<p>Malaysian developer <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/s-p-setia">SP Setia</a> is the latest to jump into St Leonards booming Transport Oriented Development precinct.</p>

<p>The developer, which has previously delivered Sapphire by the Gardens apartment development in Melbourne, identified the Atchison Street site in 2023. It filed a Scoping Report around 12 months ago, and now has revealed the designs for the new&nbsp;40-storey mixed-use tower.</p>

<p>The State Significant Development Application covers <a href="https://next-portal.urban.com.au/projects/14650/summary">20-22 Atchison Street</a>, a 1,374 sqm site positioned between St Leonards Station and the new Crows Nest Metro station.</p>

<p>Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/cox-architecture">COX Architecture</a>, the project would deliver 181 apartments, above a four-storey commercial podium, five basement levels, and new public domain works along Mitchell Street. The apartment mix comprises 35 one-bedroom apartments, 39 one-bedroom-plus-study apartments, 85 two-bedroom apartments, and 22 three-bedroom residences.</p>

<p>The proposal has been lodged as a shop-top housing development under the NSW Government’s TOD planning pathway, which allows increased density around key transport infrastructure. The site sits within the recently rezoned Crows Nest Accelerated TOD Precinct.</p>

<p><img alt="First look: SP Setia targets St Leonards skyline with 40-storey TOD tower" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b799673d-48e2-46b0-801a-0e33a9330100" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/atchinson%20site.png?VersionId=dPh0UfwfaHpbFL1R7H1cbZNbIW0CHbCC" /></p>

<p>SP Setia acquired the Atchison Street site as part of its continued expansion into the Australian apartment market. In comments made to City &amp; Country (The Edge Malaysia) in 2023, SP Setia President and CEO Datuk Choong Kai Wai described the acquisition as “a strategic move” aligned with the group’s post-pandemic market recovery strategy.</p>

<p>“Our target for this exceptional development is local and overseas buyers, including first-home buyers, downsizers and investors,” Choong said.</p>

<p>The tower has been designed as a slender vertical form rising from a mixed-use podium, with COX Architecture positioning the development as a response to the evolving St Leonards and Crows Nest skyline.</p>

<p>“The purpose of the project is to facilitate the delivery of high-quality housing at a strategically located site and deliver a built tower outcome that is consistent with the desired future character of St Leonards and aligns with the TOD controls,” the design report stated.</p>

<p><img alt="First look: SP Setia targets St Leonards skyline with 40-storey TOD tower" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="b1a85eee-76f7-436c-a6da-73ba827b9b13" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/atchinson%20entry.png?VersionId=dA9jHGPMcm.dDbwk4QfxqWiY5bfh3UVt" /></p>

<p>The podium would incorporate retail uses fronting Atchison Street, commercial tenancies, landscaped communal areas, and pedestrian improvements along Mitchell Street. Vehicle access and loading would be consolidated via Atchison Lane.</p>

<p>Residents would have access to more than 665 sqm of communal indoor and outdoor spaces, while the development proposes 96 parking spaces across five basement levels.</p>

<p>The proposal also includes a commitment for 10 per cent of residential floor space to be allocated toward affordable housing through a monetary contribution.</p>

<p>COX said the tower form responds directly to the emerging high-density character of the precinct while seeking to maximise solar access, cross ventilation, and outlook from apartments.</p>

<p><img alt="First look: SP Setia targets St Leonards skyline with 40-storey TOD tower" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2163f85c-f63b-4be3-aafa-f8763976cec5" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Article%20Feature%20Image%20%28Grid%29_5.png?VersionId=WiAmtIKJ6.ZQ41EtYEQ1fol7AeorKBlL" /></p>

<p>“The building is orientated towards north,” the Apartment Design Guide compliance report noted, adding that the tower’s slim form was driven by the constrained inner-urban site dimensions.</p>

<p>The design also incorporates landscaped setbacks and communal open space at podium level, intended to soften the interface with surrounding streets and improve pedestrian amenity.</p>

<p>The project adds to a growing wave of redevelopment proposals reshaping St Leonards and Crows Nest following the opening of the Sydney Metro City line and the NSW Government’s push for higher-density housing around major transport nodes.</p>

<p>Last week Stockland filed plans just down the road. They want to build a <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/601-pacific-highway-st-leonards-nsw-2065">52-storey tower on Pacific Highway</a>.</p>

<p><em>Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/first-look-stockland-plans-52-storey-538-apartment-st-leonards-tower">First look: Stockland plans 52-storey, 538-apartment St Leonards tower&nbsp;</a></em></p>


Joel Robinson

First look: SP Setia targets St Leonards skyline with 40-storey TOD tower

<p><a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/urban-property-group">Urban Property Group</a> has revealed plans for a new mixed-use tower at 10 Dangar Street, Wickham, advancing a proposal that would reshape the southern gateway to Newcastle’s city centre with one of the city’s tallest residential buildings.</p>

<p>The State Significant Development proposal, now on exhibition, seeks approval for a <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/bowline-10-dangar-street-wickham-nsw-2293">43-storey tower</a> immediately adjacent to the Newcastle Interchange. The project would deliver around 200 apartments, including 42 affordable housing dwellings, alongside 99 co-living units, a 171-room hotel, retail space, and new public domain integrated through the site.</p>

<p>The scheme marks a significant escalation of plans previously approved for the site. Urban Property Group took over the prominent 2,904 sqm parcel, where excavation and demolition had already commenced under an earlier consent for a 14-storey mixed-use development.</p>

<p><img alt="First look: Urban Property Group unveils Newcastle’s next supertower at Wickham interchange" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="58a96dd9-407f-4d20-86b4-94e4bfeef74b" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/wickham%20podium.png?VersionId=LGlf08pdFGAZDzvx_CXC4XakHNZRuEE0" /></p>

<p>Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/sjb-architects">SJB</a>, the tower has been conceived as a landmark transit-oriented development anchored to the Newcastle Interchange precinct. The proposal includes 245 build-to-sell apartments across a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom residences, as well as two penthouses. Fifteen apartments and one operational unit are earmarked for NDIS housing. The co-living component would add a further 99 units, while the podium would accommodate retail uses and hotel facilities.</p>

<p>SJB said the site presents “a valuable opportunity to anchor the precinct by setting the standard for design, active ground planes and character at the key southern gateway.”</p>

<p>The architecture responds directly to the site’s position beside major transport infrastructure and within one of Newcastle’s fastest-evolving urban renewal precincts. The tower form sits above a sculpted podium designed to frame new public spaces, including a through-site pedestrian link connecting Station Street to Hannell Street, landscaped plazas, and activated retail edges.</p>

<p><img alt="First look: Urban Property Group unveils Newcastle’s next supertower at Wickham interchange" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a7bd6ff0-f7db-4ce8-a6dc-ea56e72c6149" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/wickham%20lanne.png?VersionId=xzf39VADyhj7zBQY2I9fx9vI62u2tuSb" /></p>

<p>The design report describes the project as part of the broader transition of Wickham into “a vibrant, high-quality mixed-use urban precinct” that leverages proximity to the station, open space, and regional connectivity.</p>

<p>A detailed public art strategy has also been prepared for the development. The strategy positions the project as “a transit-oriented development of state significance at the gateway to Newcastle’s city centre” and outlines a series of integrated artworks responding to Newcastle’s industrial and transport heritage.</p>

<p>Creative Road’s curatorial framework for the project, titled Unveil, draws on “stratified surfaces, carved volumes, and light-filled apertures” while referencing Newcastle’s transformation from an industrial city into a contemporary education and technology hub.</p>

<p><img alt="First look: Urban Property Group unveils Newcastle’s next supertower at Wickham interchange" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="77a882bb-14b1-4d28-99ff-9438e39508c0" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/wickham%20site.png?VersionId=cevgo_vN0eKPK78P8YcEu3mKPLkpFqE7" /></p>

<p>The proposal is being advanced through the NSW Housing Delivery Authority pathway after being declared State Significant Development in June 2025. The accompanying scoping report states the development aims to “maximise the site’s proximity to the Newcastle Interchange by delivering transit-oriented development” while increasing housing supply and affordable housing provision within the Newcastle LGA.</p>

<p>Urban Property Group’s plans align with the long-term strategic vision established under the Wickham Master Plan, which identified the interchange precinct as suitable for substantial uplift in height and density. The current proposal would significantly intensify that vision, positioning the tower among the tallest developments proposed for Newcastle.</p>

<p>The site sits immediately north of the Newcastle Interchange, bounded by Dangar Street, Hannell Street, and Charles Street. It is surrounded by a rapidly growing cluster of residential towers and mixed-use projects that have emerged following the completion of the light rail and transport interchange.</p>


First look: Urban Property Group unveils Newcastle’s latest tower at Wickham interchange

<p>Bottega House has completed settlement of a landmark riverfront site in Macquarie Street, St Lucia, representing its first major Brisbane development.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Positioned on the banks of the Brisbane River, the <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/180-macquarie-street-st-lucia-qld-4067">premium site at 180 Macquarie Street</a> features uninterrupted river frontage in one of Brisbane’s most tightly held residential precincts.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The proposed development, currently under assessment with Brisbane City Council, has been designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/plus-studio">Plus Studio</a> with interiors by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/interior-designers/mim-design">Mim Design</a> and will deliver a boutique collection of premium residences positioned specifically for owner occupiers and downsizers.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The residences are set to redefine luxury apartment living in the area, with a focus on architectural quality, refined finishes, landscape integration and elevated amenities including curated wellness facilities, resort-style pools and recreation spaces rarely seen in the local market.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Exclusive sales for the project will be led by Keenan &amp; Byrne, ahead of an anticipated launch later this year.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Bottega House Managing Director Nick Malloch said the project reflects the group’s ambition to deliver a highly curated residential offering within one of Brisbane’s most tightly held precincts.&nbsp;</p>

