INDUSTRY NEWS
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The Weekly Wrap: Auctions up but investor activity is dropping
Investor interest in the housing market has started to drop off, according to CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher. Housing finance and credit data released earlier this month by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Reserve Bank (RBA) show there has been a decline in investor activity, with mortgage lenders rationing credit to the investor segment and the lifting of mortgage…
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Entries open for Domain Rising Star Awards 2017
Domain is back on the hunt for real estate’s young guns as entries for Domain Rising Star Awards 2017 are now open. The Awards uncover and celebrate innovation, dedication and achievement among Australia’s emerging real estate leaders. Entries are open to residential real estate agents up to 30 years of age in NSW, Victoria and, for the first time, Queensland.…
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ARPM 2017 – Are you ready to reconstruct?
The Australasian Residential Property Management Conference (ARPM) is back this year with a revamped program, exciting speakers, new location and a new focus. This year’s theme is ‘reconstruct’, which focuses on pivoting and adapting the way property management is conducted to keep the customer at the forefront. The conference is organised by real estate coach and consultant Fiona Blayney, founder…
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India to have global listings under REA Group deal
Elara Technologies Pte Ltd., owner of Housing.com, PropTiger.com, and Makaan.com has joined REA Group’s Global Property Network to deliver global property listings in more countries than ever. As an industry first in India, this collaboration will bring together Elara Technologies’ group companies from India and REA Group owned and partner sites across China, USA, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong…
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Housing Measures Fall Short In QLD State Budget
The REIQ has responded to measures announced in the State Budget that was recently handed down, welcoming the State Government’s extension of the First Home Buyer Grant boost. However it is disappointed that the Government has refused to broaden the grant to include established homes in regional Queensland. REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said regional Queensland property markets continued to struggle,…
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brad bell Pay Tribute With Art
Brisbane agency, brad bell Real Estate, unveiled a mural yesterday, paying tribute to their founder and namesake, Brad Bell (1955 – 2012), by one of Australia’s most exciting artists, Matteo Charles. Brad’s son and now co-CEO of brad bell Real Estate, James Bell, addressed a crowd of local community members and The Hon. Ian Walker MP as the 2.4m x 2.4m…
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Affordability increases, first homebuyers out in the cold: REIA
Housing affordability improved across all states and territories in the first quarter of 2017, however, the number of both first home buyers and loans decreased, according to the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA). The latest Adelaide Bank/REIA Housing Affordability Report found the proportion of median family income required to meet average loan repayments decreased by 1.3 percentage points to…
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New Home Loans Lifting Despite Softening Housing Finance: HIA
While housing figures released last week show that while overall lending slowed in April this year, the number of loans to households building new homes has reached it’s highest level since 2015. “(The) result is a positive sign for detached house builders and supports our view that demand in this part of the market is likely to remain robust throughout…
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Preliminary auction clearance rate holds above 70 percent on lowest volumes since Easter
The number of auctions held this week saw a significant decrease, with 1,265 properties taken to market across the combined capital cities, down from 2,578 over the week prior. The decrease in auction activity this week is attributable to the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, which has affected activity across most states, including Australia’s two largest auction markets. National auction clearance…
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How do Australian Home Sizes Really Compare?
