<p><a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/mayd-group">MAYD Group</a> has set a new residential price record in Queensland with the $30 million sale of the penthouse at its <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/one-burleigh-88-the-esplanade-burleigh-heads-qld-4220">ONE Burleigh</a> development in Burleigh Heads.</p>

<p>The sale equates to around $37,500 per sqm.</p>

<p>The two-level, 800 sqm penthouse, featuring five bedrooms, five bathrooms, five car spaces, and a private infinity pool overlooking the Pacific Ocean, was acquired by a Gold Coast-based entrepreneur, highlighting continued demand for ultra-premium beachfront product.</p>

<p>Selling agent Freddie Tehle of PRD Burleigh Heads said the result reflects tightening supply of high-quality, large-format apartments in Burleigh.</p>

<p>“There’s very limited opportunity to secure this level of scale and absolute beachfront position in <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/burleigh-heads-qld-4220">Burleigh Heads</a>,” Tehle said.</p>

<p>“Buyers are increasingly seeking apartments that genuinely replace a standalone home, and this penthouse delivers that with its size, privacy, and direct ocean frontage.”</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=146358 project_image_fid=323057]</p>

<p>The sale comes as construction progresses on ONE Burleigh, a boutique development of 17 full-floor residences at 88 The Esplanade, scheduled for completion in early 2027.</p>

<p>Developed by MAYD Group and designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/mas-architecture-studio">MAS Architecture</a> with interiors by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/interior-designers/sici-design">Sici Design</a>, the project has been positioned as a collection of house-sized beachfront apartments, each occupying an entire floor with around 381 sqm of internal and external living space.</p>

<p>When construction commenced, MAYD director Todd Mould pointed to the long-term resilience of premium coastal real estate as a key driver behind the project.</p>

<p>“Real estate, particularly at the premium end, remains one of the most resilient and proven long-term investment avenues,” Mould said.</p>

<p>“Our ambition is that anyone who buys a MAYD-built product can genuinely feel the care, craftsmanship and commitment we bring to every detail.”</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=146358 project_image_fid=323055]</p>

<p>Each residence has been configured with four bedrooms, multiple living zones, a private office, and expansive ocean-facing terraces. Interiors draw on a restrained material palette, including travertine stone, timber joinery, and integrated premium appliances.</p>

<p>Interior designer Sici Design said the approach was to reflect the project’s coastal setting through both materiality and spatial planning.</p>

<p>“ONE Burleigh is our vision of luxury living, designed to bring the essence of Burleigh Heads' vibrant coastal beauty into an unparalleled residential experience.”</p>

<p>Residents will have access to a suite of wellness-focused amenities, including pools, sauna facilities, and dedicated relaxation spaces, reflecting a broader shift toward lifestyle-driven apartment design on the Gold Coast.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=146358 project_image_fid=323052]</p>

<p>The project occupies a southern Esplanade site with uninterrupted beachfront frontage, an increasingly rare offering in Burleigh Heads, free from the Norfolk Pines that line much of the coastline and often limit direct ocean outlook.</p>

<p>Mould said the design intent was to balance that outlook with a sense of retreat.</p>

<p>“Living at ONE Burleigh is about how your day naturally unfolds, morning light across the ocean, coffee on the balcony, and being in Burleigh but elevated above the noise.”</p>

<p>The result further reinforces Burleigh Heads’ emergence as one of the Gold Coast’s most tightly held and supply-constrained beachfront markets, where boutique, owner-occupier-focused developments are increasingly setting new price benchmarks.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=146358]</p>


Joel Robinson

MAYD Group sets Queensland record with $30 million penthouse sale at ONE Burleigh in Burleigh Heads

<p>Apartment developers in the Gold Coast are finding new, creative ways to differentiate themselves from competing projects, as new supply starts to flow through up and down the Coast.</p>

<p>Developer Big Projects brought in the renowned Sydney-based design studio YSG to craft the interiors for The Frederick, Big Projects' new Mermaid Beach project and YSG's first move into the multi-residential development space.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=110588 project_image_fid=5346]</p>

<p>It was a strategic move for Big Projects to bring in a Sydney eye to the development.</p>

<p>“Our role is to give our design partners the space and freedom to explore,” says Matt Barrett, Director of Big Projects.</p>

<p>“We wanted YSG Studio to capture the essence of Nobby’s, to design a building that embraces life, light and connection, while creating a genuine sense of place.”</p>

<p>There are only 39 apartments in The Frederick, including a striking beach house, just 100 metres from the booming Nobby Beach precinct.&nbsp;</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=110588 project_image_fid=5347]</p>

<p>Yasmine Ghoniem, Director of YSG Studio, says their vision&nbsp;for The Frederick "reinvents coastal living."</p>

<p>“Nobby’s has such an iconic energy, it’s one of those rare pockets of the Gold Coast where the community, the beach, and the streets all feel connected,” Ghoniem says.</p>

<p>"Responding to the neighbouring coastline, soothing curves add a relaxing regional overlay, while unique detailing really sets it apart. It’s a place that feels lived in from the moment you step inside.”</p>

<p data-end="236" data-start="64">A standout feature of The Frederick is its rooftop terrace, an uncommon inclusion for a boutique, low-rise building, where amenity is typically concentrated at ground level.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=110588 project_image_fid=5360]</p>

<p data-end="523" data-start="308">Positioned to capture panoramic views from the hinterland to the ocean, the rooftop has been designed as a series of intimate zones. It includes a pool, sauna, sun decks, workspaces and dedicated entertaining areas.</p>

<p data-end="670" data-start="525">“The rooftop was conceived as a collection of spaces where residents can unwind and connect, an extension of the Nobby’s lifestyle,” Barrett says.</p>

<p data-end="760" data-start="672">Architecture for the project was led by Plus Architecture, with landscape design by LDG.</p>

<p data-end="951" data-start="762">SRQ Projects Director Nick Clydsdale, who is handling sales at The Frederick, says the majority of enquiry is coming from South East QLD and Victorian buyers who have been actively searching between Broadbeach and Mermaid Beach for some time.</p>

<p data-end="951" data-start="762">"They’ve reviewed a number of projects, however this one has stood out for its design flair/ appeal,"&nbsp;Clydsdale says.</p>

<p data-end="951" data-start="762">Site demolition is slated for this month, with construction commencing soon after. Big Projects is targeting a late 2027 completion.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=110588]</p>


Big Projects taps Sydney’s YSG for first multi-residential project at The Frederick Mermaid Beach

