Integrated searching company, InfoTrack, has been named in the top 10 of the 2019 AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies List as a leading innovator in technology across Australia and New Zealand. The prestigious annual list, published by The Australian Financial Review and Boss Magazine, is based on a rigorous assessment process in conjunction with a panel of industry expert judges. InfoTrack has…
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A-List boating crowd sets sights on land
Race season in the Whitsundays has set sail, but not all the action takes place on the water. According to real estate doyen Carol Carter, the property market is also a focus for the national and international visitors who flock to the North Queensland dream destination at this time of year for the annual A-list events, including Airlie Beach and…
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Research reveals older Australians’ hopes for housing
Future government policy on housing is set to be shaped by a new study which reveals most older Australians want to live in the middle or outer suburbs of a city in detached, freestanding three-bedroom homes. The research, Older Australians and the housing aspirations gap, undertaken for AHURI by researchers from Curtin University and Swinburne University of Technology, explores the…
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The RBA keeps rates on hold
After two straight months of rate cuts, the RBA has left rates unchanged at one per cent. The move was widely expected and will mean borrowers will likely not see any changes to variable rates this month. However, RBA Governor Lowe has suggested that the RBA stands ready and able to cut rates further if they are required to do…
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Halcyon Greens wins Master Builders Award for Gold Coast display home
Lifestyle developer Halcyon has been recognised for its approach to innovative home designs, taking out a prestigious Master Builders Award for its Fairway Series display home at Halcyon Greens in Pimpama on the Gold Coast The Fairway Series display home, which boasts country club living and spectacular 180-degree views of the community’s adjoining golf course and wetlands, took out the…
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Weekly Auction Results: Auction clearance remains high on slightly higher volumes
Sydney and Melbourne continue to lead the country with another strong week of auction clearance results. After last weeks solid result, Sydney again leads the nation with a preliminary 78.5% clearance rate. While Melbourne continues to improve and finished on higher volumes than Sydney 74%. As sellers continue to sit and wait for spring, demand…
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Sentinel appoints Paul McDonnell as Director of Property
Sentinel Property Group has appointed real estate industry leader Paul McDonnell to the newly-created senior management position of Director of Property. Mr McDonnell will begin work with Sentinel in Brisbane from August 5 as part of the Group’s executive team, with a wide-ranging role focusing on Sentinel’s property and asset management divisions. Sentinel Managing Director Warren Ebert said Mr McDonnell…
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Chinese real estate heavyweights set to merge
Leading Chinese real estate companies Juwai.com and IQI Global are set to combine their forces to create Asia’s largest real estate group. The company will focus on advertising and marketing new development properties from across the globe, and is the first type of collaboration of its kind. Juwai.com is the No. 1 Chinese international property marketplace and reaches 3.3 million…
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Co-living operator secures $55 million Series B funding to accelerate growth across APAC
Singapore headquartered co-living operator Hmlet has raised $55 million in a Series B round, which will allow the company to accelerate expansion across Asia-Pacific and continue bridging gaps in demand for affordable, flexible and secure housing across the region. The round was led by Burda Principal Investments, with participation from existing investor Sequoia India and new investors Mitsubishi Estate Co,…
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Growth on horizon for property tech group
Property technology group Openn Negotiation has successfully closed a $3.5 million Series A funding round. The fundraising comes off the back of a successful Seed Capital round in December 2016 to launch the Openn platform. The equity injection will help Openn Negotiation in the next growth period for the company which has rapidly evolved since…
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Moving to Sydney? It’s going to cost you
These days, there is a high likelihood that at some point in your life, you and your family will choose to live and work in a new city. Real estate agents and property managers likely deal with this very scenario on a daily basis. Given that expats are generally drawn to the leading global cities around the world including Sydney…
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Auctions this week: Clearance rates continue to tick higher on low volume