How many times have you heard “it’s a bit small, isn’t it?” during an open for inspection? But our view of small in Australia is completely different to some places in the UK right now with developers taking advantage of the government’s relaxation of planning regulations, the tiny house trend, and ability to converting commercial office space into small apartments.…
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Core Logic weekly wrap – remember the good times with the bad
During the up cycle of any property market, it’s natural that people will tend only to focus on when values rise. However, it’s important to remember the times values have fallen dramatically but recovered, bearing in mind it’s more common for combined capital city dwelling values to increase rather than fall. “Although value rises have been more common, it doesn’t…
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Stamp duty concessions are reverse engineering supply and demand: Douglas Driscoll
Starr Partners CEO Douglas Driscoll is calling for more justification around the NSW Government’s solution for housing affordability after it revealed no concessions would be afforded to buyers making property purchases over $800,000. The measures, taken to cabinet last week, proposed stamp duty would be abolished on all homes up to $650,000 and relief to buyers of homes up to…
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Zillow Testing “Zillow Instant Offers” in Las Vegas and Orlando
US Portal Zillow last week announced it will begin testing the Zillow Instant Offers™ marketplace – a way for homeowners to sell their homes quickly by providing them with offers from investors plus a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a local real estate agent. Speaking about the new service being piloted in Orlando and Las Vegas, Zillow Group chief marketing…
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LJ Hooker to list property with TradingPost
Australian online marketplace TradingPost and LJ Hooker have teamed up to bring property listings to the TradingPosts new property section. The site now has sales and property management listings from LJ Hooker’s national network of real estate professionals. The listings can now be seen by TradingPost’s audience of over 1 million every month1. Soft-launched in March, the property section of…
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Latest ABS migration data shows Aussies are looking for a sea or tree change
Give me a home among the gumtrees…or the beach. It seems this is the anthem most Aussies follow as latest figures show people are migrating most to coastal or regional areas. The ABS publishes data every year on internal migration across regions of Australia that counts the number of residents moving within a state as well as across state borders.…
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RBA leaves cash rate unchanged
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced they will leave the cash rate unchanged at 1.5 percent after its monthly meeting yesterday. RBA Governor Philip Lowe said the broad-based pick-up in the global economy is continuing, but while he had an optimistic tone on strength of the labour market, he said wage growth remains low and this was likely to…
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Demand for Property Surges in May according to REA
While demand for property seemed to subside somewhat in April according to the REA Group Property Demand Index, the month of May saw demand for housing reach a new record high. The latest figures from REA Group suggest more price growth in major cities, despite other reports, such as the CoreLogic Home Value indices for the same period showing small…
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Foreign resident capital gains withholding tax too low: REIA
The initiative outlined in the 2017 Budget for foreign resident capital gains withholding is too low says REIA President Malcolm Gunning. The Government propose to reduce the foreign resident capital gains tax withholding to $750,000 from the current $2 million from 1 July 2017. REIA President Malcolm Gunning said in REIA’s view the proposed threshold of $750,000 is unjustifiable. “If…
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Stamp Duty changes to affect buyer demand: Tim Lawless
The decision last week by the News South Wales Government Premier Gladys Berejiklian to provide first home buyers with a stamp duty exemption for properties with a price tag under $650,000 is likely to boost demand for this under-represented segment of the market, according to Tim Lawless. Based on recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, first home buyers comprised…
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Preliminary clearance rate holds above 70 percent as the number of auctions held slips lower
The first week of winter saw auction volumes fall, with 2,545 homes taken to auction, compared to 2,885 the previous week. The preliminary clearance rate across the combined capital cities was higher (73.9 percent) compared with last week’s finalised result, which was the third lowest clearance rate so far this year (71.3 percent). National auction clearance results for the week ending 04/06/2017 courtesy…
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Multiple Indicators Point to a Softer Housing Market: CoreLogic
The CoreLogic May Home Value Index results out today confirmed that the capital gains trend has slowed over recent months with dwelling values edging 0.4% higher over the three months ending May 2017. Highlights over the three months to May 2017: Best performing capital city: Adelaide +2.0% Weakest performing capital city: Canberra -1.5% Highest rental yields: Hobart houses with gross…
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NSW Government Tackles Housing Affordability with changes to Stamp Duty from July 1
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced a raft of measures yesterday to tackle housing affordability for first home-buyers in NSW. These measures include: Abolishing stamp duty for first home buyers for homes up to $650,000 from July 1. (This lifts the value of eligible properties from the existing $550,000 and reintroduces existing homes to the scheme.) Providing a discount on stamp…
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Juwai.com Appoints Georg Chmiel to its Board of Directors
