<p>The new <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/yarraville-green-42-stephen-street-yarraville-vic-3013">Yarraville Green</a> development in Melbourne's inner west is showing that landscaping can be just as influential as architecture, with buyers responding strongly to the garden-first approach adopted from the outset by developer Excelon Projects and the project's design team.</p>

<p>Excelon appointed Six Degrees Architects and landscape architects SBLA to work collaboratively on the development, with a brief to create "a sustainable, design-led building with a focus on community."</p>

<p>That approach has resonated with buyers. According to Next Chapter Director Tom Hirini, who is leading the sales campaign, the landscaped communal garden has become one of the project's defining features, alongside its boutique scale and European-inspired cluster housing concept.</p>

<p>Local downsizers, right-sizers and established families already living in Yarraville and surrounding suburbs have accounted for the majority of purchasers.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=144913 project_image_fid=297740]</p>

<p>Yarraville Green will comprise 53 homes, including apartments and townhomes, arranged around the shared central garden to maximise connections to the landscaped open space. Parking has been moved underground, allowing the ground plane to be dedicated to greenery, pedestrian movement and communal spaces.</p>

<p>The landscape extends well beyond passive planting. Productive garden beds, a pergola, communal gathering spaces, garden sheds and a pet wash have all been integrated into the masterplan, creating spaces designed to encourage everyday interaction between residents.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=144913 project_image_fid=297741]</p>

<p>The interiors continue Excelon's focus on craftsmanship, incorporating bespoke elements by Melbourne artisans including leadlight detailing by Adadaz, hand-turned timber hardware by Auburn Woodturning and blown-glass lighting by Ruth Allen.</p>

<p>Sustainability has also been embedded throughout the project, with Yarraville Green targeting an average 7-star NatHERS energy rating through passive design principles, rooftop solar servicing common areas and rainwater harvesting for landscape irrigation.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=144913 project_image_fid=297735]</p>

<p>Construction continues to progress at Yarraville Green, with structural works well underway and framing works approaching completion under builder Balmain &amp; Co. The project remains on track for completion in mid-2027.</p>

<p>Apartments at Yarraville Green are currently priced from $625,000, while townhomes start from $1.4 million.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=144913]</p>


Joel Robinson

Garden-led design drives buyer demand at Yarraville Green

<p>National diversified developer Fortis has officially launched Crest &amp; Walker, its latest Brisbane apartment development, with construction now underway on the 20-storey Newstead project.</p>

<p>Award-winning builder BINAH has commenced construction on the Bureau^Proberts-designed building, which will deliver a limited collection of 65 two and three-bedroom apartments on Kyabra Street.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=145922 project_image_fid=373556]</p>

<p>The project marks Fortis' fourth active residential development in Brisbane, following River House, which is nearing completion, alongside projects in New Farm and Hamilton as the national developer continues to expand its South East Queensland pipeline.</p>

<p>Fortis General Manager – Development Queensland Dan Boman said Crest &amp; Walker reflects the developer's long-term commitment to delivering design-led residential projects in Brisbane's established inner-city suburbs.</p>

<p>"We're proud to be strengthening our presence in Brisbane with Crest &amp; Walker, particularly in such a sought-after lifestyle destination as Newstead," Boman said.</p>

<p>"Every Fortis project is shaped by its context, and we approach each one with the respect and care it deserves.</p>

<p>"Our focus is always on creating places that feel connected to their neighbourhood and elevate the everyday experience for residents. Newstead continues to evolve as one of Brisbane's most sought-after urban communities, and Crest &amp; Walker reflects our ambition to contribute meaningfully to that story."</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=145922 project_image_fid=373559]</p>

<p>Positioned between Gasworks Plaza and James Street, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/crest-walker-newstead-12-kyabra-street-newstead-qld-4006">Crest &amp; Walker</a> has been designed as a boutique residential address offering privacy and generous living spaces within one of Brisbane's most established lifestyle precincts.</p>

<p>The building features a contemporary brick podium softened by integrated landscaping, while the upper levels are characterised by restrained architecture and enduring materiality. Interiors have been designed to maximise natural light, acoustic performance and long-term liveability.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=145922 project_image_fid=373583]</p>

<p>Residences comprise spacious two and three-bedroom floorplans, with two-bedroom apartments priced from $1.55 million and three-bedroom, half-floor residences from $3.95 million.</p>

<p>Residents will have access to a wellness-focused rooftop featuring a swimming pool, sauna, steam room, landscaped dining spaces and outdoor lounge areas overlooking Newstead and the Brisbane CBD.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=145922 project_image_fid=373571]</p>

<p>Sales are being managed by Slaite Projects, with Fortis expecting strong demand from owner-occupiers seeking a high-quality, design-focused apartment in one of Brisbane's most tightly held inner-city suburbs.</p>

<p>Completion of Crest &amp; Walker is slated for late 2028.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=145922]</p>


Fortis expands Brisbane pipeline with launch of Crest & Walker in Newstead

<p>The enormity of delivering a true skyscraper in Australia's new development market is often overlooked.</p>

<p>It has taken the best part of a decade since plans for Chevron One were first unveiled, but the 52-storey tower is now complete, with residents collecting their keys and moving into what has become one of the Gold Coast's most recognisable new landmarks.</p>

<p>Rising 127 metres above Chevron Island, Chevron One stands almost twice as high as any other building on the island. Its scale places it alongside the trio of towers at Jewel, arguably the last truly significant addition to the central Gold Coast skyline when they were completed around six years ago.</p>

<p>While there are several developments underway around a similar height to Chevron One, they are more concentrated within clusters of the highest towers in the city. The fact Chevron One sits within a developing precinct, looking back at the other high-rise developments in Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach, makes it a different proposition altogether. It will certainly become a reference point on the Gold Coast skyline.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=6515 project_image_fid=68833]</p>

<p>Developer Bensons Property Group is behind the 52-storey tower, which has just shy of 250 apartments, along with an exhaustive list of resident amenity spread across what is the largest development site ever assembled on Chevron Island.</p>

<p>The tower has been the talk of the town for years, says Ray White Projects Gold Coast agent Caitlin Rosenboom, who is selling the remaining apartments.</p>

<p>"People have been watching Chevron One go up for years," Rosenboom says, adding that many prospective buyers have been surprised by the scale of the views once they step inside.</p>

<p>"It's only when they walk through a completed apartment that they truly understand the position of the building," Rosenboom says.</p>

<p>"The views are jaw-dropping. Whether you're looking east over the ocean, across Surfers Paradise, along the river systems or out to the hinterland, every level offers something different but equally impressive."</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=6515 project_image_fid=360215]</p>

<p>One of Chevron One's defining advantages is its location on the eastern side of Chevron Island on Stanhill Drive, a position which protects the views forever.</p>

<p>"There's only one row of houses between Chevron One and the water, and the height restrictions along the river means views from Chevron One can never be built out,"&nbsp;Rosenboom says.</p>

<p>While new apartment developments continue to emerge across the Gold Coast, Rosenboom says opportunities to secure a completed apartment with this level of outlook are becoming increasingly rare.</p>

<p>"The size of the site is something that would be incredibly difficult to replicate today," she says.</p>

<p>"That's allowed Chevron One to deliver the sort of amenity, open space and resident facilities that very few projects can offer. There are not many completed apartment buildings on the Gold Coast right now that can compete with the combination of scale, quality and amenity."</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=6515 project_image_fid=68839]</p>

<p>There's around 2,000 sqm of amenity solely for the use of residents of Chevron One. Club One features a uniquely shaped swimming pool that mirrors the footprint of the building itself, set within a extensively landscaped gardens. There's also an indoor pool and spa, a fully equipped gym with a Pilates room, a yoga garden, a bookable private dining area and lounge that can host up to 30 people, and a 24-hour concierge service.</p>

<p>As for the buyers, Rosenboom is fielding enquiry from everywhere: Sydneysiders and Melburnians looking at the new and off-the-plan market following the changes in the Federal Budget, as well as those looking to relocate, through to South East Queenslanders seeking either a permanent home or a weekender bolthole.</p>