<p>“This is an incredibly rare riverfront opportunity and one we have approached with a long-term perspective,” Malloch said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>“Our vision from the outset was to create a boutique collection of residences that feel more like private homes than traditional apartments, with generous proportions, refined finishes and exceptional amenity throughout."</p>

<p>Malloch says there is a&nbsp;lack of premium owner-occupier stock of this quality in the market, particularly for downsizers wanting space, privacy and a true lifestyle offering without compromise.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"Demand is expected to be strong given the scarcity of premium riverfront opportunities of this nature within Brisbane’s inner-west."&nbsp;</p>


Bottega House secures landmark riverfront site in St Lucia 

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<p data-end="157" data-start="0">The arrival of the first piling rig officially marks the commencement of construction at SIERA’s new beachside apartment development, Exhale, in Northcliffe.</p>

<p data-end="459" data-start="159"><a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/exhale-surfers-paradise-8-enderley-avenue-surfers-paradise-qld-4217">Exhale</a>, a glass-encased tower featuring 54 large-scale apartments at 8 Enderley Avenue, is SIERA’s third Gold Coast development. It follows the recently completed PIPIS Bilinga beachfront project, which achieved suburb-record prices, and the soon-to-be-completed Chevron Island development, Tapestry.</p>

<p data-end="459" data-start="159">[smartcode_project:default project_id=112661 project_image_fid=359603]</p>

<p data-end="651" data-start="461"><a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/siera">SIERA</a> Founder and Managing Director Brent Thompson said the arrival of the piling rig represented a significant milestone for the development, which is scheduled for completion in late 2028.</p>

<p data-end="950" data-start="653">Over the next month, around 260 piles are expected to be installed as work progresses on the basement structure. The building is anticipated to rise above ground level early next year, before unveiling its sculptural glass curtain wall, developed in collaboration with specialist façade engineers.</p>

<p data-end="1081" data-start="952">“The façade was designed to maximise panoramic coastal views while creating a distinctive architectural identity,” Thompson said.</p>

<p data-end="1081" data-start="952">[smartcode_project:default project_id=112661 project_image_fid=355935]</p>

<p data-end="1307" data-start="1083">Designed by BDA Architecture, Exhale will comprise just 54 two- and three-bedroom residences across 26 levels, a level of low-density living rarely delivered in this beachside pocket between Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach.</p>

<p data-end="1522" data-start="1309">The project has been conceived as a resident-only building, with no short-stay accommodation permitted. SIERA says the model is intended to appeal to long-term owner-occupiers rather than transient holiday demand.</p>

<p data-end="1522" data-start="1309">[smartcode_project:default project_id=112661 project_image_fid=361052]</p>

<p data-end="1714" data-start="1524">Residences have been designed with large-format layouts and expansive glazing, with most apartments featuring more than 30 metres of glass frontage to maximise natural light and ocean views.</p>

<p data-end="1945" data-start="1716">The amenity offering spans two levels and centres on wellness and lifestyle, including a heated magnesium pool, sauna, yoga and Pilates studio, gymnasium, private dining facilities, cinema lounge, and dedicated surfcraft storage.</p>

<p data-end="1945" data-start="1716">[smartcode_project:default project_id=112661 project_image_fid=359607]</p>

<p data-end="2220" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="" data-start="1947">More than half of the apartments have already sold. SIERA has also opened a sales gallery for Exhale at its Chevron Island commercial premises, near its Tapestry tower and the site of its second Chevron Island apartment development, which is slated to launch in early 2027.</p>
</section>
</section>

<p>[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=112661]</p>


SIERA kicks off construction at Northcliffe tower Exhale

<p data-end="320" data-start="79">Local Little Bay residents, along with buyers from premium postcodes across Sydney’s affluent Eastern Suburbs, have dominated purchases in developer-builder Urban Property Group’s first Eastern Suburbs apartment development, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/este-little-bay-jennifer-street-little-bay-nsw-2036">ESTE Little Bay</a>.</p>

<p data-end="638" data-start="322">The $250 million coastal project, one of the first new developments in the area in several years, has proven particularly popular with downsizers, especially those from Coogee and Bondi. One Double Bay downsizer paid $4.7 million for a four-bedroom penthouse, setting a new local apartment price record in the process.</p>

<p data-end="864" data-start="640">Buyers have been attracted to the combination of coastal tranquillity, premium design and amenity-rich neighbourhood living. The walkable village setting, along with proximity to three of Sydney’s leading golf courses, New South Wales Golf Club, St Michael’s Golf Club and The Coast Golf Club, has also been a key drawcard.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=112343 project_image_fid=352689]</p>

<p>Built across two low-rise buildings designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/hill-thalis-architecture-urban-projects-pty-ltd">Hill Thalis</a> and set along a lush, landscaped green spine, designed by leading landscape architect <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/landscape-architect/arcadia-landscape-architecture">Arcadia</a>, ESTE Little Bay offers a collection of one, two, three and four-bedroom residences with interiors by Richards Stanisich.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/urban-property-group">Urban Property Group</a> Sales Director, Tom McIvor said the response to ESTE has been "nothing short of extraordinary."</p>

<p>“Buyers have been quick to recognise ESTE as a rare opportunity to invest in a coastal sanctuary that offers both seclusion and connectivity to the heart of Sydney,” McIvor said.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=112343 project_image_fid=352687]</p>

<p><a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/project-marketer/srm-residential">SRM Residential</a> Senior Director, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/project-marketer/srm-residential">Clayton Ross</a> said the local market has responded incredibly well, driven by ESTE’s exceptional location and the rarity it offers.</p>

<p>“We’ve seen strong interest from a variety of buyer groups, all of whom are drawn to the exclusivity and quality of the build and construction by the 4.5-star iCIRT-rated builder / developer, Urban Property Group. There’s truly nothing else like it along Sydney’s coastline.”</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=112343 project_image_fid=352690]</p>

<p>The project also includes robust buyer protections, including Resilience Insurance’s Latent Defects Insurance, providing 10 years of structural cover, and an independent iCIRT-rating of the developer.</p>

<p>“The iCIRT-rating adds another layer of confidence,” Ross added. “Buyers see it as a safeguard for their investment and their lifestyle.” A highlight of ESTE’s offering is its exclusive wellness amenities, including a heated rooftop infinity pool and outdoor heated spa, a state-of-the-art Technogym fitness centre, and a sauna.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/este-little-bay-jennifer-street-little-bay-nsw-2036">ESTE Little Bay</a> is topped out and is on track to complete towards the end of 2026, with residents moving in before Christmas.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=112343]</p>


Eastern Suburbs buyers snap up ESTE Little Bay apartments

<p>Sydney’s property market is known for high prices, competitive bidding, and mounting pressure on first home buyers. But change is on the horizon.</p>

<p>From late 2025, eligible first home buyers in New South Wales will have access to a new federal government initiative aimed at addressing affordability: the Help to Buy Scheme.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>What is the Help to Buy Scheme?</h2>

<p>The program introduces a shared equity model intended to reduce the upfront cost of entering the property market, particularly in high-demand urban areas such as Sydney.</p>

<p>The scheme operates under a shared ownership structure in which the federal government takes an equity stake of up to 40 per cent for new homes, or 30 per cent for existing dwellings. This arrangement allows eligible buyers to significantly reduce their loan size and avoid the added cost of Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI).</p>

<p>Under this model, purchasers can enter the property market with as little as a two per cent deposit, well below the traditional 10 to 20 per cent usually required. The government’s contribution is not a loan but a co-ownership stake in the property. As such, there is no interest or rent charged on its portion.</p>

<p>Because the government’s equity combined with the buyer’s deposit typically meets or exceeds the 20 per cent threshold, LMI does not apply. The remaining balance, generally between 60 and 70 per cent of the property’s value, is financed through a standard home loan with a participating lender.</p>

<p>The government's equity in the property remains in place until the buyer chooses to repay it voluntarily or until the property is sold. Buyers can buy back the government’s share over time, in increments of at least five per cent, depending on their financial situation.</p>

<p>There is no fixed repayment timeline, but the amount to be repaid will be based on the property's market value at the time of repayment, not the original purchase price.</p>

<h2>How do you qualify for the&nbsp;Help to Buy Scheme?</h2>

<p>To qualify for the Help to Buy Scheme, applicants must meet the following conditions:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Be an Australian citizen at least 18 years of age.</li>
	<li>Be a first-home buyer who does not currently own property.</li>
	<li>Intend to live in the property as their primary residence.</li>
	<li>Earn less than $100,000 per year for individuals, or $160,000 for couples.</li>
	<li>Purchase a property within the regional price caps, currently $950,000 in Sydney, though this is expected to rise to approximately $1.3 million ahead of the program’s launch.</li>
</ul>