Auctions this week: Clearance Rates Continue to Tick Higher on Low Volume It might be the middle of winter in Australia, but that hasn’t stopped the resurgence in the auction clearance rate across the country. In Sydney, the preliminary clearance rate was up to 81.5%, its highest in more than 18 months. In Victoria CoreLogic…
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The capital city suburbs where house prices are tipped to soar
New research has revealed the best housing markets in our three biggest capital cities where prices are forecast to soar by up to 25 per cent in just three years. The analysis by the Select Residential Property Research Group (SRP) identified the top 10 markets for housing price growth in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with the Sunshine State capital tipped…
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Digital Live to return in 2020
Digital Live will be back bigger and better than ever next year, with one concrete purpose; to move the real estate industry forward in its knowledge of all things digital, while improving access to education for disadvantaged children. It’s no secret that the digital world can be confusing. In an ever-changing market driven by digital,…
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Millennial first home buyers urged to buy now before start of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme
Millennials and younger first home buyers may not yet have seen the urgency but First National Real Estate’s chief executive Ray Ellis is urging them to get off the sidelines and seize their opportunity to buy now before the Morrison Government’s First Home Loan Deposit Scheme takes effect on 1 January 2020. “We have record low interest rates and more…
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National agreement reached on building reforms
Both the Property Council of Australia and the Australian Institute of Architects have welcomed a national approach to building reforms after Commonwealth, State and Territory building ministers last week agreed to implement all 24 recommendations of the Shergold-Weir Building Confidence report. Shergold-Weir Building Confidence ReportDownload The report sets out 24 recommendations that look to cement the National Construction Code as…
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Victorian developers to help foot bill for dangerous cladding
The Victorian Government will commit $600 million to address the dangerous cladding crisis in a bid to keep Victorians safe, but developers will also be hit with higher building levies to help subsidise the program. The Andrews Government will foot half of the $600 million bill, while the other funds will come from an increase in building permit levies for…
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NSW Government looking to continue to reform residential tenancies law
The NSW Government is getting set to continue the overhaul of the current Residential Tenancies Regulation, with the aim of improving the renting experience in NSW. The proposed amendments are set to have a major impact on the way both sales agents and property managers interact with current tenants. As a little history, in October 2018, the NSW Parliament passed…
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The Agency delivers strong results
The Agency Group has bucked the trend by delivering a strong June Quarter 2019 including top results in key areas, despite the lingering property market downturn. The company reported its busiest quarter on record in some areas, with a nine per cent jump in number of exchanges to 674, and its highest number of properties under management (4337) – a…
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Queensland leads the way in market recovery
Demand has started to increase in the property market on the back of the recent federal election results and interest rate cuts, with Brisbane and Mackay in Queensland leading the road to recovery. REA’s Property Outlook for July has revealed the “ScoMo bounce” and two interest rate cuts were breathing new life into Australian property, with demand starting to increase…
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Housing affordability best since 1999
Housing affordability is the best it’s been in 20 years, according to the latest HIA figures. HIA Senior Economist Geordan Murray said the figures, gathered from the HIA Affordability Index for the June 2019 quarter, are thanks to a combination of lower home prices, improvements in wage growth and lower interest rates. “For a home buyer with an average income purchasing…
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REINSW 2019 Awards for Excellence finalists announced
The Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW) has announced the finalists for its annual Awards for Excellence. Now in its 22nd year, the Awards for Excellence is the largest and most respected industry awards in NSW and recognises the best, bravest and brightest work across the industry. REINSW President, Leanne Pilkington, said the quality of applicants gets better…
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Ray White’s innovative Apartment Collective reinvigorates the auction process
An innovative new auction approach has earnt a huge tick of approval from both buyers and sellers and is set to shake up the way the industry approaches older stock. Ray White’s recent Apartment Collective, an initiative to rejuvenate older stock has been hugely successful, selling 12 properties with a combined value of over $6 million over the course of…