<p>"The Gold Coast lifestyle continues to resonate with people relocating from the southern states, and when they see the views and the quality of what's been delivered at Chevron One, it becomes very easy for them to understand the appeal," Rosenboom says.</p>

<p>A diverse mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments remain available, with each offering "something a little different", be it the orientation and views, configuration, or level, to suit a wide variety of buyers.</p>

<p>The remaining apartments are ready to inspect in person, by appointment.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=6515]</p>


A decade in the making: Residents to move into Chevron One as construction wraps up

<p>A general rule of thumb in new apartment developments is that the penthouses get the rooftop.</p>

<p>It's a formula that's become commonplace across Australia's apartment market. Residents might have access to a pool, gym or barbecue facilities on a dedicated lower level, but the most desirable outdoor spaces are typically reserved for the highest-priced homes at the top of the building.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sherpa-property-group">Sherpa Property Group</a> has taken the opposite approach.</p>

<p>Rather than dedicating the rooftop to a handful of buyers, the Gold Coast developer has made it the centrepiece of its Flourish collection, creating expansive shared spaces from the best vantage point in the building.</p>

<p>The philosophy has reached its most ambitious expression at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/flourish-soleira-palm-beach-1150-1160-gold-coast-highway-palm-beach-qld-4221">Flourish Soleira</a> in Palm Beach, where two rooftop precincts connected by a skybridge will deliver one of the most extensive lifestyle offerings seen in a residential apartment project on the Gold Coast.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=374053]</p>

<p>"We're seeing a clear move toward developments that offer more than just an apartment," Sherpa Group founder Christie Leet said.</p>

<p>"People want spaces that support how they actually live, whether that's working from home, staying active, or spending time with family and friends.</p>

<p>"That's where amenity becomes critical. It's not just about what's included, but how those spaces are designed to be used every day."</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=374052]</p>

<p>The breadth of amenity has already attracted buyers across multiple demographics. Younger first home buyers have been drawn to Soleira's one-bedroom apartments, a product rarely delivered in Palm Beach, while families have responded to practical inclusions such as the shallow children's pool adjoining the main lap pool and the extensive communal recreation areas.</p>

<p>Instead of a single rooftop, Soleira delivers two distinct lifestyle zones.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=372547]</p>

<p>The southern rooftop has been dedicated to wellness, featuring a gym, yoga and Pilates studio, work-from-home facilities, a wellness centre, spa, and hot and cold plunge pools.</p>

<p>The northern rooftop focuses on recreation and entertaining, incorporating a heated resort-style pool, private dining rooms, pizza ovens, barbecues, a golf simulator, children's recreation areas, and what is expected to be the Gold Coast's first rooftop basketball court, which will also double as a squash court.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=374054]</p>

<p>Beyond the rooftops, Soleira will introduce 1,500 sqm of curated retail beneath the towers, creating one of Palm Beach's first genuinely mixed-use lifestyle precincts where cafés, restaurants and convenience retail become part of residents' everyday lives.</p>

<p>Sherpa has also retained management rights across the development, allowing it to oversee the long-term operation of the building through a 24-hour concierge model. The developer is also exploring additional revenue streams within the precinct aimed at helping offset ongoing body corporate costs for residents.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=370962]</p>

<p>While Soleira is the largest project Sherpa has delivered, the rooftop-first philosophy has been evolving for several years.</p>

<p>It began with <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/amargo-6-12-sixth-avenue-palm-beach-qld-4221">Flourish Amargo</a>, the first project released under the Flourish brand. Rather than competing at the ultra-luxury end of the market with oversized half-floor and full-floor residences, Sherpa focused on creating lifestyle-driven apartments supported by resort-style shared spaces.</p>

<p>Amargo introduced more than 800 sqm of rooftop amenity, combining wellness facilities, heated pools, entertaining areas, cabanas, pizza ovens and private dining spaces into what was designed as an extension of residents' homes rather than a facility used only occasionally.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=146527 project_image_fid=366550]</p>

<p>That approach continued with Flourish Oasis, where the same amenity-led philosophy was refined into a more boutique development. Strong demand from Sherpa's growing VIP database saw much of the project sold before it reached the broader market, reinforcing buyer appetite for apartment communities centred around shared lifestyle experiences.</p>

<p>Flourish Amargo is slated for completion mid-way-through next year, with Oasis to be delivered by late 2027. Flourish Soleira is expected to complete in 2030.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=150017]</p>


Sherpa takes amenity to the sky as Flourish Soleira captures booming Palm Beach demand

<p>As apartment living continues to evolve across Sydney's growth corridors, the quality and distribution of shared spaces is increasingly shaping how residents experience home. Rather than functioning as add-ons, amenities are being embedded into the daily rhythm of a building, supporting everything from quiet retreat to social interaction, often within a single vertical community.</p>

<p>At <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/aeris-melrose-park-nursery-street-melrose-park-nsw-2114">Aeris</a> in Melrose Park, this approach is resolved through a layered amenity offering that unfolds from ground level through to its upper podium. Developed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sekisui-house-australia">Sekisui House Australia</a> in partnership with Hankyu Hanshin Properties, the project introduces 468 apartments across two towers and a mid-rise building, positioned at the highest point of the broader masterplan.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=426 project_image_fid=359199]</p>

<p>The amenity experience begins at street level, where two courtyards sit within a landscaped setting that connects residents to the wider network of parks and green spaces. These green spaces are not isolated pockets but part of a wider pedestrian network that links Aeris to the surrounding <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/melrose-park-nsw-2114">Melrose Park</a> precinct, including Central Park, future schools, and the Town Centre opening in July 2026. The result is a transition that moves from public to private without abrupt boundaries, allowing residents to pass through shaded, tree-lined environments before reaching the building itself.</p>

<p>Moving upward, the focus shifts to the level five podium, where the primary communal facilities are concentrated. This space brings together a 16-metre swimming pool, outdoor seating areas, and a communal BBQ zone arranged to take advantage of elevated outlooks. Seating is positioned beneath pergolas, creating pockets of shade that extend the usability of the space throughout the day. The pool edge aligns with views toward the wider district, reinforcing the sense of elevation that defines the project’s positioning.</p>

<p>In the adjacent building, this is complemented by quieter, more contemplative spaces, including an outdoor cinema set within the same level. Positioned to operate primarily in the evening, it introduces a different tempo to the shared environment, shifting from daytime activity to after-hours use without requiring separate zones.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=426 project_image_fid=360299]</p>

<p>The podium also accommodates an intimate private resident gym. Located on the lower levels, it gives residents convenient access to fitness facilities without leaving the building.</p>

<p>Above, the elevated podium sky deck extends the amenity offering, providing additional open-air spaces with elevated outlooks across the surrounding landscape. While more restrained in program, this upper level reinforces the project’s vertical progression, from ground-level greenery to elevated outlook, allowing residents to move between distinct spatial conditions within a single address.</p>

<p>This distribution of amenities reflects a deliberate response to how residents use space across the day. Sekisui House Australia Sales and Marketing Director Peter Kalaf points to the role these shared areas play in shaping buyer demand. Aeris has been conceived as more than a collection of apartments, with the podium pool, gym and outdoor cinema forming part of a broader lifestyle offering that extends the home beyond each individual residence.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=426 project_image_fid=360300]</p>

<p>What distinguishes Aeris is not the inclusion of these elements individually, but how they are arranged in relation to one another. Active, social, and passive spaces are layered vertically rather than separated, allowing residents to choose between them without leaving the building or moving far from their apartment. This proximity supports both routine use, such as a morning swim or evening workout, and more occasional gatherings, whether around the BBQ area or within the cinema setting.</p>

<p>The amenity design also sits within a broader framework of connectivity across Melrose Park. The Melrose Park Town Centre, anchored by Coles and Dan Murphys, features a mix of retail, dining, health and lifestyle offerings, bringing everyday convenience closer to residents. By the end of the year, more than five hectares of parks and open space, equivalent to around seven football fields of green space on residents' doorstep, will further enhance the precinct, allowing the internal facilities at Aeris to operate as an extension of the wider neighbourhood rather than a substitute for it.</p>