<p>While the Help to Buy Scheme does not solve affordability challenges across the board, it does offer a more accessible pathway for a defined segment of the market, particularly younger buyers with moderate incomes who have been priced out of traditional lending routes.</p>

<p>The scheme is expected to commence in NSW in late 2025, as part of a national rollout.</p>


Under the new model, purchasers can enter the property market with as little as a two per cent deposit, well below the traditional 10 to 20 per cent usually required

Help to Buy Scheme: What first home buyers in NSW need to know

<p>The First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) is a government initiative designed to help eligible first-time home buyers by offering financial assistance towards the purchase or construction of a new home.</p>

<p>While the FHOG is a nationwide program, it is administered separately by each state and territory, meaning the eligibility criteria, grant amounts, and property requirements can vary depending on your location. This means that the amount available and the conditions attached to the grant will differ, so it is important to check the specific guidelines for your state or territory.</p>

<p>It’s important to note that the FHOG is just one of several incentives available to first home buyers. In most states and territories, the grant is not linked to stamp duty exemptions or concessions, with the exception of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The FHOG is typically a one-off payment, reducing the overall cost of purchasing or building a new home before any stamp duty concessions are applied.</p>

<p>Below, we provide a breakdown of the First Home Owner Grants available across Australia, outlining the specific details for each state and territory.</p>

<h2>New South Wales First Home Owner Grant</h2>

<p><strong data-end="252" data-start="225">First Home Owner Grant:</strong> Offers a $10,000 grant for new homes valued up to $600,000. For land purchases and owner-builders, the threshold extends to $750,000.</p>

<p><strong data-end="413" data-start="389">Stamp Duty Benefits:</strong> Provides full stamp duty exemption for homes valued up to $800,000, with concessions available for properties up to $1 million.</p>

<h2>Victoria South Wales First Home Owner Grant</h2>

<p><strong>First Home Owner Grant:</strong> Provides a $10,000 grant for first-home buyers purchasing or building new homes valued up to $750,000.</p>

<p><strong>Stamp Duty Benefits</strong>: Offers full stamp duty exemption for properties up to $600,000, with concessions available up to $750,000.</p>

<h2>Queensland First Home Owner Grant</h2>

<p><strong data-end="920" data-start="893">First Home Owner Grant:</strong> Offers $30,000 for contracts signed between 20 November 2023 and 30 June 2025. The FHOG applies to new homes valued up to $750,000.</p>

<p><strong data-end="1162" data-start="1135">Stamp Duty Concessions:</strong> Provides additional concessions for properties valued up to $800,000.</p>

<h2>Western Australia First Home Owner Grant</h2>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>First Home Owner Grant:</strong> Offers a $10,000 grant for new homes valued up to $750,000 in the southern regions and up to $1 million in the northern regions.</p>

<p><strong>Stamp Duty Concessions:</strong> Available for homes valued up to $600,000 for transactions entered into on or after 9 May 2024.</p>

<h2>Australian Capital Territory First Home Owner Grant</h2>

<p><strong data-end="1617" data-start="1590">First Home Owner Grant:</strong> Replaced by the Home Buyer Concession Scheme, offering full stamp duty concessions for eligible buyers.</p>

<h2>South Australia First Home Owner Grant</h2>

<p><strong>First Home Owner Grant:</strong> Provides up to $15,000 for new homes, including houses, apartments, and townhouses. As of 6 June 2024, there is no property value cap for eligibility.</p>

<p><strong>Stamp Duty Relief:</strong> Available for new homes and vacant land purchases.</p>

<h2>Tasmania First Home Owner Grant</h2>

<p><strong>First Home Owner Grant</strong>: Offers a $10,000 grant for new homes and off the plan purchases.</p>

<p><strong>Stamp Duty Exemption</strong>: Between 18 February 2024 and 30 June 2026, first home buyers of established homes valued up to $750,000 receive a full exemption on property transfer duty.</p>

<h2>Northern Territory First Home Owner Grant</h2>

<p><strong>First Home Owner Grant:</strong> The Northern Territory provides a $10,000 grant for new homes only. Additional government grants and concessions are available for first home buyers.</p>

<p><strong>Stamp Duty Exemption</strong>: The only stamp duty exemption available to property buyers is the House and Land Package Exemption (HLPE).</p>

<p><em>Eligibility criteria and application processes differ across states. Prospective buyers should refer to their respective state revenue offices for full details on grant availability, conditions, and additional concessions.</em></p>


Every First Home Owner Grant for new property by state

<p>In the ever-evolving landscape of sustainable architecture and environmentally conscious design, systems and ratings in place can help determine the energy efficiency of residential buildings in Australia.</p>

<p>Australia has multiple building rating systems that evaluate energy efficiency and sustainability in existing and new building designs.</p>

<p>Some systems assess individual building components, while others provide an overall rating for the entire structure.</p>

<p>A rating system ensures that homes are comfortable and energy-efficient, whether you are buying, renovating, or building.</p>

<p>NatHERS (Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme) is a common way for new homes to meet energy efficiency requirements.</p>

<p>As new developments continue to shape the urban environment, understanding NatHERS ratings becomes essential for developers and homeowners. This article delves into the concept of NatHERS ratings, their significance, and how they contribute to creating energy-efficient homes.</p>

<h2>What is NatHERS?</h2>

<p>NatHERS is a national initiative implemented by the Australian government to promote energy efficiency in residential buildings. The scheme aims to provide a standardised method for assessing the thermal performance of homes, considering factors such as insulation, orientation, ventilation, and building materials.&nbsp;</p>

<p>NatHERS ratings are the most common way new homes meet the National Construction Code's (NCC's) minimum energy efficiency requirements.&nbsp;</p>

<p>NatHERS assessments provide thermal and whole-home ratings for new homes, townhouses, and apartments.</p>

<p>The rating helps evaluate the energy performance of buildings, guides homeowners and developers to make informed decisions about the energy efficiency of their properties, and encourages the construction of more sustainable, comfortable, and cost-effective homes.</p>

<h2>How NatHERS Ratings Work</h2>

<p>NatHERS ratings are determined through four accredited software tools (AccuRate, BERS Pro, FirstRate5, HERO) using a calculation engine CSIRO developed to predict building temperature based on various factors.</p>

<p>The tools can model complex effects of building mass, insulation, window size, and other elements.</p>

<p>The outcome is a star rating that reflects the building's overall thermal efficiency, indicating how well it can maintain a comfortable indoor temperature without excessive reliance on heating or cooling systems.</p>

<p>The star rating scale ranges from 0 to 10, with a 6-star rating being the minimum requirement for compliance with the National Construction Code (NCC).&nbsp;</p>

<p>Achieving a higher star rating demonstrates a commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability, as the building is better equipped to minimise its environmental impact and reduce long-term energy costs.</p>

<p>Anyone can use NatHERS tools, but accredited assessors can provide certified ratings and professional advice.</p>

<h2>Benefits of Higher NatHERS Ratings</h2>

<p><strong>Energy Efficiency:</strong> Buildings with higher NatHERS ratings are more energy-efficient, requiring less heating and cooling energy. This reduces the structure's carbon footprint and lowers occupants' energy bills.</p>

<p><strong>Cost Savings:</strong> Homes with higher NatHERS ratings are generally more energy-efficient, resulting in reduced energy consumption for heating and cooling. This translates to lower energy bills for homeowners, making sustainable living environmentally friendly and economically viable in the long run.</p>

<p><strong>Environmental Impact:</strong> Lower energy consumption directly translates to a reduced environmental impact. Buildings with higher NatHERS ratings contribute to the overall goal of mitigating climate change by lowering greenhouse gas emissions associated with heating and cooling systems.</p>

<p><strong>Improved Comfort: </strong>Buildings with high NatHERS ratings offer better thermal comfort to occupants. Proper insulation, well-designed ventilation, and optimal orientation maintain a consistent and comfortable indoor temperature, providing occupants with a more enjoyable and healthier space.</p>

<p><strong>Market Value and Desirability:</strong> Higher NatHERS ratings can enhance the market value of a property. As energy efficiency becomes a more significant consideration for homebuyers, a well-rated building may attract a premium price and stand out in the real estate market.</p>

<p><strong>Compliance with Building Codes:</strong> NatHERS ratings are a vital component of the National Construction Code (NCC), and compliance with these ratings is often a mandatory requirement for new developments. Local councils and planning authorities may set minimum energy efficiency standards that must be met to obtain development approval.</p>


The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) is a crucial initiative shaping the future of energy-efficient, resilient, and cost-effective homes. With its recent upgrades, NatHERS has evolved into a world-leading tool for the building sector, supporting the global commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Staff Writer

What is a NatHERS rating in new off the plan apartment developments?