<p>Melbourne-based property developer ALTA Property has this week achieved planning approval for the adaptive re-use of a former commercial tower into a $200 million, 169-apartment project at 10 Queens Road, one of the last developable sites along the Albert Park Lake-fronting boulevard.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Set within one of Melbourne’s most sought-after precincts and designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/fraser-partners-0">Fraser and Partners</a>, the illustrious building will offer unparalleled views across Albert Park Lake, Port Phillip Bay and Melbourne CBD.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The mix of 1, 2 and 3-bedroom residences will be complemented by a ground-floor amenity featuring private dining, a lounge bar, gym and wellness spaces, co-working, outdoor communal gardens, and retail.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The 17-storey building is a masterclass in adaptive re-use, with the existing commercial building’s façade, shell and internal structure to be retained, before high-end residences are built from the ground up in a newly built Albert Park facing addition to the building.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Sitting atop the building will be two 320+sqm penthouses with private rooftop terraces, which are expected to be priced between $9 - $11 million.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="ALTA Property achieves permit approval for $200 million Queens Road tower" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="aa11211b-5581-43f9-940c-fc84d30a0e61" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/C_04.png?VersionId=Yhf5p_1EgGDu_zOIMFgvA8Ug8j3sTFQs" /></p>

<p>Architecturally, the building will feature a curved, geometric façade that celebrates and elevates the existing structure, with warm, muted tones which were selected to extend the materiality of the existing building rather than contrast it.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Interiors will bring together three metre high ceilings with waffle concrete in some spaces, natural timber, granite and Australian materials, culminating in crafted, generous and considered spaces that are defined by authenticity.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The adaptive re-use means that the Queens Road project will be a sustainability led, high-quality finished product, with a 62% saving in carbon emissions by re-using the existing structure rather than knocking it down and rebuilding.&nbsp;</p>

<p>ALTA Property was launched by Nigel Givoni in 2023, bringing over 25 years of experience in multi level residential delivery.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Melbourne’s property market growth is currently led by apartments. According to RPM VIC Apartments &amp; Townhomes Market Report (April 2026), units are outpacing houses, especially in the middle ring suburbs where median prices hit $757,500 – a four-year high that represents 2.9 percent growth quarter-on-quarter.&nbsp;</p>

<p><img alt="ALTA Property achieves permit approval for $200 million Queens Road tower" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="647e13d7-b4bc-433a-9bc9-fe3c3dd4f2ec" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/V_06.png?VersionId=ou4NUCWUgA3NAy.6CQJlEdKX50j3dOk6" /></p>

<p>For ALTA Property Founder Nigel Givoni, this performance speaks to the confidence he has in the Melbourne market.&nbsp;</p>

<p>“Queens Road represents a rare opportunity to continue to shape our presence in the Melbourne market.,"&nbsp;Givoni says.</p>

<p>"With a considered project team and a premier site along one of the city’s most sought-after boulevards, we look forward to contributing to the fabric of this established address.</p>

<p>“Other Australian markets are getting a lot of attention, but I believe the depth of value in Melbourne is being overlooked. The fundamentals are strong, population growth is steady and, based on our preliminary conversations with a leading builder, construction costs are beginning to normalise, creating further opportunity."</p>

<p>Givoni says the project is a&nbsp;highly considered example of adaptive re-use, delivering quality, high-end residences, premium hotel-inspired amenities and an architecturally striking façade, all achieved without the need to remove the existing structure.</p>

<p>"We are really looking forward to the market’s response,” he said.&nbsp;</p>


ALTA Property to deliver $200 million Queens Road apartment tower

<p>Construction is set to begin at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-townhouses/orchard-mews-glen-iris-18-scott-grove-glen-iris-vic-3146">Orchard Mews</a> in Glen Iris, with&nbsp;PC Whitehall &amp; Sons&nbsp;now appointed as the townhome development moves into its next phase.</p>

<p>The development by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/montcoeur">MontCoeur</a>,&nbsp;located at 18 Scott Grove, is now around 30 per cent sold, with completion targeted for late-2027.</p>

<p>Orchard Mews comprises a curated collection of three- and four-bedroom customisable townhomes, positioned within one of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/glen-iris-vic-3146">Glen Iris</a>’ more tightly held residential streets. The low-density project has been designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/cera-stribley-architects">Cera Stribley</a>, with landscape architecture by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/landscape-architect/jack-merlo">Jack Merlo</a>, bringing together a team known for high-end residential projects across Melbourne.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=150128 project_image_fid=366285]</p>

<p>The development is defined by its focus on flexible living and long-term usability. Each residence includes multiple living zones and a customisable multipurpose room, allowing buyers to tailor spaces to suit changing needs, whether as a home office, additional bedroom, wellness area or entertainment space.</p>

<p>Architecturally, the townhomes emphasise natural light and spatial volume, with dual-aspect layouts and double-height living areas incorporated into the design. Interiors feature natural stone benchtops, premium appliances, and a neutral material palette intended to support everyday functionality rather than statement-driven finishes.</p>

<p>All residences are all-electric and include private lifts and secure double garages, reflecting a broader shift toward sustainability and future-focused housing in Melbourne’s established suburbs.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project:default project_id=150128 project_image_fid=366277]</p>

<p>Outdoor connections are also central to the offering, with a mix of private courtyards and terraces extending internal living spaces and integrating with the landscaped surrounds.</p>

<p>The Scott Grove address places Orchard Mews within close proximity to some of Melbourne’s key lifestyle and education amenities, including Scotch College, Sacré Cœur, Cabrini Hospital and the retail hub of Chadstone. Public transport access is also nearby, with trams and Gardiner Station providing connectivity to the CBD and surrounding suburbs.</p>

<p>[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=150128]</p>


Construction to commence at luxury Glen Iris townhome project, Orchard Mews

<p data-end="150" data-start="66">A rare new apartment development has been proposed on the fringe of St Ives Village.</p>

<p data-end="370" data-start="152">Developer Newquest Property has lodged plans for a low-rise apartment project designed by well-regarded architecture firm Warren &amp; Mahoney, which is best known for its work in the multi-residential sector in Melbourne.</p>

<p data-end="370" data-start="152">The building, proposed for a 1,916 sqm site on <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/st-ives-residences-3-5-memorial-avenue-nsw-2075">Memorial Avenue</a> opposite St Ives Village Green, has been designed to blend into the surrounding natural environment.</p>