<p>Construction at Aeris continues to gather momentum, with ground floor slabs expected to be completed in late 2026 before the first sections of the buildings begin to rise above ground.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=426]</p>


Elevated amenity anchors daily life at Aeris, Melrose Park

<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>Bill Shorten believes there’s an affordability crisis in Australia. He believes he knows how to fix it. But I’m sure he doesn’t believe the tax policy he announced is the solution. What he announced is the smokescreen.</p>
<p>The tragedy for Shorten, the dead man walking of Australian politics, and the Labor Party, is that he is telling Australian households that he is going to force down the value of their homes. And that, in reality, the most likely outcome is that the cost of new housing will rise.</p>
<p>Short-term Shorten and his advisors don’t appear to realise that the high cost of new housing is the key to the affordability situation in Australia. And his policy will probably make it worse.</p>
<p>Firstly, the issue of an affordability crisis. Shorten apparently believes we have one. I believe we don’t.</p>
<p>The Housing Affordability Index shows that national affordability today is considerably better than it was five years ago. Sydney, following three years of big price growth, is the only jurisdiction that doesn’t have a demonstrably better affordability situation that it did in 2010. Everywhere else in Australia does. Even Sydney is marginally better off than in 2010.<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span></p>
<p>There were improvements in 2015 in many parts of the nation, reinforcing yet again that most of Australia did not have a property boom any time recently.</p>
<p>Jurisdictions which have a better affordability position now than 12 months ago include Perth (11% better than a year ago), Darwin (13.5% better), Hobart (7% better), regional WA (13% better), regional NSW, regional South Australia, regional Tasmania (6% better) and regional NT (10% better).</p>
<p>Affordability is essentially unchanged in Brisbane, regional Queensland and regional Victoria, compared to a year ago.</p>
<p>Sydney’s position is 4.5% less favourable, Melbourne 7.6% less, Canberra’s 9% less and Adelaide 2.6% less. But in each of those locations, affordability remains better than five years ago, even in Sydney (just).<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span></p>
<p>What we have from Federal Labor is what we got from APRA: over-the-top policy impacting the whole nation to attempt to solve a Sydney problem.</p>
<p>There’s going to be a major backlash against Labor once people realise the essence of Shorten’s proposal on affordability. He’s going into the upcoming federal election telling the electorate that the value of their homes is going to fall.</p>
<p class="Body">The essence of the tax policy announced on 12 February is that his proposed changes to negative gearing will somehow make housing more affordable. He’s not proposing to force down interest rates nor to lift average incomes, therefore the only way homes can become more affordable is for home values to fall. This would be seriously unpalatable for voters in the 70% of households that own their homes. It’s the ultimate election loser.</p>
<p class="Body">But home-owners need not worry. Shorten’s announced policies won’t cause home values to fall. They won’t make a single home cheaper in Australia because they don’t address the real causes of poor affordability. They have targeted the wrong culprits.<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body">And I’m quite sure Shorten knows that. Like most politicians, he’s not interested in addressing the real issues. He simply wants to give the appearance that he is. And he has achieved that by taking cheap shots at an easy target.</p>
<p class="Body">There are many problems with the announced policy. The first is that it’s based on a false premise - that the 15% or so of property buyers who are negatively-geared investors have a greater influence on property prices than the other 85%. (That 85%, incidentally, includes the biggest and most influential chunk of the buying market – home-buyers other than first-home-buyers – the people who have the numbers, the financial capacity and the motivation to pay high prices for homes).</p>
<p class="Body">Shorten says typical houses cost about three times average annual income 30 years ago and now it’s six times. He’s claiming that the small number of buyers who are negatively-geared investors are responsible for that change. He doesn’t provide any evidence to support this outlandish and quite illogical claim. He doesn’t provide it because it doesn’t exist.</p>
<p class="Body">He further claims that eliminating the tax claims of 15% of buyers will make housing more affordable. He doesn’t explain how that would happen.</p>
<p class="Body">But he is claiming his policy will make prices lower. If he’s right, that would be alarming for most voters. It would be also alarming for the nation, because the family home is the core asset for most Australians and the basis of their ability to provide for their retirement.<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body">This latter point is crucial. It’s the most important issue in the whole debate about negative gearing but is never mentioned.</p>
<p class="Body">Successive governments have told Australians they have to provide for their own retirement, because the Government can’t afford to fund the increasing numbers of retirement age people through pensions. We know that superannuation doesn’t cut it, so Australians need to invest to be self-funded in retirement. Governments need to encourage that.<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body">Negative gearing is one way to encourage people to invest - keeping in mind that it applies to all forms of investment, not just real estate.<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body">Eliminating it will stop many from buying real estate. Long-term it will cost the Federal Budget more than it saves - especially as the claimed savings are not great. Shorten’s figures suggest it will save the Budget just $570 million in the first four years, although I doubt he has considered the overall impact through loss of revenue to state and federal budgets – given that people buying investment property pay stamp duty, land tax and capital gains tax.</p>
<p class="Body">Shorten thinks that keeping negative gearing on new homes will cause investors to switch to the new product. But many won’t - because new homes are too expensive. On average, they cost $100,000 more than the equivalent existing home. That’s why 90% of investors (and most first-home buyers) buy existing properties rather than new. The negative gearing tax deductions don’t come close to making up for the price differential.</p>
<p class="Body">But if he’s right – and investors do switch to buying new homes – it will make new dwellings more expensive. If he’s right that prices are forced up by negatively-geared investors competing with home buyers, then switching all investors to new housing will create massive competition for a finite product and force up prices. Keep in mind that state government grants for first-home buyers are available only to buyers of new homes – and current Federal policy forces foreign investors to buy new properties, not existing.</p>
<p class="Body">So, if Shorten succeeds, we will have first-home buyers competing with Australian investors and foreign investors for new properties. Everyone will be trying to buy a finite supply of new homes, given that Australia is in the midst of a period of record creation of new dwellings and doesn’t need more. Shorten’s policy won’t make housing cheaper, it will make it more expensive.</p>
<p class="Body">And that brings us to the real issue in the affordability debate - the one that politicians including Short-term Shorten don’t want to talk about: the reality that government taxes and charges are responsible for the high cost of new housing. Multiple research studies have confirmed that more than 40% of the cost of new house-and-land packages are taxes and other government charges. Eliminate those and suddenly new homes are affordable to most buyers. A $400,000 product can be sold for $240,000.</p>
<p class="Body">So the real problem is not tax benefits flowing from government to the real estate industry - it’s the money flowing in the opposite direction, the taxes that are ripped out of the real estate industry.</p>
<p class="Body">Politicians never discuss this factor. They’re addicted to the massive amount of revenue they rip out of the real estate industry - over $70 billion in a typical year. They would rather blame unpopular minorities - a standard political tactic - than address the real issue.</p>
<p class="Body">The Federal Government, after two very long and expensive parliamentary inquiries which achieved little, has decided to make foreign investors the scapegoats. But forcing a small number of foreigners to sell back their mansions won’t make housing cheaper for first-home buyers.</p>
<p>Now the Federal Opposition has decided to make negatively geared Australian investors the scapegoats. It’s dishonest, deceitful and, frankly, disgusting.</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>
</body></html>

terryryder-YECXbqmri2

Bill Shorten's Opposition makes negatively-geared investors the scapegoats: Terry Ryder