<p>Mixed-use developments have gained significant popularity across Australia in recent years due to their unique blend of residential, commercial, and recreational spaces.</p>

<p>Unlike traditional single-purpose developments, mixed-use projects offer a harmonious integration of various functions within a single locale.</p>

<p>Residential units seamlessly coexist with commercial establishments, retail outlets, dining venues, entertainment hubs, and recreational facilities, with the combination not only enhances convenience but also fosters a vibrant lifestyle and a sense of community.</p>

<h3>Convenience and accessibility</h3>

<p>Mixed-use developments are designed with convenience in mind. They often integrate residential units with commercial spaces, retail outlets, restaurants, and recreational facilities, creating a self-contained community.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=114215 project_image_fid=204874]</p>

<p>The proximity allows residents to enjoy the convenience of having essential amenities and services within walking distance. Whether it's grabbing a cup of coffee, going grocery shopping, or accessing healthcare services, everything is conveniently located, saving residents time and effort.</p>

<h3>Vibrant lifestyle and community</h3>

<p>One of the major advantages of mixed-use developments is the vibrant lifestyle they offer. With a diverse range of amenities and communal spaces, residents have ample opportunities to interact, socialise, and build a sense of community.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=107714 project_image_fid=214122]</p>

<p>The presence of parks, community centres, and shared spaces fosters a lively atmosphere, encouraging residents to engage in various activities and events. The vibrant lifestyle within these developments creates a unique sense of belonging and camaraderie among the residents.</p>

<h3>Potential for higher rental yields and property value appreciation</h3>

<p>Mixed-use developments tend to attract a broad range of tenants and buyers due to their versatile nature. This high demand can result in higher rental yields for investors and potentially lead to property value appreciation over time.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=139989 project_image_fid=212887]</p>

<p>The integration of commercial and retail spaces attracts businesses, which can provide a stable rental income stream. Additionally, the popularity of mixed-use developments often drives up property values, making them a potentially lucrative investment in the long term.</p>

<h3>Enhanced security and maintenance</h3>

<p>Mixed-use developments typically have comprehensive security measures in place. With controlled access points, CCTV surveillance, and professional security staff, residents can enjoy enhanced safety and peace of mind.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=108019 project_image_fid=212658]</p>

<p>Additionally, these developments often have dedicated maintenance teams responsible for the upkeep of common areas, landscaping, and infrastructure. This ensures that the overall appearance and functionality of the development are well-maintained, creating a pleasant living environment for residents.</p>

<h3>Live-work-play balance</h3>

<p>One of the key attractions of mixed-use developments is the ability to achieve a desirable live-work-play balance. The integration of residential and commercial spaces allows residents to live closer to their workplaces, reducing commuting time and improving work-life balance.</p>

<p>The proximity to various amenities and recreational facilities encourages an active and healthy lifestyle. Residents can easily access fitness centres, parks, restaurants, and entertainment options, all within the same development, leading to a more fulfilling and convenient way of life.</p>


alisonwarters@gmail.com

The top five reasons to buy in a mixed-use development

<p style="line-height: 1.38;">When buying a property, everyone needs to be aware of the additional costs that come as part of the buying process.</p>

<p style="line-height: 1.38;">Often the largest outlay, after the deposit which goes to the bank, is stamp duty.</p>

<h2 style="line-height: 1.38;">What is Stamp Duty?</h2>

<p>Stamp duty is an extra tax to pay the government when you buy land, a property, and other certain assets.</p>

<p>It happens when the legal ownership is transferred. It can also be known as property transfer duty or transfer duty.</p>

<p style="line-height: 1.38;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C32BWkB5--c" title="YouTube video player" width="660"></iframe></p>

<h2>Who pays Stamp Duty?</h2>

<p>In some circumstances, you may get an exemption. For some states, you won’t have to pay for stamp duty if you are a first home buyer or a pensioner for houses under a particular price. There are also stamp duty concessions, where you may be entitled to a discount.</p>

<h2>How much does Stamp Duty cost?</h2>

<p>Each state has different rules which affect how much you need to pay. These rules can affect the rate you pay, and the timeframe you will need to pay in. Before you buy land or a property, make sure you check the up-to-date information for your state’s stamp duty.</p>

<p>You can use a free stamp duty calculator online to see approximately how much you’ll need to pay. Find out if you’re eligible for an exemption by enquiring on a project via Urban!</p>

<p>Overall, the stamp duty you need to pay will depend on:</p>

<ul>
	<li aria-level="1">How much your land/property is worth</li>
	<li aria-level="1">Where your land/property is located</li>
	<li aria-level="1">What type of land/property it is</li>
</ul>

<p style="line-height:1.38">Want to find out more? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@UrbanAustralia?utm_source=YouTube&amp;utm_medium=Video&amp;utm_campaign=Subscribe&amp;utm_id=Subscribe">Subscribe to our YouTube channel</a> for more property videos.</p>


Ellen Walker

Off-the-plan property explained: What is stamp duty?

<p>Prominent New Zealand apartment and hotel operator, <a href="/developers/safari-group">Safari Group</a>, is offering up a prime investment opportunity for Australians to purchase off the plan in one of the world’s most popular ski destinations.</p>

<p>They recently took to market Mountain Oak Queenstown Apartments, in the growing precinct of Remarkables Park in Frankton, near the airport and at the foot of The Remarkables - the mountain range the locals like to call “The Remarks”.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Sydney investors have shown interest in the one, two and three-bedroom apartments that secure high-season occupancy six months over the year, primarily over summer and winter months.</p>

<p>They average 90 per cent occupancy across their portfolio over January, February, March, August, November and December, while shoulder season months of April, July, September and October are still occupied 70 per cent of the time, with the growing appeal of Queenstown becoming not just a hotspot for the snow, but a lifestyle destination.</p>

<p>Even in the low seasons of May and June, occupancy levels reach around 40 per cent.</p>

<p><img alt="Safari Group’s Mountain Oak Apartments brings new investment potential to Queenstown" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/f_auto,c_limit,w_1440,q_auto/https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/field/image/Ext_Cam15_Sunny.jpg?VersionId=SJAROUM_1s.Tr5ciMk4EEj5oAt_Vewmv" /></p>

<p>Safari’s Safari Hotels arm can also manage the holiday letting for an investor, from the listing on holiday accommodation websites such as Airbnb and Booking.com to the cleaning and maintenance of the investment. They’ve been in the short stay management business for 15 years and offer 24/7 support for investors, an important convenience benefit for any overseas investor</p>

<p>Another major drawcard for Australians is that New Zealand doesn’t have a stamp duty policy - so the entry price of NZ$639,000 (AU$586,000), is all that is payable on completion.</p>

<p><img alt="Safari Group’s Mountain Oak Apartments brings new investment potential to Queenstown" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,dpr_2.0,q_auto:good/https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/313_Livingv2_WEB.jpg?VersionId=nV229fM0ZeYpoxOrX372HyGjfwY_LR8c" /></p>

<p>Safari is starting construction of the 141 apartments in Q2 this year, with a two-year build estimated to complete in mid-to-late 2027.<span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><img alt="" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" height="15" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXczFpFAb7WuA6f4f9TtKWcqXyNwR8qqtakWv352ERkpqNlP3KwIo8YKxw67jZNHfpjEGIZGv5MQTbnvLZwNt8iu9IVdOrswOjCvBZ4zhSoOOLrpt6etVEZTN1gkBho0r_R72zdHNA?key=yq3daOanqHSb88QFd8jGYKdb" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>​</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p>The apartments will feature modern amenities and contemporary designs with expansive windows capturing sweeping views of The Remarkables mountain range.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Interiors are equipped with modern finishes, premium appliances, and secure electronic key-locked doors, ensuring a comfortable living experience for residents and guests alike.</p>

<p>With its strategic location near Coronet Peak and Cardrona Alpine Resort, as well as key retail and dining precincts such as Market Street, Five Mile Shopping Centre, and Remarkables Market, Mountain Oak offers a strong proposition for investors seeking high rental yields and capital appreciation in one of New Zealand’s most sought-after locations.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Queenstown’s sustained demand for visitor accommodation and rental properties is underpinned by a shortage of housing options, attracting both local and international buyers.</p>


Safari Group offers low-touch investment proposition in Queenstown’s popular ski fields district