<p data-end="370" data-start="152"><img alt="St Ives" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="5c1c7437-2fba-4345-a6d7-05321714ad3e" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-04%20at%201.28.46%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=KrYyMaJvNqR7vbx0xbB3Ef8sJ6FuHpmn" /></p>

<p data-end="745" data-start="537">“Drawing inspiration from the pale trunks and flowering canopies of the scribbly gums and blue gums prevalent in the area, a considered material palette was developed,” the architectural design report states.</p>

<p data-end="912" data-start="747">“This palette references the established materiality of the suburb while elevating it through refined finishes to achieve a more luxurious architectural expression.”</p>

<p data-end="1185" data-start="914">Of the 33 apartments proposed, 21 will be three-bedroom residences. The remaining mix includes nine two-bedroom apartments, one one-bedroom apartment and two four-bedroom residences. The development will be supported by 62 car parking spaces and 33 secure bicycle spaces.</p>

<p data-end="1270" data-start="1187">The proposal would replace two single-storey brick buildings currently on the site.</p>

<p data-end="1270" data-start="1187"><img alt="St Ives" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="21422eaf-09a9-4439-9278-b9bd9daf22a1" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-04%20at%201.38.10%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=v.fXSgcUcEscvOZzqcjG5nk3gVqk_Amt" /></p>

<p data-end="1467" data-start="1272">St Ives remains a relatively untapped market for new apartment development. North Shore developer WINIM has a number of projects in the area, while INCA is nearing completion of Ellis Residences.</p>

<p data-end="1635" data-start="1469">More recently, Traders In Purple has lodged plans for one of the denser projects proposed in the suburb, a 75-apartment development on a 5,900 sqm site on Cowan Road.</p>

<p data-end="1635" data-start="1469">NewQuest, a construction, design and development firm, has delivered over 24 projects across commercial, residential, industrial, and lad markets.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


First look: NewQuest Property proposes new St Ives apartment development

<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

<html><body>
<div>EXPERT OBSERVER</div>
<div> </div>
<div>OK, first things first. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>I am indeed a so-termed vested interest: I would like to see full employment, stronger wages and household income growth, the Aussie economy growing at least at trend or ideally above trend, and I don't want to see the housing market getting zinged unnecessarily. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Yep, you got me on that one. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>With these formalities out of the way, I saw APRA's latest ADI exposures today described as 'red alert lending data', very 'concerning', a 'loosening' of lending standards, that should be 'ringing alarm bells' to APRA due to lenders 'breaking their own rules', among various other remarks (source: Digital Finance Analytics). </div>
<div> </div>
<div>For the record, while blog-flaming isn't really my bag, I must wholeheartedly disagree on each and every point!<br><br>Whatevs, I'll post a few deets and you can make your own mind up...</div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stock of IO loans plunges</span></strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Firstly, the flow of new interest-only (IO) loans in Q2 2018 was a meagre 16.6 per cent of residential term loans, absolutely miles below the initially proposed cap of 30 per cent (and a world apart from the 45.6 per cent record high of Q2 2015). </div>
<div> </div>
<div>With far fewer loans written overall from a year earlier in spite of a strong increase in the Aussie population, this represented a modest increase in percentage terms from the preceding quarter.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>However, the actual number of interest-only loans was some 52 per cent lower than in the corresponding quarter of the prior year - and almost 70 per cent lower than the number written at the peak of IO lending in 2015.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>A 'loosening'? Hardly.<br><br>But even if more IO loans were to be written henceforth I personally don't believe that would be <span>a bad thing.</span>
</div>
<div><span> </span></div>
<div><span>The last thing<span> we need <span>is $½ trilli</span>on of IO</span> mortgages being reset with undue haste - unless you actually want to see the housing market get stiffed, which of course many people do - and some breathing space would surely be welcomed by a portion of existing IO borrowers. </span></div>
<p> </p>
<div class="separator"><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tFVWEE8Ibxg/W5kafR9EsAI/AAAAAAAAr3M/i525R8a2Vz0RTipYynJRdMnqcv0vtlPHwCLcBGAs/s640/IO1.jpg" width="640" height="372" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1377"></div>
<p> </p>
<div>Regardless of your views on that, there was another enormous decline in the stock of IO loans in the June quarter, with IO loan balances outstanding now having plunged some $119 billion lower over the past five quarters. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>The share of IO loans outstanding through June 2018 was thus by some margin at the lowest level across the entire data series at about 29 per cent, down from close to 40 per cent in late 2015. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Note that these numbers only run to the end of the 2018 financial year; at the current trajectory the share of IO loans will likely be around 26.9 per cent by the end of this month, a figure that was truly unthinkable only last year, and the lowest level in decades. </div>
<div> </div>
<div class="separator"><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VvYLsKyPgs4/W5kafal-H0I/AAAAAAAAr3c/Z0gyForrg7IQlC8ki_SD-5ePZVQnPQW_wCEwYBhgL/s640/Io3.jpg" width="640" height="374" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1367"></div>
<p><br><span>A loosening...very droll.</span><br><br></p>
<div>
<strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Less and less and less high-LVR lending</span></strong><br><br>Secondly, in relation to DFA's 'red alert' on lending standards, the loan-to-value (LVR) ratios on new loans have been tightening incrementally for the better part of half a decade now.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Loan volumes are down, there was a miniscule change in Q2 for the share of new loans written at 80 per cent LVR or above, while loans written above 90 per cent LVR or above have never been as low as they are today since the available records began.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>'Red alert'? You must be having a giraffe, surely - we've literally never seen lending standards remotely like it!</div>
<p> </p>
<div class="separator"><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-myr13CMquKE/W5kafSp7IYI/AAAAAAAAr3I/yRholEdAVYs5ZbZ6AiRGWIEbZtAQeLy0QCLcBGAs/s640/IO2.jpg" width="640" height="368" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="1381"></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thirdly, low-doc and other non-standard loans are also tracking at the lowest level on record. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Fourthly, the quarterly flow of new investment loans plunged by the best part of $5 billion year-on-year, so how you conclude a sudden loosening of standards from that I can't fathom (automatic red card for anyone directly comparing volumes from Q1 to Q2). </div>
<div> </div>
<div>And fifthly, a word that is devilishly hard to spell at the best of times, DFA cites loans approved outside serviceability, noting that these should be ringing 'alarm bells' to the regulator.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Fair suck of the sauce bottle, mate, but this almost certainly represents a timing issue and reflects <em><strong>tighter</strong> </em>lending standards, not looser.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>You can't tell me with a straight face that banks are blithely waving through marginal or borderline applications and then willingly reporting them as such in the current lending environment. Not happenin'.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>'I could go on...', as Jon Culshaw's impersonation of Russell Crowe might drily observe.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Due apologies for the apparent curtness, but this stuff has a tendency to be uncritically reported by rote, so someone needs to chime in with a few of these inconvenient actualities.<br><br>Much obliged. As you were :-)</div>
</body></html>