<html><body>
<p><span>Despite the higher than expected clearance rates over the early phase of the new year auction market, auction volumes are yet to reach the same levels seen last year.  </span></p>
<p><span>After the weighted capital city average auction clearance rate was tracking in the high 50 percent range throughout December last year, auction results have shown a higher than expected bounce, with the clearance rate holding higher than 70 percent over the past three weeks. The preliminary clearance rate of 72.3 percent has moved higher compared to last week (71.8 percent). </span></p>
<p><span>This week’s preliminary clearance rate is lower relative to last year’s results of 77.3 percent. This week, 2,215 capital city auctions took place, compared to 1,400 last week and 2,372 one year ago. Over the next few weeks it is expected that auction activity will continue to ramp up which will further test the resilience of auction markets on higher volumes.</span></p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/02/22/20160222-Capital-city.jpg" target="_blank"><span>Click to enlarge</span></a></p>
<p><span> <img src="/images/2016/02/22/20160222-Capital-city.jpg" alt="" width="702" height="527"></span></p>
<p><span><span>This week </span><strong>Melbourne’s </strong><span>preliminary auction clearance rate was 73.0 percent. Melbourne’s auction volumes continue to climb, up from 556 last week to 1,057 this week, which is similar to last year (1,074). On a year to date basis, Melbourne’s auction activity is just -1.4 percent lower than over the same period last year. This week, Inner Melbourne (234), Inner South Melbourne (157) and Inner East Melbourne (146) were the busiest sub-regions across the city, however the best performing region in terms of clearance rate was the Outer East, where 54 auctions were reported with a clearance rate of 79.6 percent. All regions with the exclusion of Mornington Peninsula (62.5 percent) saw clearance rates of at least 70 percent this week.</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/02/22/20160222-Melbourne.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/02/22/20160222-Melbourne.jpg" alt="" width="662" height="442"></p>
<p><span>After recording the highest clearance rate for the city since August 2015 last week (78.1 percent), </span><strong>Sydney’s</strong><span> preliminary results show that the clearance rate for the city has slipped slightly lower this week, currently recorded at 77.2 percent. This week 724 auctions were being tracked across the city, higher than the 513 last week, but lower than one year ago when 921 auctions were held across the city. Having recorded a relatively strong clearance rate for the past three weeks, it will be interesting to see if strength is maintained as auction volumes pass the 1,000 mark over the coming weeks.  </span></p>
<p><span>Preliminary results show that the performance of each individual sub-region across the city is diverse, with clearance rates as low as 50 percent In Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury (albeit on a very low volume of auctions with just 12 results reported) and as strong as 88.2 percent for the City and Inner South Region and 88 percent across the Eastern Suburbs.</span></p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/02/22/20160222-Sydney.jpg" target="_blank"><span>Click to enlarge</span></a></p>
<p><span><img src="/images/2016/02/22/20160222-Sydney.jpg" alt="" width="713" height="485"></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span>The preliminary clearance rate for </span><strong>Brisbane</strong><span> was 54.5 percent this week, compared to a final auction clearance rate of 48.4 percent last week and a stronger 63.6 percent last year. More homes went to auction this week (169) compared to last week (111) and relative to last year (119). This week’s preliminary clearance rate for the Gold Coast across the 18 reported results is 50 percent.</span></p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/02/22/20160222-Brisbane.jpg" target="_blank"><span>Click to enlarge</span></a></p>
<p><span><img src="/images/2016/02/22/20160222-Brisbane.jpg" alt="" width="796" height="532"></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span>69.9 percent of </span><strong>Adelaide</strong><span> auctions were successful this week, based on preliminary results. Last week a clearance rate of 75 percent was reported and one year ago it was significantly lower at 53.3 percent, however Adelaide’s clearance rate tends to move more than cities with larger auction volumes on a week on week basis.</span></p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/02/22/20160222-Adelaide.jpg" target="_blank"><span>Click to enlarge</span></a></p>
<p><span><img src="/images/2016/02/22/20160222-Adelaide.jpg" alt="" width="804" height="545"></span></p>
<p> </p>
<h1 class="title">Preliminary clearance rate edges slightly higher to 72.3 per cent while auction volumes remain lower than last year</h1>
<div class="post-meta">
<span class="small">by</span> <span class="author vcard"><span class="fn"><a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/author/shana-miller/" title="Posts by Shana Miller" rel="author">Shana Miller</a></span></span> <span class="small">on</span> <abbr class="date time published" title="2016-02-22T09:33:13+1100">February 22, 2016</abbr>  <span class="small">in</span> <span class="categories"><a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/category/auction-results/">Auction results</a>, <a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/category/national-market/">National Market</a></span>
</div>
<div class="entry">
<a id="dd_start" href=""></a>
<p>Despite the higher than expected clearance rates over the early phase of the new year auction market, auction volumes are yet to reach the same levels seen last year.  After the weighted capital city average auction clearance rate was tracking in the high 50 per cent range throughout December last year, auction results have shown a higher than expected bounce, with the clearance rate holding higher than 70 per cent over the past three weeks.  The preliminary clearance rate of 72.3 per cent has moved higher compared to last week (71.8 per cent). This week’s preliminary clearance rate is lower relative to last year’s results of 77.3 per cent. This week, 2,215 capital city auctions took place, compared to 1,400 last week and 2,372 one year ago. Over the next few weeks it is expected that auction activity will continue to ramp up which will further test the resilience of auction markets on higher volumes.</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160222-Capital-city.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-6340"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6340" src="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160222-Capital-city.jpg" alt="20160222 Capital city" width="979" height="735"></a></p>
<p>This week <strong>Melbourne’s </strong>preliminary auction clearance rate was 73.0 per cent. Melbourne’s auction volumes continue to climb, up from 556 last week to 1,057 this week, which is similar to last year (1,074). On a year to date basis, Melbourne’s auction activity is just -1.4 per cent lower than over the same period last year. This week, Inner Melbourne (234), Inner South Melbourne (157) and Inner East Melbourne (146) were the busiest sub-regions across the city, however the best performing region in terms of clearance rate was the Outer East, where 54 auctions were reported with a clearance rate of 79.6 per cent. All regions with the exclusion of Mornington Peninsula (62.5 per cent) saw clearance rates of at least 70 per cent this week.</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160222-Melbourne.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-6341"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6341" src="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160222-Melbourne.jpg" alt="20160222 Melbourne" width="984" height="657"></a></p>
<p>After recording the highest clearance rate for the city since August 2015 last week (78.1 per cent), <strong>Sydney’s</strong> preliminary results show that the clearance rate for the city has slipped slightly lower this week, currently recorded at 77.2 per cent. This week 724 auctions were being tracked across the city, higher than the 513 last week, but lower than one year ago when 921 auctions were held across the city. Having recorded a relatively strong clearance rate for the past three weeks, it will be interesting to see if strength is maintained as auction volumes pass the 1,000 mark over the coming weeks.  Preliminary results show that the performance of each individual sub-region across the city is diverse, with clearance rates as low as 50 per cent In Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury (albeit on a very low volume of auctions with just 12 results reported) and as strong as 88.2 per cent for the City and Inner South Region and 88 per cent across the Eastern Suburbs.</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160222-Sydney.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-6342"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6342" src="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160222-Sydney.jpg" alt="20160222 Sydney" width="983" height="669"></a></p>
<p>The preliminary clearance rate for <strong>Brisbane</strong> was 54.5 per cent this week, compared to a final auction clearance rate of 48.4 per cent last week and a stronger 63.6 per cent last year. More homes went to auction this week (169) compared to last week (111) and relative to last year (119). This week’s preliminary clearance rate for the Gold Coast across the 18 reported results is 50 per cent.</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160222-Brisbane.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-6339"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6339" src="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160222-Brisbane.jpg" alt="20160222 Brisbane" width="969" height="648"></a></p>
<p>69.9 per cent of <strong>Adelaide</strong> auctions were successful this week, based on preliminary results. Last week a clearance rate of 75 per cent was reported and one year ago it was significantly lower at 53.3 per cent, however Adelaide’s clearance rate tends to move more than cities with larger auction volumes on a week on week basis.</p>
<p><a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160222-Adelaide.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-6338"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-6338" src="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/20160222-Adelaide.jpg" alt="20160222 Adelaide" width="971" height="658"></a></p>
<p>Preliminary results show 46.2 percent of <strong>Perth</strong> auctions sold this week, with 13 reported results so far. In comparison, last week the clearance rate was 31.6 percent, while one year ago 46.4 percent of Perth auctions were successful.</p>
<p>This week auction volumes almost doubled in <strong>Canberra</strong>, with 104 homes taken to auction, compared to 59 last week. Despite the rise in auction activity, Canberra’s preliminary clearance rate has remained steady at 71.2 percent over the past two weeks. Canberra’s auction market has started 2016 in a relatively strong position, with four consecutive weeks of clearance rates above the 70 per cent mark, similar to what we saw one year ago.</p>
<p>There were 10 auctions across <strong>Tasmania</strong> this week. Based on preliminary results, five of the six reported auctions were successful.</p>
<p> </p>
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Combined capital city clearance rate edges slightly higher to 72.3 percent: Shana Miller 