Juwai.com announced today the appointment of Georg Chmiel to its Board of Directors. Mr Chmiel has nearly 17 years of experience directly in the online real estate and property industry. Chmiel is currently Group CFO and Director International of iflix, the streaming entertainment service available to one billion consumers across 18 markets throughout Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.…
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REA Group moves into new Sydney home
REA Group has moved its Sydney headquarters into a new 950 sqm ‘home-styled’ office, mirroring what the company does best in connecting people and homes. Designed by leading interior and architectural design firm Futurespace, the new REA Group Sydney office is sectioned into the same kind of rooms you would find in a home. Managing Director of Futurespace, Angela Ferguson…
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APRA Data shows easing of LVR Lending, CoreLogic
CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher comments on data released by APRA earlier the week showing LVR lending is easing up with a further slowdown expected. Data released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) earlier this week has shown that high loan to value ratio (LVR) lending continues to fall indicating new buyers are in many instances using larger deposits.…
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Property Council welcomes deferring FESL
The Property Council of Australia welcomes the Premier’s announcement today that the Government will defer the introduction of the Fire and Emergency Services Levy (FESL). “The Property Council has had serious concerns about the FESL model with some commercial, inner city and industrial property owners reporting bill rises of nearly 600 per cent,” Property Council of Australia NSW Deputy Executive…
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New report demonstrates value to the Australian economy from foreign investment in real estate
A new ACIL Allen Consulting report, commissioned by the Property Council of Australia, has highlighted the strong and substantive benefits to the economy of foreign investment in commercial and residential real estate. The report, released at a high-level summit of domestic and international property and finance leaders at Parliament House yesterday, is in response to ongoing union and political campaigns…
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NSW Tradie Prices Drop: ServiceSeeking
Tradies continue to prosper from Australia’s renovation obsession as the nation’s market for renovation services eclipses a colossal $31 billion. Competition remains tight in NSW, however, where according to ServiceSeeking.com.au prices fell across all industries last quarter, putting the cost of a tradie four per cent below the national average. The quarterly Tradie Price Index released this week by tradie comparison site…
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‘Long overdue’ WA strata title reform welcomed by leading industry bodies
The Western Australian State Cabinet decision to move forward with the strata title reform process has been commended by the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia, Strata Community Association WA, Property Council of Australia and Urban Development Institute of Australia WA. Announced yesterday, the Honorable Rita Saffioti MLA said strata title reform was important to the future housing needs of…
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realestate.com.au joins forces with The Property Couch
realestate.com.au is teaming up with The Property Couch, one of the country’s best property podcasts, to bring Australians the property information, insights and advice they need to help with one of life’s biggest decisions. The Property Couch is made up of two of Australia’s most respected property experts, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley, who are passionate about helping people make smart…
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Budget Boost For Housing Could Build 100,000 Homes
New economic modelling commissioned by Master Builders Australia forecasts that the $75 billion infrastructure and housing affordability measures announced in the Budget will deliver a substantial 41% boost to the supply and affordability of housing. “Increasing supply is the only effective way to keep the dream of home ownership alive. Master Builders has lobbied for measures to support the building…
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PM Pioneer Leah Jay Reaches Summit of Mount Everest
Property management pioneer, Leah Jay, has completed a climbing expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. The climb marks another victory in her attempt to climb the ‘seven summits’ – the highest peaks on each of the seven continents. Mount Everest, which stands at 8,848 metres high, is the world’s tallest mountain. This is the sixth summit that Leah has…
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New $270 levy for WA investors is irresponsible, REIWA
REIWA has slammed talk of introducing a $270 levy for investors as a means to help raise revenue and fix the State Budget as short sighted and irresponsible. REIWA Councillor Suzanne Brown said it was extremely disappointing the industry was not consulted about this policy change. “The private rental market is crucial to the provision of rental accommodation in WA,…
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Auction volumes continue to strengthen and combined national preliminary clearance rate at 78 percent
Preliminary figures show a combined national clearance rate of 77.9 percent of auctions were successful across the combined capital cities, while auction activity rises week-on-week National auction clearance results for the week ending 21/05/2017 courtesy of CoreLogic Auction activity across the combined capital cities increased this week, up from 2,409 auctions last week, to 2,794 this week, making it the sixth busiest week…
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New Player in the Bid for Fairfax
The battle for Fairfax Media and its lucrative property portal Domain took another interesting turn yesterday after a second US private equity player entered the fray with a rival and slightly higher offer. The latest bidder is San Francisco-based Hellman & Friedman (H&F) which has offered between $1.225 and $1.250 per share for 100 per cent of the company.…
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