pwargent-M4siyDbqQY

Interest-only loans running at 70 per cent down on 2015 peak: Pete Wargent

<html><body>
<p>EXPERT OBSERVER</p>
<p>As reported in the latest CoreLogic home value index results, the national property market slowdown is having a wider impact with regional dwelling value growth experiencing the flow-on effect.</p>
<p>I examined how values have changed over the past 12 months outside of the capital cities.</p>
<p>Overall, regional dwelling values recorded a 1.6% capital gain over the twelve months ending August 2018.</p>
<p>Although values have still increased over the past year, the pace of capitals has been slowing and the 1.6% increase is the slowest annual growth rate since September 2013.</p>
<p>Over the past year, dwelling values have increased across the non-capital city markets of every state except Western Australia (-4.4%).</p>
<p>In regional NSW (+1.4%) value growth is the slowest it has been since April 2013 while in regional Tas (+8.0%) annual growth is the strongest it has been since March 2010.</p>
<p>Drilling down, the sub-regions highlight the diversity of property market conditions across the broad regional areas of Australia.</p>
<p>Of the 42 regional SA4 regions, 24 recorded an increase in dwelling values over the past year with the remaining 18 recording a fall.</p>
<p>Geelong (11.8%) was the only region to record double-digit growth while Tasmania’s South East (9.9%) and Launceston / North East Tasmania (9.3%) were the only two others to record growth in excess of 7.5%.</p>
<p>Of those regions that have recorded growth over the year, nine are in NSW, five are in VIC, three are in QLD, two are in SA, one is in WA, three are in TAS and one is in NT.</p>
<p>Central Queensland (-7.7%) had recorded the largest value fall over the year followed by Bunbury I WA and Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday (both 5.4%).</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, WA along with Qld, dominates the list of regional areas in which values have fallen the most over the past year.</p>
<p>In general terms, the regions linked to the resources sector have continued to record value falls over the past year while lifestyle markets and those close to capital cities have recorded increases.</p>
<p>The main exceptions are Mid North Coast and Illawarra, which are slowing as Sydney slows and Toowoomba just to the west of Brisbane.</p>
<p>On a quarterly basis, the number of regions recording value falls is larger than the number recording a fall over the year, indicating a worsening in regional housing market conditions over recent months.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2018/9/13/Tim%20CL%20PP.JPG" alt=""><img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2018/9/13/Tim%20CL%20PP%202.JPG" alt="" width="635" height="610"></p>
<p><em>Tim Lawless is the head of research at CoreLogic</em></p>
</body></html>

tlawless-5VLUrbAk9s

How the shift in dwelling values have affected regional areas of Australia: Tim Lawless

<html><body>
<div><span>EXPERT OBSERVATION</span></div>
<div><span> </span></div>
<div><span>The Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) released its Annual Report for the 2017 financial year, and as expected it showed that investment in new apartments from mainland Chinese investors has been annihilated by a combination of fee charges and tighter capital controls.</span></div>
<div><span> </span></div>
<div>
<span>There's much more to the Annual Report than just the residential real estate investment aspect, of course, but this is a blog not an Encyclopaedia Britannica so let's crack straight into it.</span><span><br></span>
</div>
<div><span> </span></div>
<div><span>Although the impact on total foreign investment was played down in the report, the reality is that the number of residential approvals have been smoked, down by 67 per cent from the prior year. </span></div>
<p> </p>
<div class="separator"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UMTpeaTHMM4/WwyhL22FvEI/AAAAAAAAqP0/8gaf_QtZb183rLkVwdH45jQUDJNGnkdRQCLcBGAs/s1600/FIRB1.jpg"><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UMTpeaTHMM4/WwyhL22FvEI/AAAAAAAAqP0/8gaf_QtZb183rLkVwdH45jQUDJNGnkdRQCLcBGAs/s640/FIRB1.jpg" width="640" height="372" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1337"></a></div>
<div>Similarly the value of residential approvals crashed 65 per cent lower from $72.4 billion to $25.2 billion. </div>
<p> </p>
<div class="separator"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eeKkUWK9UlM/WwyhMNmDdLI/AAAAAAAAqP4/8tL55X2DYeMHxJaDttmNpm2Z3WPJ1uxcQCLcBGAs/s1600/FIRB2.jpg"><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eeKkUWK9UlM/WwyhMNmDdLI/AAAAAAAAqP4/8tL55X2DYeMHxJaDttmNpm2Z3WPJ1uxcQCLcBGAs/s640/FIRB2.jpg" width="640" height="372" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1376"></a></div>
<p> </p>
<div>The bulk of new approvals through this unprecedented cycle have been for new dwelling exemption certificates, mainly for Chinese investors.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Looking at these numbers it's not hard to understand how Sydney now has more apartments approved but not yet commenced than at any time in its history, as <a href="http://petewargent.blogspot.com.au/2018/04/bust-looms-for-sydneys-apartment" target="_blank">detailed here previously</a>.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The offshore buyers have dried up, demand from domestic investors has been stymied, and the demand from owner-occupiers is insufficient to get new development project finance across the line. </div>
<p> </p>
<div class="separator"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NB_Pr0ox8ag/WwyhMFmGT_I/AAAAAAAAqP8/QW3ddVDDvDsLNYRsM8ydj3RaFs_WdVtqQCLcBGAs/s1600/FIRB3.jpg"><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NB_Pr0ox8ag/WwyhMFmGT_I/AAAAAAAAqP8/QW3ddVDDvDsLNYRsM8ydj3RaFs_WdVtqQCLcBGAs/s640/FIRB3.jpg" width="640" height="376" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1354"></a></div>
<p> </p>
<div>Statistically it appears to be a certainty that Sydney will experience the greatest number of failed apartment projects as these trends flow through. </div>
<p> </p>
<div class="separator"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oB--8HHlBVI/WwyhNNBYK4I/AAAAAAAAqQA/jcgvA_iBayUyUp_smd7mvblQxlk_NFajQCLcBGAs/s1600/FIRB4.jpg"><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oB--8HHlBVI/WwyhNNBYK4I/AAAAAAAAqQA/jcgvA_iBayUyUp_smd7mvblQxlk_NFajQCLcBGAs/s640/FIRB4.jpg" width="640" height="378" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1355"></a></div>
<p> </p>
<div>I expect to see plenty of apartment projects stalling, and increasing signs of discounting on new Sydney apartments.<br><br>Perhaps this was an inevitable end-game for this cycle, where development has been too much skewed towards apartments for investors, and too little towards the types of medium-density dwellings that people want to reside in.</div>
<div> </div>
<div><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The wrap</span></strong></div>
<div> </div>
<div>As noted, there is much more to foreign investment than just new apartment purchases, with total investment of $168 billion only 4 per cent below the level seen in the prior year. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>And indeed, investment in manufacturing, agriculture, ports, other commercial real estate, and resources has catapulted China to become by far and away the greatest investor in Australia at $38.9 billion in FY2017, miles ahead of the United States in second place at $26.5 billion.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Nevertheless, these figures will have some significant impacts on the new apartment sector, construction trends, and the broader economy - and especially so in Sydney.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<span>PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of AllenWargent property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and </span><a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blogger</a><span>.</span>
</div>
</body></html>