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<p><span>According to t<span>he just-launched CoreLogic-Moody’s Analytics Australian Forecast Home Value Index</span>, home values are forecast to continue rising solidly in Sydney and Melbourne over the next decade. </span></p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/02/29/Modys.jpg" target="_blank"><span>Click to enlarge</span></a></p>
<p><span><img src="/images/2016/02/29/Modys.jpg" alt=""></span></p>
<p> </p>
<div>It sees annual price growth of more than +5 per cent returning for Perth by 2017, but subdued growth for Adelaide over the next two years, while Darwin prices are expected to decline in 2016.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Of the capital cities, Brisbane is forecast to fare best over the next two years with home value growth of around +12 per cent.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<p><span><em>PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of <a href="https://allenwargent.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">AllenWargent</a> property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">blogger</a>.</em><br></span></p>
<p><em>His latest book is <a href="https://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/General-Interest/Four-Green-Houses--and-a-Red-Hotel/1015/productview.aspx" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Four Green Houses and a Red Hotel</a>.</em></p>
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10 year home price forecast for Sydney: Pete Wargent

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<p class="Body">The latest doomsday forecasts for Australian real estate call to mind the shameful history of overseas spruikers and local economists in getting it spectacularly wrong on house prices.</p>
<p class="Body">There’s nothing new in individuals with ulterior motives (usually seeking publicity for a seminar tour, new business venture or a book launch) getting acres of free mileage by predicting our markets will collapse. The <em>60 Minutes</em> debacle is merely the latest.</p>
<p class="Body">I note that the nation’s worst forecaster of property trends, academic Steve Keen, has publicly admitted recently that he got it “hopelessly wrong” with his price forecasts. It’s about time - Keen famously predicted in 2008 that Australian house prices would fall 40% in 2009. Prices rose that year and in the years since Keen has rehashed his predictions in various guises with different time frames but with the same result – he’s been wrong every time. Now he has written a column for <em>Business Spectator</em> which says: “I was hopelessly wrong on house prices. Ask me how.”</p>
<p class="Body">But Keen has lots of company at the bottom when it comes to faulty forecasting, sometimes perhaps for dodgy reasons.<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body">One of the worst examples was US doomsday specialist Harry S Dent who came to Australian in 2011 for a seminar tour and sought (and received) publicity by predicting our home values would fall 40% in 2012. He advised Sydney owners to “sell their excess real estate”. We all know how well that forecast worked out.</p>
<p class="Body">But Dent was back in Australia two years later for another lucrative seminar tour and again went to the media for some free mileage. He said house prices would crash “some time in 2014”, with values falling at least 27% in Sydney and Melbourne. The market made a fool of him again.</p>
<p class="Body">Given the state of Australia media, I have no doubt that if Dent shows up again next year, he will make the same style of prediction and will be handed another round of massive national publicity.</p>
<p class="Body">Many others have come to our shores and used the Armageddon formula of generating publicity for their venture.</p>
<p class="Body">Little-known US spruiker Jorgan Wirsz suddenly became well-known in 2012 by forecasting a “bloodbath” in Australian real estate, with home values tipped to fall 60% in 2013. He also said land values would drop 90%.</p>
<p class="Body">Think for a moment what that means. He was suggesting that residential land in Australia would be almost worthless. Nothing remotely like has ever occurred in the history of the world, not even in the worst basket-case economy post-GFC. But Australian media chose to give these ridiculous claims credibility. And of course they were subsequently shown to be nonsense.</p>
<p class="Body">There have been many others, including another US spruiker called Jeremy Grantham who claimed in 2010 that the “Australian housing bubble” would burst that year.<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body">There also have been plenty of local commentators, mostly economists who don’t understand the dynamics of Australian real estate, who have forecast significant declines.</p>
<p class="Body">Morgan Stanley’s Gerard Minack said in August 2010 that property was 40% over-valued and the bubble was about to burst.</p>
<p class="Body">AMP’s Shane Oliver, who regularly calls it wrong on real estate prices, claimed in 2005 that homes were grossly over-valued and there would be no growth anywhere in Australia for the next decade. Those 10 years have come and gone, and I have to ask: How did that one work out for you, Shane?</p>
<p class="Body">Oliver was in the media again in June 2012 claiming that house prices were “over-valued’ and “chronically weak” and were heading for “a sharp fall”. Ooops, again.</p>
<p class="Body">Commonwealth Bank chief Ralph Norris said in November 2011 that the sovereign debt crisis in Europe had put Australian house prices at risk.</p>
<p class="Body">Prosper Australia claimed in August 2011 that Melbourne was about to experience “a US-style property crash with price falls of 30%”. (Those who suggest Australia must decline because it happened in the US appear to be unaware that US markets dropped for clear reasons, and those circumstances don’t exist in Australia.<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body">Michael Power of Investec declared in September 2012 that Australian house prices would fall by up to 20% by the end of 2014.</p>
<p class="Body">The <em>Herald Sun</em> ran the headline “Prices could fall as higher interest rates bite” based on comments by CommSec’s Craig James. (This notion that rising interest rates means a market crash is quite prevalent, but there is historical evidence to support the idea.)</p>
<p class="Body">Citibank economist Josh Williamson said in June 2013 that house prices would peak in March 2014 and fall thereafter. Propell National Valuers put out a media release in June 2014 declaring the end of the Sydney boom and, around the same time, Morgan Stanley analyst Malcolm Wood also called the end for Sydney, saying:” If you’re an investor, you’ve missed the boat.”<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body">Fringe dweller Leigh van Onselen, who has a lifetime of raging against real estate, stated in February 2012 that the “slow melt” in Australian house prices would continue.<span style="line-height: 1.3em;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body">Another guerilla-style opponent of all things real estate, Kris Sayce, shouted in March 2011 that “the value of your home could fall 61% the minute interest rates start rising”.</p>
<p class="Body">The list goes on. And there’s a clear pattern. Since the start of the 21<sup>st</sup> Century, claims of markets collapsing, bubbles bursting and prices disintegrating have been an almost weekly occurrence. Journalists never seem to tire of doomsday stories.</p>
<p class="Body">They’ve all been wrong. And they’ve been wrong for clear reasons. Australia is not in recession, it does not have high unemployment, we don’t have a vast oversupply of dwellings nationwide and our banks don’t lend recklessly. We would need all of those circumstances to fall into alignment, as they did in the US around the time of the GFC, before our property markets would be in danger.</p>
<p class="Body"><em>Property Observer</em> would welcome a response from any of those named to give the context on their call.</p>
<p class="Body"><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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Company at the bottom for faulty market forecasters: Terry Ryder