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<p>With housing affordability now front and centre, it will be a very interesting meeting next week when the Housing Ministers meet to explain what they are doing to address these anomalies to the Treasurer Scott Morrison.</p>
<p>In NSW for example ,there are two very big property elephants about to enter the room in November and December that most don’t know about and they will have massive impacts in the clear majority of Sydney suburbs.</p>
<p>The first are the unprecedented reforms to strata laws which commence on November 30, 2016. Presently with strata properties a developer can’t acquire the entire block without the owners being in 100 per cent agreement, but from November 30, the 100 per cent has been reduced to 75 per cent. Now most who live in a house may well say – no big deal there. There is much, much more that home owners need to know, as property developers will start cherry-picking older style small strata blocks with the view to developing the entire site and they will be much higher than what is there now.</p>
<p>In late 2015, the Baird Government set up what is known today, as the Greater Sydney Commission (GSC), headed by Lucy Turnbull who has been tasked with delivering 680,000 new homes by 2031. Local councils have no say in what the GSC approve as they determine what was previously known as Local Environmental Plan (LEP) and Business Control Plan (BCP).Your traditional local council today, merely collects rates, issues parking fines, mows lawns and trims trees, the local planning side of the equation now rests with the GSC.</p>
<p>In December, the GSC will announce nine corridors across Sydney which have been approved for high – density developments. I’m told the nearest to me will be North Sydney/Crows Nest to get the ball rolling and the GSC is smart in that it won’t announce areas that are presently identified as no – go – zones with the lenders.</p>
<p>Now 680,000 new homes are clearly the biggest roll – out in NSW history where every suburb will have a role to play in some shape or form. This would explain why the NSW Government has just rubber stamped a $2 billion allocation to construct the much-awaited tunnel from the northern beaches to the Sydney CBD. Along all the major roads you can expect high-rise where previously local councils have protected historical architectural building merit, although that now appears to have been lost with the forming of the GSC.</p>
<p>Whilst it would be fair and reasonable to suggest that the major roads are the perfect fit for new high density developments I am much more concerned about the property developers cherry – picking the smaller apartment blocks as these are located off the main roads. You don’t change strata ownership laws where a block only requires 75 per cent approval now to sell to developers – for good reason without an explanation – which has not been forthcoming. These significant changes could see property developers running amok in suburbs across Sydney as the ownership ratio reduction reeks of property developers lobbying to get this through to make the acquisition process much easier.</p>
<p>The unknown part of this is that nobody (aside from developers and the GSC) know just how much of the air space above the current roof lines they will be permitted to subdivide?</p>
<p>Of course, the NSW Government is the major winner here as they will collect billions of dollars in stamp duty and land tax on a scale never seen before. This also all but guarantees a strong economy for NSW for quite some considerable time to come so that needs to be given fair consideration also.</p>
<p>The days of a single property owner holding out against a property developer are soon to be over for some of 2,000,000 people in NSW who reside in an apartment. We need to focus on the 680,000 new homes so allow me to put that into perspective – over the next 24 months approximately 230,000 brand new apartments in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will be completed so that 230,000 is approximately just one third of what Sydney needs to produce over the coming 15 years.</p>
<p>This will affect everyone in NSW with Sydney copping the brunt of this building bonanza. So, when Scott Morrison meets with the Housing Ministers next week no doubt he will be smiling along with every property developer in NSW.</p>
<p>Keep an eye out for the GSC announcement in December which should be made public on Christmas eve or sometime after Christmas and before New Year’s Eve – as we all know how Governments work when it comes to handling and announcing such sensitive matters.</p>
<p>MOSMAN – 2088<br>Number of houses on the market this time last year – 75<br>Number of houses on the market last week – 63<br>Number of houses on the market this week – 59<br>Number of apartments on the market this time last year – 60<br>Number of apartments on the market last week – 47<br>Number of apartments on the market this week – 45</p>
<p>CREMORNE – 2090<br>Number of houses on the market this time last year – 6<br>Number of houses on the market last week – 9<br>Number of houses on the market this week – 7<br>Number of apartments on the market this time last year – 17<br>Number of apartments on the market last week – 23<br>Number of apartments on the market this week – 21</p>
<p>NEUTRAL BAY – 2089<br>Number of houses on the market this time last year – 6<br>Number of houses on the market last week – 8<br>Number of houses on the market this week – 5<br>Number of apartments on the market this time last year – 30<br>Number of apartments on the market last week – 23<br>Number of apartments on the market this week – 26</p>
<p><em>ROBERT SIMEON is a director of </em><em><a href="https://www.rwm.com.au/" target="_blank" title="RWM" rel="nofollow">Richardson Wrench Mosman and Neutral Bay</a> </em><em>and has been selling residential real estate in Sydney since 1985. </em></p>
<p><em>He has also been writing real estate blog </em><em><a href="https://www.rwm.com.au/news/" target="_blank" title="Virtual Realty News" rel="nofollow">Virtual Realty News</a> </em><em>since 2000.</em></p>
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robertsimeon-hRNTwJyXkQ

Sydney has a new property face – you’ll be either happy or angry

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<p><em>Dear Margaret,</em></p>
<p><em>I wonder if you can help I don't really know we're to start, we live in South Australia and my mother wants to transfer her home over to me.</em></p>
<p><em> I have been living and caring for my mother for 16 years after my father died. What would be the cost to transfer the house to me? What do I need to do?</em></p>
<p><em>Ellen </em></p>
<p>Dear Ellen </p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">When someone thinks of property and tax, they normally think about the relationship that those two have for investors, and the impact of taxation rules on property investors. </p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">However there are many aspects of tax law which become applicable to owner occupiers or owners of property which are not rented out which are often overlooked. This can create a real tax nightmare at a later date.</p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">It may seem that transferring a home into the name of a child is a simple matter, however it can have far reaching consequences which must be thought through before it occurs.</p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">The first consideration is stamp duty. Where a family transfer occurs, the only transfer which is exempt from stamp duty is between spouses.  Generally, a transfer from a parent to a child will attract stamp duty, levied on the market value of the home, even if no money changes hands on the transaction.</p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">The second consideration is tax.  While there is no tax to pay on this transfer, since it was your mother’s principal place of residence, in some cases of family transfer, where the property was an investment property for the parents, capital gains tax responsibilities can pass to the child along with the property.</p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">In your case, being in South Australia, the transfer of the property will attract stamp duty pursuant the Stamp Duties Act 1923 (SA). As you are receiving the property, this must be paid by you. The stamp duty payable on the transfer will be charged ad valorem, which means that it will be charged based on the market value of the interest transferred. So the amount of the stamp duty payable will depend on the value of the property.</p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">You can get a lawyer to draw up a document which allows this transfer – a contract for sale should not be necessary, and that lawyer can also arrange for the transfer.  So, in addition to paying the stamp duty, you will pay for the legal costs of both drawing up the agreement to transfer the land plus any government and statutory charges applicable in your state for the title transfer.</p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal"><span>Have a property question? </span><span><em> </em><a href="mailto:%20&lt;script%20type='text/javascript'&gt;%20/n%20&lt;/script&gt;&lt;script%20type='text/javascript'&gt;%20%20&lt;/script&gt;This%20email%20address%20is%20being%20protected%20from%20spambots.%20You%20need%20JavaScript%20enabled%20to%20view%20it.%20&lt;script%20type='text/javascript'&gt;%20%20&lt;/script&gt;" target="_blank"><span><em>Ask Margaret!</em></span></a></span></p>
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mlomas-KC9MUPZ6Ca

Transferring a property to a sibling: Ask Margaret

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<p>We all know Spring as supposedly the best time to be bringing your home to the market. </p>
<p>What is often forgotten is that if everyone acts in the same way looking to sell during Spring, there is a lot more competition amongst vendors and it can be more difficult to sell.  In fact, looking at auction markets, the clearance rate quite regularly falls during Spring as volumes rise.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/11/27/chart-1-1.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/11/27/chart-1-1.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>On a weekly basis throughout 2016, auction clearance rates across the combined capital cities have been recorded at an average of 70.9 percent.  If we compare this to the previous years, the average weekly auction clearance rates were recorded at: 48.0 percent in 2011, 50.4 percent in 2012, 66.2 percent in 2013, 67.8 percent in 2014 and 72.0 percent in 2015.  Over recent years clearance rates have fallen over the final quarter of the year, however, this year there has been no such fade-away in clearance rates.  In comparison to 2015 for example, auction clearance rates were much higher earlier in the year than they have been this year while in 2015 clearance rates faded substantially over the final quarter of the year.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/11/27/chart-2-2.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/11/27/chart-2-2.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>The average number of properties being put up for auction each week has been lower in 2016 than it has been over recent years.  So far in 2016, there has, on average, been 1,765 auctions each week across the capital cities.  By comparison, average auction counts over recent years have been recorded at: 1,384 in 2011, 1,334 in 2012, 1,733 in 2013, 2,029 in 2014 and 2,170 in 2015.   </p>
<p>Auction volumes so far this year have been similar to those in 2013 however, in 2013 average clearance rates were on average quite a bit lower at 66.2 percent compared to 70.9 percent this year.  If we look at the past three years auction volumes through the final quarter of the year, we can see volumes rising through Spring as the selling euphoria hits.  So far this year, , volumes have risen but they have not hit the heights of 2014 and 2015, subsequently auction clearance rates have so far not faded through the end of the year like they did in 2014 and 2015 and have in each of the previous years highlighted.</p>
<p>A lower volume of auctions overall has certainly been a key driver of why auction clearance rates have been stronger this year.  Importantly, this is not just a feature of the auction market itself, new and total listings in the two largest auction markets (Sydney and Melbourne) are lower than they were a year ago so overall, there is less stock available for sale to choose from.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/11/27/chart-3-2.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/11/27/chart-3-2.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Focusing on auction statistics for the final quarter of each of the past four years in the regions of Sydney and Melbourne it shows that almost every region in both cities has seen an increase in average auction clearance rates so far in 2016 compared to 2015.  At the same time, average auction volumes are lower than they were last year across all regions of Sydney and Melbourne. </p>
<p>In Sydney in particular the regions that have had relatively weaker auction clearance rates over recent years have generally so far this year seen proportionally fewer auctions.  This seems to suggest that vendors are getting more selective about using an auction to sell in those areas which are not traditional auction-centric markets.</p>
<p>The combination of fewer overall properties for sale, fewer homes being taken to auction and vendors being more selective around which homes to auction seems to be resulting in much stronger auction clearance rates.  Additional factors over the year such as lower interest rates are also likely to be supporting the market.  If these conditions persist, it is reasonable to expect that for the remainder of 2016 and into 2017 the auction market will remain strong.</p>
<div>
<p><em>Cameron Kusher is research analyst for CoreLogic. You can contact him <a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/about/">here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
</div>
<div> </div>
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ckusher-ujnxiKuFQs