Local demand insufficient to get projects across the line as offshore apartment buyers dry up: Pete Wargent

<html><body>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">EXPERT OBSERVER</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The core task for investors is to find the growth locations, preferably before values rise significantly.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">It’s not an easy one because there’s a shortage of helpful information. Mostly the media and the research companies give us historical information and usually in a generalised way.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">This means they tell what’s happened recently, which doesn’t necessarily inform the future, and usually with a single growth figure to describe an entire major city.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">But something that came recently from CoreLogic was a little more helpful, because it provided some segmentation of sub-markets. Rather than simply tell us that Sydney and Melbourne prices are falling, it acknowledged that this is only true of some market sectors – and that others are still rising.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">There are some patterns with this data which are handy to observe and useful in deciding what happens next and where.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">One of the things I know to be true, from a scary number of years of experience, is that up-cycles often/usually begin in the inner-city areas. Over time they ripple out to the middle-ring suburbs and latterly to the outer-ring areas.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Why is it so? One reason, probably the biggest single one, is that real estate markets are largely driven by local economic conditions – not by national factors like interest rate levels or taxation policies, but by what’s happening in the economy at a local level.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">This helps to explain why Sydney and Melbourne, underpinned by the No.1 and No.2 economies in the nation, have had booms while the cities afflicted by the weakest of the state/territory economies, Perth and Darwin, have had markets in reverse.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">When economies rise, the first people to notice are those in the business community – the ones earning the most money. They react before anyone else does and they tend to live in the millionaire suburbs. Those markets rise first and others follow over time.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">When you get towards the end of the cycle, those early adopters have passed their peaks and it’s the cheaper areas on the fringes that are experiencing the busiest markets and the strongest annual price growth.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">So, according to the recently-published CoreLogic figures, it’s overly simplistic to claim that Melbourne house prices are falling. CoreLogic’s analysis says that prices in the upper end of the market are down 3.5 percent (generally speaking), but prices at the affordable end are up more than 10 percent.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">This correlates with Hotspotting research which indicates that the outer-ring precincts in the Greater Melbourne area – suburbs in LGAs like Hume, Whittlesea, Casey, Melton and Wyndham – have strong sales activity and price growth. And this is what we would expect at this point in the Melbourne cycle.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">There’s a similar scenario in Sydney – the upper end price levels generally are falling but there’s still some growth in the cheaper outlying areas.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The pattern for Hobart is interesting and informative, because it suggests that the Tasmanian capital is still pumping but that the peak might be near. The top end of the Hobart market is still rising (up almost 10 percent) but the cheaper end is up a lot more (around 18 percent, according to these figures).</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">That suggests the market overall is still strong but the lower end is the strongest.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">In terms of how all this informs the future, Perth is a good case study. When I recently looked at all the numbers for Perth, one of the things that stood out was that many of the million-dollars suburbs had recorded good growth in their median house prices but elsewhere this was not the case.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The CoreLogic figures would tend to confirm that, because they find that the upper end has risen but the cheaper end is still slightly in the negative.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">This, taken with other information, confirms for me that Perth is moving into a recovery phase in response to improvements in the local economy – and, as I would expect, the upper end areas are the first to react.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">I’ve seen evidence of a similar scenario in Adelaide, with many of the top end suburbs showing good annual price growth, ahead of what I expect to be a strong showing by the Adelaide market generally in the next 12-18 months.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s2">T<em>erry Ryder is the founder of hotspotting.com.au</em></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s3"><a href="https://mailto:ryder@hotspotting.com.au"><em>ryder@hotspotting.com.au</em></a></span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s2"><em>twitter.com/hotspotting</em></span></p>
</body></html>

terryryder-YECXbqmri2

Pinpointing where house values are rising and where they are falling

<html><body>
<p>Looking at data for the 50 most populous non-capital city council areas, the majority of them have seen house and unit values increase over the 12 months to May 2017. </p>
<p>The data indicates that after a long period of soft housing market conditions following the financial crisis, housing demand is starting to pick up across many of the larger regional areas. </p>
<p>Those areas that are continuing to see values fall are in many instances linked to the mining and resources sector.</p>
<p>Of the non-capital city council areas analysed, the Wollongong council area is the most expensive for houses ($730,427) and units ($530,170) as well as having seen the greatest increase in house values and the fourth highest increase in unit value over the past year. </p>
<p>The Wollongong housing market has seen housing demand rise as demand ripples away from Sydney where affordability constraints are more pressing. </p>
<p>Additionally, prices are being pushed higher as more people seek out coastal and lifestyle properties.</p>
<p>In New South Wales in particular, regional areas of the state, particularly those reasonably close to Sydney are generally seeing strong value growth. </p>
<p>This is most likely linked to affordability relative to Sydney as well as Sydney home owners using the equity in their home to purchase investment properties in lifestyle markets.</p>
<p>The regional areas of Victoria, particularly those close to Melbourne, are experiencing value growth however, it is nowhere near the magnitude to which values are growing in those locations close to Sydney. </p>
<p>Although values are rising, the relatively softer growth can be linked to the fact that values have not risen as sharply in Melbourne as they have in Sydney and subsequently affordability hasn’t deteriorated as severely in Melbourne.</p>
<p>Queensland’s results are somewhat more mixed with the south-east corner generally seeing values rise while elsewhere growth is extremely mild or values have fallen.</p>
<p>Click to enlarge </p>
<p><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/06/29/2017-06-23--pp1.jpg" alt=""></p>
<p>In fact, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts and Noosa are seeing more rapid value growth than Brisbane is. </p>
<p>It seems as if a lot of demand across these regions is coming from the accelerating internal migration to Queensland and buyers from Sydney and Melbourne that have substantial equity in their homes and are looking for lifestyle properties.</p>
<p>Of the areas that we looked at, each of the 24 regions we highlighted in New South Wales have recorded value growth for houses over the past year. </p>
<p>For units, only 4 of the 24 regions have recorded value falls over the past 12 months.</p>
<p>In Victoria we highlighted 10 regional council areas in the analysis. </p>
<p>Of these regions analysed, two recorded value falls over the year for houses and 2 regions also recorded falls for unit values. </p>
<p>Greater Shepparton was the only council area of the state which recorded value falls for houses and units.</p>
<p>Of the 13 regions highlighted for Queensland, five have recorded value falls for houses over the past year and seven have recorded declines for units.</p>
<p>Each of the regions highlighted in Western Australia have recorded value falls over the past year for houses and units.</p>
<p>Launceston was the only region analysed in Tasmania and it has seen house and unit values rise over the past year. </p>
<p>It should be noted while values have increased they have done so at a more moderate pace than those in Hobart.</p>
<p>Overall it seems that housing demand in regional areas of the country is rising. </p>
<p>While many regions are seeing value increase, the strongest demand appears to be in those areas within relatively close proximity to capital cities, particularly those which are coastal and tap into lifestyle demand.</p>
<p>Cameron Kusher is research analyst for CoreLogic. You can contact him <a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/about/">here</a>.</p>
</body></html>