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<div>Building Approvals data revealed the expected rebound in February after the seasonal lull in January, but the downtrend is clearly in place from the trend peak of 11 months ago.</div>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/5/BA1.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<div class="separator"><img src="/images/2016/04/5/BA1.jpg" alt=""></div>
<div> </div>
<div>House approvals have rolled a little, but the tailing off is more likely to be seen in the units, apartments and townhouses sector following an impressive burst since 2012. </div>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/5/BA2.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<div class="separator"><img src="/images/2016/04/5/BA2.jpg" alt=""></div>
<p><br><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Capital city analysis</span></strong></p>
<div>House approvals are faading fast in Perth in reaction to elevated vacancy rates, while Melbourne continues to approve the greatest number of houses by some margin, and as such may be the city with the greatest potential for overbuilding. </div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="/images/2016/04/5/BA4.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
<div><img src="/images/2016/04/5/BA4.jpg" alt=""></div>
<div> </div>
<div>The last couple of months have been much slower for unit approvals in Sydney and Melbourne, which is now being reflected in the rolling annual figures below.<br><br>After nearly a decade of under-building Sydney is now approving a decent number of attached dwellings.</div>
<div> </div>
<div class="separator"><a href="/images/2016/04/5/BA3.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
<div class="separator"><img src="/images/2016/04/5/BA3.jpg" alt=""></div>
<p><br><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dream over for high rise</span></strong><br><br></p>
<div>This record approvals boom for Australia has largely been driven by "high rise" or four plus storey unit blocks, but this part of the approvals boom has noticeably slowed over the past four months. </div>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/5/BA5.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/04/5/BA5.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p> </p>
<div>Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have each gone hard at approvals in the high density sector over the past few years, but all three cities have now passed their respective peaks. </div>
<div> </div>
<div class="separator"><a href="/images/2016/04/5/BA6.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
<div class="separator"><img src="/images/2016/04/5/BA6.jpg" alt=""></div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The wrap</span></strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>With APRA having insisted upon tigher lending criteria for investors building approvals will in all likelihood continue to slow from here, following a record run.<br><br>Even at this well advanced stage in the construction cycle vacancy rates have been tightening in inner Sydney to just 1.3 percent, but cracks are starting to show in some of the secondary and outer areas where vacancy rates are above 2 per cent (and in some pockets higher again). </div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<p><span><em>PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of <a href="https://allenwargent.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">AllenWargent</a> property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">blogger</a>.</em><br></span></p>
<p><em>His latest book is <a href="https://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/General-Interest/Four-Green-Houses--and-a-Red-Hotel/1015/productview.aspx" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Four Green Houses and a Red Hotel</a>.</em></p>
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Building approvals boom all over bar the grouting: Pete Wargent

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<p>GUEST OBSERVER</p>
<p>The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released demographic data for the September 2015 quarter recently.</p>
<p>The data showed a continuation of the trend towards a slower rate of population growth at a national level. At the end of the quarter, it was estimated that there were 23,860,133 residents of Australia, an increase of just 0.3 percent over the quarter and 1.3 percent over the past year.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/03/30/Chart-1-4-580x206.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge </a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/03/30/Chart-1-4-580x206.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>The 12 months to September 2015 saw an additional 313,237 residents of Australia which is 7.3 percent lower than over the same quarter in 2014.  In fact, the annual increase in population for the country is the lowest it has been since the June 2011 quarter.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/03/30/Chart-2-3-580x205.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/03/30/Chart-2-3-580x205.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>At a national level, there are two components of population growth, natural increase (births minus deaths) and net overseas migration.  Over the past year, there was a natural increase of 145,585 persons and net overseas migration of 167,652 persons.  As the above chart shows, the two measures are converging due to a sharp decline in net overseas migration.  Annual net overseas migration is now at its lowest level since September 2006, is -7.0 percent lower over the year and -46.9 percent lower than its peak in December 2008.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/03/30/Chart-3-4-580x206.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/03/30/Chart-3-4-580x206.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Looking at population growth across the states and territories, the rate of growth has been strongest over the past year in Victoria at 1.7 percent and lowest in the Northern Territory at 0.3 percent.</p>
<p>The annual rate of population growth is above 1 percent in all states and territories except the Northern Territory, Tasmania and South Australia. In terms of raw number population increase over the year, New South Wales and Victoria are way out in front of all other areas with increases of 102,243 persons and 102,311 persons respectively. </p>
<p>Queensland (55,232) and Western Australia (32,542) were the only other two regions to record annual population growth of more than 15,000 persons.  Across the remaining states and territories the annual population increase was recorded at: 12,396 persons in South Australia, 5,491 persons in the Australian Capital Territory, 2,159 persons in Tasmania and 826 persons.</p>
<p>The four most populous states accounted for 93.3 percent of total population growth over the year with New South Wales and Victoria accounting for 65.3 percent.</p>
<p>The mining states and territories in particular have felt the full brunt of the slowdown in population. At its peak in December 2008, Queensland recorded a population increase of 115,561 with annual growth now less than half this figure.  In Western Australia, annual population increases peaked at 88,156 persons in September 2012 and in Northern Territory the annual population increase peaked at 7,073 persons in March 2013.</p>
<p>It is also worthwhile at the state and territory level to have a look at the interstate migration trends.  As well as net overseas migration there is net interstate migration across the states and territories which affects population growth.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/03/30/Chart-4-4-580x206.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/03/30/Chart-4-4-580x206.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Firstly if we look at annual net overseas migration, New South Wales (66,540) and Victoria (55,447) account for an overwhelming majority of the population increase.  In fact, 72.8 percent of all net overseas migration was into these two states which is the highest proportion since December 1984.</p>
<p>Elsewhere the number of net overseas migrants has been recorded at: 16,725 persons in Queensland, 10,255 persons in South Australia, 14,249 persons in Western Australia, 1,119 persons in Tasmania, 975 persons in the Northern Territory and 2,333 persons in the Australian Capital Territory. Annual net overseas migration into Queensland is at its lowest level since December 2000 and South Australian net overseas migration is at its lowest level since December 2011.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/5/Chart-5-2-580x205.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/04/5/Chart-5-2-580x205.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Turning to net interstate migration, movement between the states and territories is slowly starting to rise again; the above chart shows the annual movements between states and territories.  The chart shows that since 2003 there has been a fairly consistent decline in the proportion of the population moving interstate.  I have to admit this is a little surprising given that it coincides with the end of Sydney’s and Melbourne’s housing boom and is pretty much the beginning of the mining boom.  Although, the sudden slowing of interstate migration coincides with the substantial ramping-up of net overseas migration and with net overseas migration we are now seeing a pick-up in interstate migration.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/5/Chart-6-1-580x210.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/04/5/Chart-6-1-580x210.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Over the past 12 months, Victoria and Queensland are the only two states or territories to have recorded a positive net inflow of population form other states.  Net interstate migration to Victoria was a record high 11,187 persons over the past year compared to 6,890 persons to Queensland. </p>
<p>Net interstate migration into Queensland seems to be turning a corner after hitting a trough of 5,598 persons over the year to December 2014. </p>
<p>Across the remaining states and territories there have been losses from net interstate migration of: -7,451 persons in New South Wales, -4,125 persons in South Australia, -2,721 persons in Western Australia, -180 persons in Tasmania, -3,019 persons in the Northern Territory and -581 persons in the Australian Capital Territory.  The net loss of persons from interstate migration is at its highest level since March 2014 in New South Wales, its highest since June 2009 in South Australia and its greatest since March 2003 in Western Australia. In Tasmania the loss of residents to interstate migration is at its lowest level since June 2011 and it is at its lowest level since December 2013 in the Australian Capital Territory.</p>
<p>The more up-to-date overseas arrivals and departures data indicates that net overseas migration is likely to trend even lower next quarter which will dampen the national rate of population growth further.  At the same time, the data shows that Victoria (which would seem to be a proxy for Melbourne) is the migration epicentre of the country attracting large numbers of both overseas and interstate migrants. </p>
<p>Meanwhile the outflow of residents leaving New South Wales is picking up pace while interstate migration to Queensland is starting to build.</p>
<p>Perhaps we are seeing the impact of high housing costs in Sydney and fairly strong jobs growth in Victoria and Queensland starting to attract Sydneysiders to other parts of the Eastern Seaboard.  Weaker economic conditions in Western Australia are seeing residents leave with Victoria and Queensland the benefactors.  Meanwhile, Tasmania’s outflow of residents is slowing on the back of the booming tourism sector and a recent improvement in economic conditions.</p>
<p>Finally with population growth slowing we are seeing a better relationship between housing supply and housing demand.  After recently hitting record high levels, it is reasonable to expect that the slowing population growth will see property developers respond by seeking fewer approvals for new residential properties.</p>
<p><em>Cameron Kusher is research analyst for CoreLogic RP Data. You can contact him <a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/about/">here</a>.</em></p>
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Population growth continues to slow due to ongoing decline in net overseas migration: Cameron Kusher