Spring auction clearance rates not fading like past selling seasons

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<p>Hotspotting’s Dirty Dozen – the 12 worst places to invest in Australia – has for a long time been dominated by markets closely linked to the resources sector. </p>
<p>The latest batch – included in the new edition of <em>The Price Predictor Index</em> – has a different flavour. Half of the locations are suburban markets, with considerably less dominance by the mining-related centres.</p>
<p>There are two reasons: oversupply has coincided with a decline in sales to turn many city apartment markets no go zones – and there are glimmers of recovery in some of those down-trodden resources locations.</p>
<p>One of the most remarkable emerging news stories right now is the speed of the turnaround in perception, confidence and activity in the resources sector. After 2-3 years of “the resources boom is over” articles, suddenly the news is dominated by rising commodity prices and announcements of new mining ventures or the revival of projects previously mothballed. </p>
<p>This is particularly true in Queensland, where the spectacular rise in the price for coal has changed the mentality of the industry and perceptions about the state economy.</p>
<p>Personally, I wish they’d leave coal in the ground and find better, cleaner ways to make steel or fire up power stations. </p>
<p>But for anyone who owns real estate in places like Mackay, Emerald, Moranbah or Rockhampton in Queensland, as well as the towns of the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, this is seriously good news. There is now genuine hope of vacancy rates coming down and rents and prices rising again.</p>
<p>Consider this from <em>The Courier-Mail</em> on 17 October: “A third Queensland coal mine has announced its ­intention to restart production as demand out of China has pushed the spot price above $US220 a tonne. Cockatoo Coal has emerged from administration with a plan to restart the Baralaba mine early next year. It follows Glencore’s decision to restart production at the Collinsville mine, while Stanmore Coal has taken over the Isaac Plains mine from Vale and Sumitomo and has now settled contracts for November delivery of its semisoft coking coal at $US130 a tonne, which is 75 percent higher than September’s price.”</p>
<p>And this from <em>The Herald</em> in Newcastle on 14 October: “The Hunter coal industry is back on an optimistic footing after big rises in prices both for coking coal for steelmaking and the region’s main product, thermal coal for power stations. In round figures, thermal coal prices are up by about 70 percent on lows earlier this year, while coking coal, which makes up about 15 percent of Hunter output, has effectively doubled. The price increases have led analysts to re-rate most Hunter mines as profitable, whereas a year ago it was widely accepted that two out of three mines were losing money.”</p>
<p>Or this from the <em>Financial Review</em> on 12 October: “The mining industry has reached an agreement with Japanese steel makers that prices for most Australian coking coal will jump 117 percent in just three months, an increase that means that the benefit of rising prices could be felt across the economy. The agreement means most Australian coking coal will be sold for $US200 per tonne over the next three months, compared with $US81 per tonne in the March quarter. The boom in coal prices could add 2 percent to national income this year, boost Federal Budget revenues by close to $7 billion and start wages growing again. Less than a year after the coal industry was accused of being in terminal decline, shuttered mines across Queensland and NSW have been reopened.”</p>
<p><em>Business Insider</em> reported on 17 October: “With just over two months to go, it appears that 2016 could well be an important turning point for Australia’s mining sector. Commodity prices have recovered, the downturn in capital investment appears to be nearing its end and there are even some signs of a pickup in non-mining infrastructure investment, which is helping to boost sentiment after years of depressing, capital-destroying developments. For an economy that’s still highly-dependent on the mining sector, it’s been welcome news.”</p>
<p>What a startling difference in the rhetoric is so short a space of time.</p>
<p>There are all kinds of implications for economies and government budgets, but also for real estate in affected areas.</p>
<p>For those long-suffering investors who have been agonising over whether to cut their loses and get out of badly-performing properties in places like Gladstone in Queensland and Newman in Western Australia, there is now some hope that hanging on will deliver, in time, a reasonable outcome.</p>
<p><em>Terry Ryder is the founder of <a href="https://www.hotspotting.com.au/" target="_blank">hotspotting.com.au</a>. You can <a href="https://mailto:ryder@hotspotting.com.au" target="_blank">email him</a> or follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/hotspotting" target="_blank">Twitter.</a></em></p>
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terryryder-YECXbqmri2

Half of Hotspotting's Dirty Dozen now in suburban markets

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<p>There are many benefits developing property will bring, but what should you focus on when assessing a development opportunity?</p>
<p>I get lots of calls and love speaking to people about property development. It’s interesting to see what kind of questions are raised. There is one question that is asked often and that is; “what kind of Return on Investment (ROI) do we get from our development projects?”</p>
<p>Even though our ROI is pretty good, it varies from project to project - this can be a dangerous way to assess the success or otherwise of a property development.</p>
<p>“ROI is usually expressed as a percentage and is typically used for personal financial decisions, to compare a company's profitability or to compare the efficiency of different investments. The return on investment formula is: ROI = (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100.” Source: investinganswers.com</p>
<p>It can be a bit misleading to compare ROI on different opportunities as you need to be sure that you are comparing apples with apples. In Property Bloom cost calculations, we include every single cost, fee and charge, including our project management fee. But there is one thing that is hard to put a cost on.  Time.</p>
<p>Having a development professionally managed saves our clients valuable time.  If you didn’t use a project manager and made a higher ROI but your development took you twice as long to complete, then you need to consider the ROI over say two years instead of one. </p>
<p>But focussing on ROI can also mean that you are missing the other valuable advantages that property development can bring. These include:</p>
<p>-       Yield – higher yield is created through adding value, this leads to passive income</p>
<p>-       Strategy Flexibility – hold them, sell them, hold a few or sell a few</p>
<p>-       Equity creation – whilst waiting for capital growth, access the equity that has been created through the development process by refinancing/selling</p>
<p>-       Depreciation – create tax credits</p>
<p>-       Fast growth of portfolio – increase your collection of properties quickly</p>
<p>-       Experience – with each development, your experience widens</p>
<p>-       Fun &amp; exciting – beats watching TV</p>
<p>So, there are many other ways apart from the ROI, to assess what you’ll get out of a development project and it’s worth considering the bigger picture.</p>
<p><em><em>Jo Chivers is chief executive officer of property development project managers <a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/about" target="_blank">Property Bloom</a><a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/">.</a></em></em></p>
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Is ROI the best way to assess a development project?

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<p>Most research sources have Melbourne leading on annual house price growth – and it’s not so surprising, when you look at the sales data.</p>
<p>The ABS, the Real Estate Institute of Australia and Domain all have Melbourne leading the nation for house price increases (although Hobart is challenging strongly).</p>
<p>Where’s Sydney in all this? CoreLogic continues to publish massive growth numbers for the Sydney house market, but those other three sources listed in the previous paragraph all record annual growth around 3 or 4 percent for the Sydney housing market.</p>
<p>Quite apart from the ludicrous proposition that you can reduce a metropolitan area with over 700 suburbs down to a single growth figure, this reinforces my view that all real estate statistics are rubbery figures to some degree.</p>
<p>When you have media constantly quoting one source (the one that reports massive annual growth) and then all those other sources which are suggesting Sydney’s price boom is over (but largely ignored by media), it’s difficult to know what to believe.</p>
<p>Here’s what I do know for certain: sales volumes gradually faded in Melbourne throughout 2016 but, late in the year and early in 2017, staged a revival. The city’s various markets are proving very resilient, no doubt boosted by nation-leading population growth and a state economy which, while not as strong as Sydney’s, is performing well.</p>
<p>My research shows that the busiest markets are split between the best of the Middle Melbourne areas and the strongest of the affordable outer-ring areas.</p>
<p>And the most affordable areas of metropolitan Melbourne have taken over as the city’s price-growth leaders. Many have delivered double-digit growth in their median house prices in the past 12 months.</p>
<p>As one example, all suburbs in the Sunshine precinct in Melbourne’s west are above 12%, including some which have grown 23-25% in the past year. Again, this data is presented with a reminder that all real estate figures are rubbery – but when all suburbs in an area are delivering the same strong growth pattern, you can be reasonably confident that something notable is happening.</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">Two Middle Melbourne precincts stand out: the Moreland LGA and the Whitehorse LGA. Both have numerous suburbs where sales activity is still growing.</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">These and other Middle Ring precincts had been fading gradually, in terms of sales activity, throughout 2016 but have come roaring back to life. Sales levels are still lower than the peaks of 2015, but remain very solid and prices continue to grow.</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">Typical growth areas in the Moreland LGA include Glenroy, where sales have been 113, 149, 143 and 165 in consecutive quarters. Other standout suburbs are Coburg, Coburg North, Hadfield, Pascoe Vale, Oak Park and Pascoe Vale South.</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">Whitehorse was the Melbourne market leader in 2015 before sales levels plateau-ed in most of its suburbs throughout 2016. But there has been a recent revival to stronger sales activity, led by Blackburn, Burwood East, Mitcham, Nunawading and Surrey Hills.</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">Four bottom-end markets are close behind in the terms of the number of growth markets: the LGAs of Brimbank (west), Whittlesea (far north), Casey (far south-east) and Hume (far north).</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">The far north of metropolitan Melbourne features strongly. The Whittlesea LGA (seven) and the Hume LGA (five) jointly have 12 suburbs with growing sales activity.</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">Whittlesea is consistently one of the city’s strongest markets, driven by affordability, strong infrastructure and proximity to jobs nodes. The suburb of Lalor, with sales rising from 64 to 101 to 117 to 121 in recent quarters, is typical. Nearby Epping has lifted quarterly sales from 110 to 135 to 145. </p>
<p class="BodyCopy">Neighbouring Hume has similar qualities. The suburb of Craigieburn has recorded sales totalling 175, 228, 239 and 244 in the past four quarters.</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">The leading precinct in the far south-east is the City of Casey, which has five Rising Steadily suburbs, led by Cranbourne, Doveton and Narre Warren.</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">Other affordable outer-ring precincts with growth markets include Melton is the far west, Wyndham in the far south-west and Frankston in the far south-east.</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">Middle-ring areas travelling well, in addition to Whitehorse and Moreland, include the LGAs of Monash (Ashwood, Glen Waverley and Mulgrave), Maroondah (Croydon North, Ringwood and Ringwood East) and Banyule (Heidelberg Heights, Ivanhoe and Greensborough).</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">The worst performers in an otherwise strong Melbourne market are the inner-city apartment precincts.</p>
<p class="BodyCopy">I classify both the Melbourne CBD and Docklands as <em>Danger</em> markets. Sales levels have dropped markedly at a time of increasing apartment supply and growing state and federal measures likely to discourage foreign investors, who are the target of many of the inner-city high-rise projects.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">T<em>erry Ryder is the founder of </em><a href="https://www.hotspotting.com.au/"><span class="s2"><em>hotspotting.com.au</em></span></a><em>. You can  </em><a href="mailto:%20%3Cscript%20type='text/javascript'%3E%20%3C!--%20var%20prefix%20=%20'ma'%20+%20'il'%20+%20'to';%20var%20path%20=%20'hr'%20+%20'ef'%20+%20'=';%20var%20addy38821%20=%20'ryder'%20+%20'@';%20addy38821%20=%20addy38821%20+%20'hotspotting'%20+%20'.'%20+%20'com'%20+%20'.'%20+%20'au';%20document.write('%3Ca%20'%20+%20path%20+%20'/''%20+%20prefix%20+%20':'%20+%20addy38821%20+%20'/'%3E');%20document.write(addy38821);%20document.write('%3C//a%3E');%20//--%3E/n%20%3C/script%3E%3Cscript%20type='text/javascript'%3E%20%3C!--%20document.write('%3Cspan%20style=/'display:%20none;/'%3E');%20//--%3E%20%3C/script%3EThis%20email%20address%20is%20being%20protected%20from%20spambots.%20You%20need%20JavaScript%20enabled%20to%20view%20it.%20%3Cscript%20type='text/javascript'%3E%20%3C!--%20document.write('%3C/');%20document.write('span%3E');%20//--%3E%20%3C/script%3E"><span class="s2"><em>email him</em></span></a><em> or follow him on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/hotspotting"><span class="s2"><em>Twitter.</em></span></a></span></p>
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Melbourne's two dangerous residential markets