ckusher-ujnxiKuFQs

Gladstone houses and apartment struggling as regions typically see values rise: Corelogic

<html><body>
<div>EXPERT OBSERVATION</div>
<div> </div>
<div>There was a flurry of excitement back in January when previously reported 2017 figures implied that Australia's household debt pile had temporarily nudged against twice disposable income. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>However, the headline number was subsequently revised down.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The latest ratios from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) show household debt now sitting at at 1.9x disposable income.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Or 190.13 per cent as at March 2018, to use a bit of false precision, up from 183.51 per cent a year earlier. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Click here <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jg6DW-0Q4mU/WzqepI3WnUI/AAAAAAAAq2g/IgMCJx3uRN4KTafsk-RgZdhKL9lqNlKiACLcBGAs/s640/RBA1.jpg" target="_blank">to enlarge.</a>
</div>
<div> </div>
<div class="separator"><img src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Jg6DW-0Q4mU/WzqepI3WnUI/AAAAAAAAq2g/IgMCJx3uRN4KTafsk-RgZdhKL9lqNlKiACLcBGAs/s640/RBA1.jpg" width="640" height="392" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="1310"></div>
<div> </div>
<div>There's a lot of debate about what this debt ratio should or shouldn't be.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>It will probably remain higher than was previously normal given the structure of Australia's population and immigration profile, with policy generally taking a keener regard of interest payments and serviceability. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Although this is a revised series high, the rate of increase has slowed somewhat (while the gross figure also doesn't account for the record mortgage buffers and use of offset accounts racked up through this cycle).</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Moreover, given the precipitous drop in both the stock and flow of interest-only mortgages the ratio is likely to peak relatively soon as income growth also moves beyond the nadir. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Anecdotally lenders are making it very difficult for brokers and borrowers to see loans written at the present time, which I believe will see the seasonally adjusted monthly value of investment loans pushed down to around $10 billion by the middle of the year, from nearly $15 billion at the 2015 peak.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Money growth is now at its lowest level in 26 years, and investor credit growth is at a record low of just 2 per cent, even before accounting for headcount growth and inflation. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<span>PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of AllenWargent property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and </span><a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blogger</a><span>.</span>
</div>
</body></html>