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<div>Macroprudential measures have had the desired effect, and the rate of home price growth has steadied.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>CoreLogic-RP Data's Daily Home Value Index may be a little seasonal, but the year-on-year figures show the slower gradient of growth.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Nationally home price growth has slowed to +6.3 percent year-on-year.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Melbourne (+8.8 percent), Sydney (+8.1 percent) and Brisbane (+4.5 percent) between them have accounted for most of the price growth over the past year. <br><br>While Sydney and Melbourne have been grabbing all the attention in recent years, Brisbane prices have just kept rising steadily and under the radar. <br><br>CoreLogic's index shows the median price for Brisbane &amp; Gold Coast having increased by $61,330 or +13.1 per cent over the past three years. <br><br>Although I have long been sceptical about the somewhat parlous state of the South Australian economy, Adelaide mediabn prices have also increased by just shy of +10 per cent over the same timeframe.</div>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/11/RP1.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/04/11/RP1.jpg" alt=""></p>
<div class="separator"> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>I was busy doing other things than charting data over the Christmas/New Year 2014-15 period, so actually have no idea what happened in the gaps in the chart. <br><br>Maybe there was a property crash and a speedy recovery, for all I know, not sure.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<p><span><em>PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of <a href="https://allenwargent.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">AllenWargent</a> property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">blogger</a>.</em><br></span></p>
<p><em>His latest book is <a href="https://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/General-Interest/Four-Green-Houses--and-a-Red-Hotel/1015/productview.aspx" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Four Green Houses and a Red Hotel</a>.</em></p>
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Home price growth steadies: Pete Wargent

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<p><span style="line-height: 1.3em;">Housing finance data for January 2016 shows that the value of housing finance commitments was recorded at $31.9 billion over the month. </span></p>
<p>Based on this figure, mortgage lending fell by -3.4 percent over the month.  Even though the data is seasonally adjusted, we often see falls in mortgage lending over January so perhaps we need not read too much into the fall, however, this is the largest January fall in lending since 2011.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/15/Chart-1-1-580x213.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/04/15/Chart-1-1-580x213.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Looking at the two major components of mortgage lending: owner occupier and investors both have recorded a fall over the month. In January there was $20.5 billion worth of finance commitments to owner occupiers and $11.4 billion in commitments to investors. The value of owner occupier commitments fell by -4.3 percent over the month but was 15.9 percent higher year-on-year.</p>
<p>Investor commitments fell by -1.6 percent in January and were -14.8 percent lower year-on-year. With investor demand having slowed over recent months, they now account for 35.6 percent of all mortgage commitments which is virtually right on its decade average after peaking at 43.3 percent of all housing finance commitments in May of last year.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/15/Chart-21-580x210.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/04/15/Chart-21-580x210.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Of the $20.5 billion in commitments to owner occupiers in January, $1.9 billion was for construction of dwellings, $1.2 billion was for purchase of new dwellings, $7.2 billion was for refinancing of established dwellings and $10.2 billion was for the purchase of other established dwellings.  Construction of dwellings was the only segment of lending to rise over the month (+0.7 percent) with falls in value of lending for purchase of new dwellings (-5.2 percent), refinancing established dwellings (-2.3 percent) and purchase of other established dwellings (-6.4 percent). </p>
<p>Despite monthly falls, year-on-year all segments have seen an increase in lending with construction of new dwellings rising 6.1 percent, purchase of new dwellings up 35.6 percent, refinances up 36.0 percent and purchase of other established dwellings having increased by 4.8 percent.  Although lending is up over the past year, there is a clear downwards trend in owner occupier lending, particularly for established dwellings, over recent months.  It will important to monitor whether this trend persists in coming months as it could point to slowing value growth.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/15/Chart-3-1-580x213.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/04/15/Chart-3-1-580x213.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>Following intervention in the market by the regulator, we have seen a sharp slowdown in lending to the investment segment over the past 8 months.  As earlier mentioned, investors accounted for 43.3% of all housing finance commitments in May of last year with their proportion falling to 35.6% in January 2016.  Looking at the two components, in January 2016 there were $899 million worth of commitments for new construction and $10.5 billion worth of commitments for established housing stock. </p>
<p>Over the month, the value of commitments fell by -4.2% for new construction and by -1.4% for established housing stock.  Year-on-year the value of lending is 3.2% higher for new construction but -16.0% lower for established stock.  Much like the owner occupier chart, it shows that demand for established stock has eased and is trending lower, albeit at a slower pace.  In fact, the value of commitments for established investment stock is at its lowest level since April 2014.</p>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/15/Chart-4-1-580x215.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/04/15/Chart-4-1-580x215.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>The CoreLogic Mortgage Index which is published weekly and tracks mortgage activity across our proprietary platforms indicates that January was a weak month for housing finance commitments.  We would expect that housing finance commitments will rise in February and so far March also points to increasing demand.  However, mortgage demand remains lower than it was at the end of last year and lower than it was a year ago.  While housing finance commitments should increase from their January levels it is unlikely that demand will start to grow as strongly as it was in the early part of last year or late in 2015.</p>
<p>The constraints on investment lending have been extremely effective and have resulted in a swift and significant pull-back in demand, in fact the value of investment housing finance commitments in January was -20.0% lower than its April 2015 peak.  Although the CoreLogic Mortgage Index points to a rebound in demand over the coming months, we expect that growth in housing finance commitments will remain more subdued than what we saw over recent years. </p>
<p>Of course, the direction of housing finance will ultimately be determined by housing demand.  After demand weakened over the second half of 2015 we have seen stronger demand early in 2016 with much stronger auction clearance rates falling property listings in a number of cities and a rise in property transactions.</p>
<p><em>Cameron Kusher is research analyst for CoreLogic RP Data. You can contact him <a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/about/">here</a>.</em></p>
<p> </p>
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Mortgage demand shrinks in January, will it continue throughout 2016? Cameron Kusher