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<div>There was an interesting media story this week where Saul Eslake noted that the recent hike in investor mortgage rates could result in a "hit" to the budget totalling hundreds of millions of dollars. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>It was a good yarn, albeit one which stopped somewhat short of telling the full story. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>In fact between the 2008 and 2014 tax years the average net rental loss has cratered by 64 per cent.<br><br>Given that mortgage rates have declined substantially since 2014, the budget impact today of negative gearing appears to be heading towards trifling.</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/03/27/A2.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
<div>
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/03/27/A2.jpg" alt=""> </div>
<div>In any case - omitted in Eslake's calculations - higher mortgage rates will simply lead to higher bank profits, and in turn a higher corporation tax take. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>The banks like to argue that they have faced rising funding costs, but in reality funding costs fell in 2015 and fell even further in 2016.<br><br>Yeah, I know, the banks are doing it tough out there now. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Evidence? Check out Commonwealth Bank's outrageous record profit of more than $4.9 billion for the first half, up yet again by another 6 per cent from the prior corresponding period. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Meanwhile, rents have been rising, so over recent tax years net rental income has been steadily moving towards zero as more property investors record net rental profits on their tax return (remember these numbers need to be tax effected at the relevant marginal rate). </div>
<p><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/03/27/A1.jpg" target="_blank"> Click to enlarge</a></p>
<div class="separator"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/03/27/A1.jpg" alt=""></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Indeed, the number of landlords declaring a net rental loss is all but unchanged since the 2008 tax year despite Australia's rising population.</div>
<p><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/03/27/A3.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<div class="separator"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/03/27/A3.jpg" alt=""></div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Back to those rack rates...</span></strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>According to the Reserve Bank of Australia's Statistical Tables the standard variable rate on investor loans was already up to 5.55 per cent by January.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>But here's the thing: who is really paying such a high rate of interest today, when investor loan products have been available from around 4 per cent?<br><br>Probably not that many people, I reckon.</div>
<p><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/03/27/A4.jpg" target="_blank"> Click to enlarge</a></p>
<div class="separator"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/03/27/A4.jpg" alt=""></div>
<p><br><span>For evidence? Take a look at the national accounts.</span></p>
<div>With the population having increased by about 16 percent from 21 million in 2008 to 24.4 million today, you'd expect to see interest charges rising over time.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Yet the amount of interest payable on dwellings today is lower than it was in 2008.<br><br>The total interest payable by households on outstanding mortgage debt implies a considerably lower average mortgage rate than the quoted 'rack rates' (record mortgage buffers and the use of offset accounts have likely played a role here too). </div>
<p><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/03/27/A5.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<div class="separator"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/03/27/A5.jpg" alt=""></div>
<p> </p>
<div><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The wrap</span></strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>With mortgage rates having declined since the last available full suite of tax data for financial year 2014, the impact of negative gearing on the Federal Budget would now be getting fairly close to zero.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Meanwhile, state government figures show that revenue offices are cleaning up from investor activity, with New South Wales alone swallowing up <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/nsw-stamp-duty-boom-continues-in-2017" target="_blank">an outlandish $9.4 billion in stamp and transfer duties</a> over the year to January 2017.<br><br>Negative gearing doesn't really represent a 'loss' to the budget as such - rather it is a timing difference, with the 'loss' typically recouped as investment properties become cash flow positive over time, or in capital gains tax at the point of sale.<br><br>With relatively few new dwellings being bought or constructed by owner-occupiers, the government also saves further by constructing comparatively little social housing.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The reality is that after accounting for the undoubted disruption to residential construction, the economy, and to housing markets, Federal Budget savings from changing negative gearing rules today would be approximately diddly squat.<br><br>Treasurer ScoMo won't be going there. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of <a href="https://allenwargent.com/"><span class="s2">AllenWargent</span></a> property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/"><span class="s2">blogger</span></a>.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s3"><em>His latest book is </em><a href="https://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/General-Interest/Four-Green-Houses--and-a-Red-Hotel/1015/productview.aspx"><span class="s2"><em>Four Green Houses and a Red Hotel</em></span></a><em>.</em></span></p>
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Rental losses are falling: Pete Wargent

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<p>Lending finance was shaping higher again by July, back up to $71.6 billion in trend terms, to be +6.7 per cent higher than a year ago, and getting pretty close to the highs of 2015.</p>
<div id="post-body-6073029281620770471" class="post-body entry-content">
<div class="separator"><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/09/15/A5.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
<div class="separator"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/09/15/A5.jpg" alt=""></div>
<br><div>Commercial lending to businesses picked up, which is generally seen to be a good sign, while housing lending to owner-occupiers hit a record high. </div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/09/15/A2.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
<br><div class="separator"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/09/15/A2.jpg" alt=""></div>
<br><div>Personal lending commitments are tracking back down at levels not seen since 2002.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>This was mirrored by data elsewhere, with the Reserve Bank's statistical tables showing average credit card balances at their lowest level in nearly a decade. </div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/09/15/rba.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
<br><div class="separator"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/09/15/rba.jpg" alt=""></div>
<br>This does not fit the stretched household budgets theme.<br><br><div><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Investor juggernaut slowed</span></strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Property investment loans are being successfully slowed by regulatory measures, and this is now filtering through into the rolling annual data at the state level. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Interestingly the credit squeeze may be impacting the states that were already weak more keenly, rather than New South Wales and Victoria, though lending to investors is set to slow across the board. </div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/09/15/A1.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
<br><div class="separator"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/09/15/A1.jpg" alt=""></div>
<div class="separator"> </div>
Elsewhere, investor loans are rolling over in the nation's capital.</div>
<div class="post-body entry-content"> </div>
<div class="post-body entry-content">
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/09/15/A4.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a><br><br><div class="separator"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/09/15/A4.jpg" alt=""></div>
<br>And in Darwin, err, yikes.</div>
<div class="post-body entry-content"> </div>
<div class="post-body entry-content">
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/09/15/A3.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a><br><br><div class="separator"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/09/15/A3.jpg" alt=""></div>
<br><div><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The wrap</span></strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Overall, this was a positive result given the lift in commercial lending to business, while in the property market, lending continues to shift from investors to homebuyers.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I had a meeting with the brilliant Jonathan Tepper of Variant Perception this week - a considerably smarter fellow than you or I - and it was interesting to compare notes on where Variant sees Australia's economy heading.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>While VP's research reports are confidential to subscribers, their leading index has rolled over on Australia's economy, a major driver of this being the coming downturn in residential construction.</div>
<div>
<br>Westpac's leading index has followed a remarkably similar trend. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Residential construction made a very positive contribution to the economy is 2016, but by 2018 Westpac sees this as becoming an equivalently significant drag (and although non-residential building has been picking up, this is expected to be less labour-intensive. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Job advertisements figures suggest that hiring will remain solid over the next 6 months, but it wouldn't be a shock if rate cuts are back on the agenda in 2018 especially after a weak inflation result for Q4 is released to the market early next year. </div>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of <a href="https://allenwargent.com/" target="_blank"><span class="s2">AllenWargent</span></a> property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span class="s2">blogger</span></a>.</span></p>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title"> </h3>
<p class="p2"><span class="s3"><em>His latest book is </em><a href="https://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/General-Interest/Four-Green-Houses--and-a-Red-Hotel/1015/productview.aspx" target="_blank"><span class="s2"><em>Four Green Houses and a Red Hotel</em></span></a><em>.</em></span></p>
<p> </p>
</div>
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Property lending finance picks up: Pete Wargent