Household debt higher over 12 months to March

<html><body>
<p>SPONSORED POST</p>
<p>Senior Legal Counsel &amp; Early Childhood educator / Ironfish Customers</p>
<p>“As a lawyer, I’m pretty discerning and can be quite sceptical in my assessment of things.</p>
<p>“Having invested with Ironfish, we’re not only impressed by the level of knowledge, customer service and ethics of everyone we’ve dealt with, we also trust our strategist completely. She’s been to our home countless times, nothing is ever too much trouble.”</p>
<h2><strong>CASE IN PROFILE</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Time-poor professionals with young family</li>
<li>Needed to minimise tax liability</li>
<li>3 properties purchased through Ironfish</li>
<li>Diversified across multiple cities and housing types</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>Avoiding buyer’s remorse</strong></h2>
<p>Robert and Paula had been considering property investment as a tax minimisation strategy for some time – being higher income earners and having built up some equity in their own home. After talking to a few companies, they signed a contract to purchase one off-the-plan property, but immediately started to experience some ‘buyer’s remorse’. At this point, a friend suggested they meet with Ironfish Chief Investment Strategist, Priscilla Cheung. Their friend had invested with Priscilla in the past, and had a lot of trust and respect for both Priscilla and the Ironfish investment platform.</p>
<p>“We hadn’t heard of Ironfish before, but because of the recommendation, we thought we’d meet Priscilla and hear her out. As a result of our meeting, we actually ended up cancelling our other contract and went with Ironfish instead, because we could feel straight away that Priscilla genuinely had our interest at heart.”</p>
<h2><strong>No more bells and whistles</strong></h2>
<p>Their first meeting with Priscilla took place at their home, after hours – a personal touch that was greatly appreciated by Rob and Paula.</p>
<p>“With the other company, there was a feeling that we were being buttered up – going into a flashy office, being taken out for lunch, having coffees brought to us. By contrast, Priscilla came to our home – and with the kids and an extremely difficult and demanding job – we appreciate this flexibility.</p>
<p>“What sold us was that she set it all out plainly – she said if we went with the other company, that we’d still be doing the right thing. She confirmed that everything the other company had told us was sound and there was no reason not to go ahead with our purchase. She wasn’t putting it down, she was just interested in what was good for us. What she did say was that if we did choose to invest with her, that she would be able to provide an extra level of service that we wouldn’t necessarily get elsewhere. And given that we are incredibly time poor, we really valued this.”</p>
<h2><strong>Too hard to do it alone</strong></h2>
<p>Even prior to their introduction to Ironfish, Robert and Paula never considered investing in property on their own; like many senior professionals with a young family, the investment in time required meant it simply wasn’t an option.</p>
<p>“My job as an in-house Senior Legal Counsel is very challenging, and I have no room to make any mistakes. So, after spending all day at work expending my energy on other very complicated matters, by the time I get home, I’m just a mess. Investing on our own seemed too terrifying to even consider. We didn’t know where to begin, or how to break the ice. I’m an excellent lawyer, but when it comes to my own interests, I’m hopeless – because I’m just too busy looking after everyone else! That’s why you need trusted professionals around you to help navigate things you don’t understand, or don’t have time to understand – and that’s what we value so much about Priscilla and Ironfish.”</p>
<h2><strong>A new strategy for property selection</strong></h2>
<p>Initially, Rob and Paula had decided to purchase 2 house and land packages in Queensland, but decided to diversify once they heard about the Ironfish Portfolio Approach strategy.</p>
<p>“We thought the Portfolio Approach made a lot of sense. So, our first purchase with Ironfish was a South East Queensland house and land package – similar to what we’d signed on with the other company, but a better location and property. Priscilla provided all the data and stats – which all lined up, so we were ready to go with that one. Our next purchase was a townhouse in Marsden Park in Sydney. We drove out to Marsden Park a few times, and fell in love with the idea of having a piece of an impressive new suburb. Plus it’s a Stockland development; we were impressed that Ironfish had that relationship with a developer of the calibre of Stockland as well. Our third purchase was a unit in Melbourne village.”</p>
<h2><strong>Going above and beyond</strong></h2>
<p>Rob and Paula have now come to rely on the expertise, reliability and personalised service of Priscilla and the entire Ironfish team on a whole range of matters.</p>
<p>“The customer service we’ve experienced with everyone we’ve dealt with at Ironfish is excellent. Priscilla herself, has a lot of credibility and nothing ever seems to be too much trouble for her. Every time we feel like we’re stretching the relationship, she makes you feel like you’re the only customer she has. Everyone at Ironfish makes you feel like this; I don’t know if they receive special training to do this, but that’s truly been our experience. You never feel like you’re being a bother, nothing is too hard, too difficult or too stressful. For example, I was struggling to sort out all my bank accounts recently, it’s not Priscilla’s job to restructure my bank accounts for me, but she was happy to help!”</p>
<h2><strong>We didn’t have to worry about anything</strong></h2>
<p>The smooth transition from settlement to Ironfish Property Management also stands out for Rob and Paula.</p>
<p>“Communication with us throughout has been great. We really enjoyed getting regular updates and photos of the construction stages. Then we received information about a tenant within just a few days, it seemed. We barely blinked and it was done. Now we have this tenant living happily in this place we bought and we don’t even have to think about it. We basically just get emails from Ironfish that we need to approve. It’s always a collaborative process between us and them, and we all want the same outcome. It’s just so easy. We literally don’t have to worry about a thing.”</p>
<h2><strong>Robert and Paula’s property investment tips:</strong></h2>
<ul>
<li>Book a meeting to help you understand your position; then go away and speak to other people who’ve done it before.</li>
<li>Don’t believe the doom and gloom hype in the SMH; look at the facts, speak to Ironfish, and speak to one of their competitors to get another perspective.</li>
<li>We are taking advantage of negatively gearing our property until such time legislation changes, as well as the depreciation deductions for new properties.</li>
<li>You’ll find some people will understand what you’re doing, others will be against it, and will stick to the usual plan of paying off one house and waiting till retirement to enjoy life. But at the end of the day, we could be giving a lot more money to the tax office, but we’d rather have our money working for us!</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
</body></html>

jrobinson-rf4aSBido9

Robert and Paula Licuria - Senior Legal Counsel, Early Childhood educator & Ironfish Customers

<html><body>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Australia has some very strong property markets right now.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">But if you rely on mainstream media for information, you’re unlikely to know about them.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Most of our media originates in Sydney and Melbourne and those two places are obsessed with themselves. Writers would rather tell us about the decline in the two biggest cities than the strongly-rising markets elsewhere.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">They also commit the cardinal sin of generalising and treating Australia as a single market. So you’ll be seeing headlines like “Property prices fall across Australia” which means the national average, according to one heavily-featured source, is in the negative, dragged down by Sydney’s correction.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">If we hear about anywhere other than Sydney and Melbourne, it will be confirmation that Hobart is the No.1 capital city market on speed of sale, price growth and low vacancies (but no longer the cheapest of the capital cities, Hobart having overtaken depressed Darwin).</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">But Hobart is not the strongest market in the nation. The locations competing for that title are all in regional Australia, that large place largely forgotten by economists, journalists and investors.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">If you’re a property investor looking for the next growth possibility and you’re not considering the regions, then you’re missing opportunities to buy affordably in areas with strong yields and great potential for growth.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">I would venture that, right now, the three strongest market jurisdictions in Australian real estate are:-</span></p>
<ol class="ol1">
<li class="li1"><span class="s1">Regional New South Wales</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1">Regional Victoria</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1">Regional Tasmania</span></li>
</ol>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The common denominator here is this: as the capital city markets in those states wind down, their regional markets are cranking up.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">This is a regular pattern in real estate cycles. The growth cycle starts, often, in the inner-city areas of the capital cities, then ripples out through the middle ring to the outer ring over 3-4 years – and the growth eventually ripples beyond the capital city to regional areas nearby.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Regional markets are not totally reliant on their capital cities for growth – many are strong economies in their own right and will show growth regardless of what’s happening in the big city.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">But there’s no doubt that some of their momentum comes from events in the capital – and the closer they are geographically to the big city, the more likely it is that they will catch the growth wave.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Some regional markets close to Sydney and Melbourne got on their growth paths quite early and have already reached their peaks. That’s true of Geelong just outside Melbourne and also for Wollongong and the Central Coast near Sydney. Newcastle, arguably the strongest market in Australia right now, is also well advanced in its cycle.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">But most of the regional markets are just getting started. So, if you’re an investor looking for growth possibilities at attractive prices, these places should be considered.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s2"><strong>Regional NSW</strong></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Many Newcastle suburbs have grown their median house prices by more than 20 percent in the past year. Now that growth surge is rippling out to nearby areas, like the Lake Macquarie LGA and the towns of the Hunter Valley.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">But growth markets are spread across regional NSW. Having recently analysed the latest batch of quarterly sales figures, I’ve found 38 local government areas in regional NSW with locations where sales activity is upwardly mobile.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">They include major regional centres like Albury, Dubbo, Orange, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga (pictured top) - and also small towns unlikely to ever trouble the minds of city investors, like Cootamundra, Inverell, Kempsey and Tumut.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s2"><strong>Regional Victoria</strong></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The rise of the Geelong market is widely know. It’s been the market leader in Victoria for the past 12-18 months, generally out-performing Melbourne. Some of the cheaper suburbs of Geelong have had growth above 20 percent in the past year.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">But now Geelong has been overtaken by Ballarat, which is attracting lots of attention from Melbourne buyers and others. And, just lately, Bendigo has decided to challenge.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Ballarat and Bendigo each has its own character but some factors in common, such as strong economies, growing populations, major infrastructure spending, good links to the state capital and lots of affordable homes. They’re both worth a look.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The main towns in Cardinia Shire, namely Pakenham and Officer, have had exceptional growth recently. Pakenham’s median is up 20% and Officer has grown almost 30%.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Many other regional centres are rising, including Shepparton, Warragul and Bass Coast towns like Wonthaggi.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s2"><strong>Regional Tasmania</strong></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Hobart’s market has been barrelling along for the past two years and more recently Launceston joined the party. But now smaller centres have sparked to life, notably up in the north of the state, including Devonport, Ulverstone, Burnie and Latrobe.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">I’m not suggesting you should rush out and buy in these places – but to be aware of the trend.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">It’s not true that “the property boom is over”, nor is it true that “Australian property prices are falling”. There are green shoots popping up in many different places – it’s just that many of them are in regional Australia, so you’re unlikely to hear much about them from mainstream media.</span> </p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s3">T<em>erry Ryder is the founder of hotspotting.com.au</em></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s4"><a href="https://mailto:ryder@hotspotting.com.au"><em>ryder@hotspotting.com.au</em></a></span></p>
<p class="p4"><span class="s3"><em>twitter.com/hotspotting</em></span></p>
</body></html>