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<div>It looks increasingly as though 2016 is going to be a becalmed year for Sydney's property markets.<br><br>Some articles doing the rounds this week suggested that apartment prices had already fallen in Sydney, but as you would expect different market sectors and sub-regions have behaved somewhat differently.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Mainly these declines would relate to new stock or "off-the-plan" or high-rise apartment purchases, some of which in my opinion is quite over-priced and quite risky, and some outer suburban or secondary locations where auction clearance rates have tanked. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Residex released its April market update on Friday which showed that <em>median</em> apartment prices in Sydney had increased by +11.5 per cent over the year to March, to a fresh all-time high of $691,500.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Following a +2.4 per cent increase in March, the median unit price growth has all but overhauled median house price growth in the harbour city, which has slowed to +12.2 per cent over the year to March. <br><br>This need not be such a surprise - at this stage in the cycle the stamp duty on detached housing in desirable locations has become increasingly prohibitive, acting as a drag on price growth.  </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Sydney's median house price is now $1,042,500 which is +$271,500 higher than when the latest round of doomsday predictions were rolled out at the beginning of 2014. And this median price is also +$381,500 than in the middle of 2012 when some other crash predictions were being bantered around.<br><br>With the additional stamp duty burden ramping up by nearly $18,000 over the past four years, rational buyers will increasingly look towards properties they can add value to, or scale down their entry price accordingly. <br><br>While auction results are still throwing out some enormous results (for example, this <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property-terrace-nsw-potts+point-115126003" target="_blank">Potts Point terrace</a> was resold for a thunderous $13 million this week, almost doubling the record price for a Sydney terraced house) it does look as though the wider market away from the inner suburbs has now slowed in accordance with APRA's wishes. </div>
<div>
<br>According to Residex medians, there was a continued steady growth in the year to March for Brisbane houses (+3.5 per cent) and Brisbane units (+4.2 per cent). <br><br>
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<div><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Economy more upbeat</span></strong></div>
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<div>There have been quite a few positive signs for the economy of late - an extraordinarily strong NAB business survey saw conditions at their equal highest level in 8 years, and the AIG Performance of Manufacturing Index gauge surging to its highest reading in 12 years. <br><br>Lately there has been a strong bounce in commodity prices, sending some of the oversold major resources companies on a serious bull run.<br><br>The March Labour Force figures showed that the national unemployment rate has kept ticking down to its lowest level in two-and-a-half years, and quite a bit sooner than had been expected. <br><br>More detailed employment figures due out on Thursday will confirm that Sydney's economy is rather enjoying its infrastructure and building boom. </div>
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<div>As for the much-feared "mining cliff", well that  has all but been and gone, meaning that resources construction will no longer be such a significant drag on the economy in about 12 to 18 months time.</div>
<div>
<br>The latest available data only runs to December 2015, but as we are now about three-and-a-half years beyond the peak estimates have shown that some three quarters of the decline may now be in the rear view mirror, while record residential construction activity has helped to offset the decline.<br><br>That said, Western Australia and the Northern Territory still evidently have quite a way to fall back yet.</div>
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<div class="separator"><a href="/images/2016/04/18/C1.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
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<div>Good news, and futures markets are now less than convinced of the need for a further interest rate cut in this cycle.</div>
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<div><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Financial Stability Review (FSR)</span></strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>In other news the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released its April 2016 Financial Stability Review (FSR) on Friday. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>The RBA noted that spreads on Australian banks' wholesale funding costs had increased a little over the past six months, partly due to one-off factors related to international regulation. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>That said, spreads have declined a bit of late as the outlook has brightened, and having successfully issued some $50 billion in bonds since the beginning of the year Australian banks are set to comfortably meet their funding requirements through this calendar year.</div>
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<div>Despite the moderate increase in spreads, banks' long and short debt pricing spread to swap remains a world away from where it was in, say 2012, let alone from the unholy spike of 2008.</div>
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<div>In any event Australian banks are now less exposed to wholesale funding risk because first deposit funding and now equity funding have been stepped up respectively.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>There has been very little impact on deposit rates. </div>
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<div><a href="/images/2016/04/18/FUNDING.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
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<div>
<img src="/images/2016/04/18/FUNDING.jpg" alt=""><br><br>
</div>
<div>Non-performing asset ratios on domestic books are generally speaking in pretty good nick, having continued to improve in the latter half of 2015.</div>
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<div>
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<div>For the majors non-performing loans are also in very good shape, although the resources regions and mining towns of Western Australia and Queensland are expected to cop some default action, an unfortunate occurrence which has been known about for some time. </div>
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<div>The RBA highlighted the potential for apartment oversupply and possible related settlement risks, while noting that there has been little evidence of the latter to date, and also little evidence of any meaningful slowdown in demand from China. <br><br>Despite the high levels of apartment construction, I'm coming around the view that with more than half of the dwelling stock effectively financed by offshore investors - overwhelmingly from China - such a ratio of apartments may never make it to the rental market that the actual impact on supply could yet prove to be a fizzer. <br><br><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">No stress?</span></strong><br><br>The RBA remains relatively unperturbed with household debt levels, for although gross household debt has increased so too have aggregated mortgage buffers (balances held in offsets and redraw facilities), up to an enormous 17 per cent of outstanding loan balances - that's the equivalent of more than 2.5 years of mortgage repayments at current interest rate levels.<br><br>The RBA reiterated that most household debt is held by the households that can afford to service it, with half of household debt held by the top quintile of income earners. Meanwhile, indicators of stress on overall loan portfolios remain low. <br><br>However, this review did acknowledge that the households without mortgage buffers are often those in the lower income brackets, which may present a market risk in time. <br><br>As such, housing markets in lower socio-demographic areas may be at greater risk if either interest rates or unemployment rates rise. <br><br>This certainly rings true in the case of Sydney where house prices in the west and at the city fringe have recorded particularly punchy price growth since 2012 - a dynamic which tends to mask any underlying household mortgage stress - but with auction results pointing to ongoing weakness, the fundamentals out west all look rather fragile.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<p><span><em>PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of <a href="https://allenwargent.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">AllenWargent</a> property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">blogger</a>.</em><br></span></p>
<p><em>His latest book is <a href="https://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/General-Interest/Four-Green-Houses--and-a-Red-Hotel/1015/productview.aspx" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Four Green Houses and a Red Hotel</a>.</em></p>
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The becalmed market: Pete Wargent

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<div>APRA's crackdown has skimmed skimmed the high LVR property investors out of the market, but there still exists a relatively high level of demand for investor credit from those with the requisite serviceability that remain. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>The ABS Lending Finance data series for February 2016 showed total lending finance across all measured sectors rebounding nicely in February, but against an underlying downtrend.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>That's in part due to the APRA effect, which has effectively stymied the outlandish surge in property investment demand. </div>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/19/B4.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a><br><img src="/images/2016/04/19/B4.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p> </p>
<div>Breaking out the data into its component parts and using the smoother trend figures we can see that despite a solid rebound in February commercial lending has apparently lost some of its momentum, which is potentially underwhelming news for business.<br><br>Of course, from month to month the underlying business lending figures are lumpy, and there's no getting away from that. <br><br>But for the moment, at least, the trend appears to be softening.</div>
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<div><a href="/images/2016/04/19/B5.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
<div><img src="/images/2016/04/19/B5.jpg" alt=""></div>
<p> </p>
<div>The figures for personal finance at first blush appear to be almost comically soft, declining to levels last seen in 2007. <br><br>However, I do wonder about classification issues here, given the massive and increasing popularity of mortgage buffers, offset accounts, and redraw facilities. Not really sure about this, but it looks muchos weird to me. Let's pass on that one, Magnus! <br><br>At the state level, commercial finance in rolling annual terms has been trending up marginally in Queensland, but down in Western Australia. However, the latest figures suggest that WA may have at least arrested its decline.</div>
<p><br><a href="/images/2016/04/19/B6.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a><br><img src="/images/2016/04/19/B6.jpg" alt=""></p>
<div>Splitting out the commercial finance data by industry it is with no great surprise that we discover with that lending in the mining sector has been obliterated by about a third over the past year to be around 40 per cent below its peak.</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="/images/2016/04/19/B3.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></div>
<div><img src="/images/2016/04/19/B3.jpg" alt=""></div>
<p> </p>
<div>Fortunately mining is only one part of Australian industry, and other sectors have fared considerably better, with business lending rates tracking at record lows.</div>
<p><br><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Property investment loans</span></strong><br><br></p>
<div>Macroprudential tools have been deployed in order to cap property investor credit growth at 10 per cent, while the RBA disclosed some of its <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/information/foi/disclosure-log/pdf/141515.pdf" target="_blank">thought processes</a> in this regard this week - interesting insights indeed (imagine having your emails disclosed like that in the public domain, by the way!).</div>
<div> </div>
<div>These moves have had the desired effect, and the focus has very much shifted towards owner-occupier lending. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>That said the seasonally adjusted February Housing Finance data showed investment loans rebounding by +4.1 per cent in February to $11.9 billion, so there is still a reasonably high volume of investor activity in the post. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Indeed, investor loans are steadying across most states in February when looked at in rolling annual terms. <br><br>That said, activity in Western Australia was down by 20 per cent in February from the prior year comparative result, so there is possibly still some decline to come there, although a few analysts have already called the market bottom for Perth. </div>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/19/B1.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/04/19/B1.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p> </p>
<div>Investor activity in the Northern Territory has fallen to such a low level at about $46 million per month that it wouldn't even register as a blip on the above chart. The February result was down by 43 percent from one year ago, so the trend line is shaping as if participating in a race to the bottom.</div>
<p><a href="/images/2016/04/19/B2.jpg" target="_blank"> Click to enlarge</a></p>
<p><img src="/images/2016/04/19/B2.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p><br><span>Not looking all that grand for Darwin, tbh!</span></p>
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<strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br></span></strong><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The wrap</span></strong>
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<div> </div>
<div>A decent rebound for Lending Finance in February, but there looks to be a softening tending in business finance. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Monthly investor lending activity looks to be steadying in New South Wales ($4 billion), Victoria ($2.6 billion), and Queensland ($1.5 billion), though there is still some potential softness in evidence elsewhere.<br><br>With some banks having offered fixed rate home loans as low as 3.99 per cent, anecdotally there was a strong month of owner-occupier lending in March.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<p><span><em>PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of <a href="https://allenwargent.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">AllenWargent</a> property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">blogger</a>.</em><br></span></p>
<p><em>His latest book is <a href="https://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/General-Interest/Four-Green-Houses--and-a-Red-Hotel/1015/productview.aspx" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Four Green Houses and a Red Hotel</a>.</em></p>
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