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APRA Lending guidelines and income tax cuts provide welcome confidence boost
The Property Council of Australia has welcomed the softening of residential mortgage lending guidelines and the Government’s income tax cuts, noting the initiatives provide a welcome shot of confidence for the property sector at a critical time for the Australian economy. Responding to APRA’s decision last week to remove the 7 per cent interest rate buffer for residential mortgage lending,…
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Variable mortgage rates fall below 3 per cent following RBA’s second consecutive cut
Variable mortgage rates in Australia have hit a new low following the historic decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut the cash rate to 1 per cent. Late this afternoon, RateCity.com.au confirmed Reduce Home Loans was among the small lenders embracing the latest cut, slashing its lowest rate by 0.20 per cent to 2.89 per cent. Meanwhile, ANZ…
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Now is the time for that annual insurance review: Sharon Fox-Slater
A new financial year has dawned and chances are you’re busy setting some fresh business goals while gathering all your paperwork for your tax agent. While reviewing the insurances on your RE business might not be at the top of your list, now just might be the best time to do so. Many small business owners take out insurance at…
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CEO warns real estate industry has reached its ‘technology intersection’
Douglas Driscoll, CEO of award-winning real estate group Starr Partners, believes the real estate sector has reached its ‘technology intersection’. While innovation enables agents to automate and digitise their processes, he says it poses problems for an industry that needs to learn how to strike a better balance between implementing cutting-edge technologies and retaining the right level of human involvement. “Although…
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Property prices start to recover in Sydney and Melbourne
There are some positive signs for property prices on the East Coast as both Sydney and Melbourne have posted monthly gains for the month of June. Values in Australia’s two major housing markets were up 0.2 per cent in Melbourne and 0.1 per cent in Sydney for the month, according to the latest figures from CoreLogic’s Hedonic Home Value Index.…
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Ray White Commercial NSW welcomes two new recruits
Ray White Commercial NSW – Sydney City Fringe has welcomed two new recruits to the team. Lachlan Palm has joined as a Sales and Leasing Associate and Fiona Farmer has taken up the role of Office Manager, and both will based out of the Sydney City Fringe office in Glebe. Mr Palm, who made the move from Brisbane to Sydney,…
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Insurance crisis threatens construction sector
An impending insurance crisis risks bringing the construction sector to a halt unless Commonwealth, state and territory governments can work together to resolve the issue. The Property Council of Australia has called for an industry roundtable on resolving the insurance crisis, as many building and construction businesses face closure over the issue. They said it was essential for governments to…
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Tom Esze hammers it home to take out REIWA’s Auctioneering Championships
Tom Esze from Tom Esze Auctions has taken out the Gift of the Gavel at the annual REIWA Auctioneering Championships this week. Held at the Wembley Golf Course, the 2019 championships showcased Western Australia’s best talent in the auction space under two categories – novice and senior. REIWA President Damian Collins said as auctions continue to grow momentum for the unique…
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The ‘Best of the Best’ in property management recognised at PPM Group awards
Property Management teams across Australia have gathered for the property management industry’s ‘night of nights’ on Queensland’s Gold Coast. The PPM Group ‘Best of the Best’ awards night celebrated the achievements of individuals and teams across the country. PPM Group Managing Director, Debbie Palmer praised the written submissions for their level of professionalism and attention to detail. “The new initiatives…
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realestate.com.au launches re-marketing service for agents and agencies
Reach is an end-to-end digital marketing solution that allows agents and agencies to build an online presence and remain top of mind among local property owners when they are visiting sites on the web away from realestate.com.au. According to realestate.com.au’s General Manager for Leads, Rachel Morley, the new Reach product has been designed to engage with prospects throughout the selling…
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Ten NZ property market predictions for the rest of 2019
New Zealand’s residential property sales activity looks set to tick along at the same controlled pace in the second half of the year as it has in the first, with average values growing in a restrained fashion. Other key factors to watch over the rest of 2019 include policy decisions from the Reserve Bank (e.g LVR and bank capital rules),…
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