Australia's three strongest residential property markets

<html><body>
<div>EXPERT OBSERVER</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Another substantial surge in jobs was reported for June, with total employment up by a seasonally adjusted 50,900 in the month.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>This led to the usual quibbles about whether the figures are 'right' or not. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>This seldom happens when the number are below expectations.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>But when there's a beat...every time!</div>
<div> </div>
<div>There are even occasional calls to ditch the seasonally adjusted figures entirely in favour of the smoother trend data, but I'm not sure I buy that.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>What are the trend figures, after all, but a representation of the same numbers from the survey? </div>
<div> </div>
<div>The further you disaggregate the figures the more prone they are to throwing out unusual results. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>For example, Macquarie highlighted an oddity in that the bulk of jobs growth over the past four months was accounted for by youth employment, especially from the female cohort.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The detailed labour force figures at the regional level are similarly prone to volatility, which is why the ABS reports annual average figures in addition to the original survey results. </div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>For all of the grouching, the labour force has continued to tighten gradually over the past few years. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>For the monthly doubters, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has now fallen by more than one percent from 6.38 per cent in October 2014 to 5.37 per cent in June 2018.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>If you prefer to use the trend rate, then that's plotted below for you too. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>The unemployment rate is now at the lowest level since 2012. </div>
<p> </p>
<div class="separator"><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2JWVaIcKwE8/W1MPTWopYJI/AAAAAAAArJk/IQFNOPE6G2YyoZHHpHb87bnv0fECz6rbQCLcBGAs/s640/UE.jpg" width="640" height="376" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="1363"></div>
<p> </p>
<div>Another piece of pessimistic statistical trickery is to highlight the underutilisation rate while neglecting to report the more telling volume measures of underutilisation.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>In other words, yes lots of people want more hours of work, but the numbers of extra hours wanted has been declining over the past four calendar years too. </div>
<p> </p>
<div class="separator"><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sVMjYyerNWg/W1MU3jafYNI/AAAAAAAArJ4/jK4rZLKxv_44Z1qA933gSjo2fI98wB8DACLcBGAs/s640/UU.jpg" width="640" height="376" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="1355"></div>
<p><br><span>This is good news, and it should be embraced as such!</span><br><br><span>Welcome to the recovery.</span></p>
<p><em>PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of AllenWargent property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blogger</a>.</em></p>
</body></html>

The labour market is improving: Pete Wargent

<html><body>
<p>Our main focus at Hotspotting is identifying the future growth markets around Australia.</p>
<p>We also have an eye out for the danger markets, the ones we need to warn people about.</p>
<p>And sitting in the middle, between the growth regions and the declining ones, are the consistency markets: the locations which record a consistent rate of sale, quarter after quarter, year after year.</p>
<p>These locations represent safety for investors. They are usually not boom markets, but have the valuable quality of solidity.</p>
<p>And markets with this high level of even performance often have very good price growth over time.</p>
<p>Each edition of The Price Predictor Index lists the Top 50 Consistency Markets around Australia and we nominate one suburb or town as “The nation’s most consistent market”</p>
<p>Our award-winner in a recent edition, Ulladulla in regional NSW, recorded a 15% rise in its median price in the previous year.</p>
<p>The Spring 2017 edition winner, Echuca in regional Victoria, had a 7% annual rise in its median price, while in the Winter 2017 edition our “most consistent market” Sunbury in suburban Melbourne had a 10% annual increase.</p>
<p>In the new Winter 2018 edition, we’ve nominated Langwarrin as “The nation’s most consistent market”.</p>
<p>simply by attracting consistent demand from home buyers.</p>
<p>Another highly consistent locations around Australia include …</p>
<p>* Bathurst (median price $385,000) in regional NSW.</p>
<p>* Buderim ($620,000), the most popular suburb on the Sunshine Coast.</p>
<p>* Camp Hill (900,000), in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs.</p>
<p>* Echuca ($330,000), in regional Victoria.</p>
<p>* Frankston ($525,000), in the far south-east of Melbourne.</p>
<p>* Lara ($410,000), in the City of Greater Geelong.</p>
<p>* Parafield Gardens ($335,000), in the northern suburbs of Adelaide.</p>
<p>* Seven Hills ($790,000), in Blacktown City in Sydney.</p>
<p>They’re all places that attract steady sales demand, regardless of what’s going on in the broader market around them.</p>
<p><em>Terry Ryder is the founder of <a href="https://www.hotspotting.com.au/%20" target="_blank">https://www.hotspotting.com.au</a></em></p>
<p> </p>
</body></html>

Latest Investing Insights

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

Editor's Picks

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News

Latest Investing Insights

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

Editor's Picks

Receive the latest news stories to your inbox

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News