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<p>GUEST OBSERVER</p>
<p>The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released their biennial survey of household income and wealth earlier this week.  </p>
<p>The release has a huge amount of valuable data but at least initially I thought it was pertinent to look at the dwelling tenure data.  </p>
<p>The information is provided from 1994-95 up until the latest release (2015-16).</p>
<p>The tenure data is premised upon who is currently residing in the property, this is important to understand because when we look at the proportion of residents who own without a mortgage for example this doesn’t necessarily represent the total number of dwellings owned outright.  The reason being that some of those properties that are occupied by renters may be owned outright by the person who is renting that property out.</p>
<p>Click to enlarge</p>
<p><img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/09/22/2017-09-18-articleimage1.png" alt=""></p>
<p> <br>As at the 2015-16 release 30.4% of households were lived in by someone that owned that property outright.  </p>
<p>This figure was lower than the 31.4% in 2013-14 and as the above chart shows it has been steadily trending lower over recent years.</p>
<p>In fact, at the peak throughout the timeframe shown, 42.8% of households had no mortgage in 1995-96.  This is an interesting statistic when you consider than many people suggest that lower mortgage rates result in improved housing affordability.  </p>
<p>In June 1996 the standard variable mortgage rate was recorded at 9.75% compared to a mortgage rate of 5.4% in June 2016.  The ongoing decline in mortgage rates has pushed dwelling values higher and although it has made servicing mortgage debt easier it has not led to a greater proportion of the population living mortgage free.</p>
<p>Click to enlarge</p>
<p><img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/09/22/2017-0918-articleimage2.png" alt=""></p>
<p> <br>With fewer households owning their home outright, there has been an increase in the proportion of households that live in a home that they own and still carry mortgage debt.  In 2015-16, 37.1% of households had mortgage debt which has increased from 35.8% in 2013-14.</p>
<p> At its low point over the period highlighted on the chart, 28.1% of households had mortgage debt in 1995-96.  Since 2003-04, there has consistently been a higher proportion of households with mortgage debt than those without.</p>
<p>Click to enlarge</p>
<p><img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/09/22/2017-09-18-articleimage3.png" alt=""></p>
<p> <br>As the rates of outright home ownership have fallen there has been a rise in the proportion of households which are rented.  </p>
<p>Whereas outright home ownership has continued to fall and ownership with a mortgage has risen, it is interesting to note how the proportion of rental households has actually declined since the last survey.  </p>
<p>The latest data shows that in 2015-16, 30.3% of households nationally were rented compared to 31.0% in 2013-14.  Back in 1994-95 only 25.7% of households were rented.  </p>
<p>Click to enlarge</p>
<p><img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/09/22/2017-09-18-articleimage4.png" alt=""></p>
<p> <br>As the prominence of renting has increased over time, the responsibility to provide rental accommodation has increasingly fallen on private citizens rather than the public sector.</p>
<p>At its peak in 1995-96, 6.0% of households were rental properties which were rented from state housing authorities, by 2015-16 this figure had fallen to just 3.5%.  This is an important consideration for governments when considering potential changes to investment policies such as negative gearing.</p>
<p>Governments are clearly not as involved in providing housing as they have been in the past, if private citizens or companies are going to be responsible for providing that housing it is likely they will require some incentives other than just the rental income, escpecially considering how low rental yields are across Australian cities.</p>
<p>The charts presented highlight how home ownership is continuing to decline which is leading to a greater proportion of the population either being in mortgage debt or renting.  </p>
<p>As the population ages this can create challenges especially if an increasing number of Australians are retiring but still carry mortgage debt.  It also highlights that simply building more homes is not necessarily a solution to increasing home ownership rates.  </p>
<p>As we’ve seen over recent years during a housing construction boom first home buyer levels have been at near record-lows and housing investment levels have hit all-time highs.  Arresting the decline in home ownership in Australia will be no easy feat however, the data indicates that simply building more housing won’t necessarily solve the problem particularly if it isn’t at a price point which is reachable for lower and middle income earners.  </p>
<p>We would expect that over the coming years, the rate of home ownership will continue to fall especially given we have seen dwelling values continue to climb since June 2016.</p>
<p><span>Cameron Kusher is research analyst for CoreLogic. You can contact him </span><a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/about/" target="_blank">here</a><span>.</span></p>
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Home ownership rates continue to fall: Cameron Kusher

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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Publicity seekers love a bandwagon, preferably one that’s already travelling at a fair pace so that they can just leap on board and be carried along by the existing momentum.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">A popular bandwagon to hitch a ride on is the Brisbane inner-city apartment market. Everyone, it seems, has noticed that something is afoot and wants to be the latest and loudest to issue a “warning”.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">But the time to be warning about this was about three years ago. And November 2014 was when Property Observer published my column on this subject, the first of several I’ve written about this issue.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Way back then, this is what I wrote on Property Observer:</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2"><em>There will be repercussions from the over-building of apartments in Brisbane …</em></span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2"><em>In Brisbane, as in Melbourne, Sydney, the Gold Coast and other major unit markets, the inspiration for the high level of new building is the Chinese investment market. Everyone is targeting Chinese investors.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></em></span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2"><em>Developers and their marketing stooges don</em></span><span class="s3"><em>’</em></span><span class="s2"><em>t care about the vacancy rate figures. That</em></span><span class="s3"><em>’</em></span><span class="s2"><em>s someone else</em></span><span class="s3"><em>’</em></span><span class="s2"><em>s problem. If they can flog their apartments to Asian buyers, nothing else needs to be considered.</em></span><span style="font-size: 12.16px;"> </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2"><em>The people who will feel the most pain in the future will be the investor buyers. High vacancies will push down rents and the returns they will earn from their investment. That in turn will undermine values.</em></span><span style="font-size: 12.16px;"> </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2"><em>Others will suffer. Owners of existing properties in or near the inner-city will also find it hard to tenant their properties and will have to cut rents. Their values will fall also. Home-owners in those areas will be equally affected by falling values.</em></span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2">An investor contacted me recently to tell me that he had just read that column, but only after having signed a contract to buy an off-the-plan apartment in the Brisbane inner-city market. Horrified, and after doing further research, they sought to exit the contract.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2">The big problem for investors like this is that the industry keeps pumping out propaganda which talks up this market and individual high-rise projects - and lots of media outlets keep publishing it.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2">Back in November 2014, I wrote:</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2"><em>A media release this week was positively gushing in its eulogy of the Brisbane inner-city apartment market. Sales are surging, it said, and the level of new construction in the pipeline was a cause for celebration. The market, apparently, “continues to shine”.</em></span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2">That kind of dishonest press release material is still muddying the waters. The REIQ has been a particular culprit. If the institute can be believed (generally they can’t), vacancies are acceptable, there are lots of buyers and tenants, and all is well in central Brisbane.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2">But independent sources disagree. Louis Christopher’s SQM Research has vacancies at 5% or higher in the CBD, Fortitude Valley, New Farm, South Brisbane, West End and Woolloongabba. Kangaroo Point is slightly better off, at 4.4%, but that’s still too high.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2">The key factor is that the situation will worsen as new projects are completed and their apartments are added to the rental pool.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2">BIS Oxford Economics is the latest to issue a dire warning. It predicts Brisbane’s median unit price will fall 7% between now and 2020. I would suggest the decline will be greater than that.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2">Research data published recently shows that owners already are losing money on re-sales – and this is reinforced by median price data from CoreLogic. In the past 12 months, median unit prices have dropped 7% in Fortitude Valley, 8% in South Brisbane and 11% in both West End and Woolloongabba.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s2">Fortitude Valley, South Brisbane and West End all have median prices lower than three years ago.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Long-term growth rates in this market are fairly dismal as well. The average annual growth in median prices over the past decade have been 1.4% per year for the CBD, 1.1% for West End and a little over 2% per year for Kangaroo Point, Fortitude Valley and South Brisbane.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Those rather bleak growth rates will fall further as values continue to decline in the wake of the current over-supply.</span></p>
<p class="p4"> </p>
<p class="p5"><span class="s1"><em>Terry Ryder is the founder of hotspotting.com.au</em></span></p>
<p class="p6"><span class="s4"><a href="https://mailto:ryder@hotspotting.com.au"><em>ryder@hotspotting.com.au</em></a></span></p>
<p class="p7"><span class="s2"><em>twitter.com/hotspotting</em></span></p>
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