Perth’s new apartment market recorded its strongest quarter of sales since Q4 2021, with 412 apartments sold in Q1 2026 and a record quarterly sold value of $537 million, according to Urbis’ latest Apartment Essentials results.

Urbis said the March quarter result reflects strong, highly product‑specific demand across both ends of the market, from more attainable projects delivering at scale, through to premium stock being absorbed by equity‑rich downsizers.&nbsp;

David Cresp, Partner at Urbis, said the key story in Perth is not demand, it is the market’s ability to convert demand into delivered housing.&nbsp;

“This is the strongest sales quarter since Q4 2021, and it reinforces that demand in Perth is real and it’s local,” David Cresp said. “But the task now is delivery, turning that demand into projects that can actually be built and completed.”&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=110291 project_image_fid=302785]

<h2>Affordable product leads, premium demand remains resilient</h2>

Sales in Q1 were led by more affordable projects, with The Boulevard (SKS Group) recording 115 sales in the quarter, the presentation noting this is only the second time a single project has surpassed 100 quarterly sales. The project was able to offer more affordable housing product right next to a train station.&nbsp;

Palmyra West (Finbar) also delivered strong results with 28 sales in Q1, following 84 sales in Q4, with an average price of under $800,000, underscoring depth of demand for well‑located, attainable new stock.&nbsp;

At the premium end, Urbis said downsizer demand is continuing, with the results highlighting Romeo (Applecross, Finbar) recording 75 sales and reaching almost 50% sold in one quarter.

Jual (Shenton Park, Celsius Property) also posted a strong quarter with 28 sales, reaching 39% sold in one quarter.

Urbis noted that Perth apartment demand is not speculative, not investor‑led, and not uniform, describing it as localised, often equity‑driven and highly product‑specific, a pattern reflected in the polarisation between strong “attainable” performers and premium downsizer product.&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=148957 project_image_fid=364102]

<h2>Prices underpinned by costs, and the delivery risk is growing</h2>

Urbis said pricing pressure is cost not demand‑driven: construction costs and delivery risk are now a central constraint, with the results noting build costs remain elevated and volatile, and that energy, fuel and labour uncertainty weigh on feasibility.

David Cresp said a growing challenge for private Build‑to‑Sell developers is simply securing a builder in the current environment.

“Developers are really feeling the pressure from a building market that was operating at capacity and securing a builder is challenging,” David Cresp said, adding that even where a builder can be secured, “trying to get to the price that makes the development financially viable is incredibly challenging in the current market.”&nbsp;

Urbis’ broader WA commentary also notes that industry remains at or above capacity with lot and housing creation, and that many builders are limiting new sales to manage stretched workforces and fixed‑price contract pressures, conditions that flow directly into apartment feasibility and delivery timing.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=108869 project_image_fid=317905]

<h2>Supply: improving later, but still constrained, and Perth lags eastern benchmarks</h2>

While near‑term supply remains constrained, Urbis’ forecast shows completions lifting “Supply is forecast to be back above 1,500 apartments per annum for the first time since 2019”, with 1,775 completions forecast for 2026, and volumes remaining above that level over the following years.&nbsp;

Looking further ahead, completions are forecast to reach 2,500 in 2028, with the report noting 32% of that total is social/affordable, reflecting the role of government‑supported delivery in rebuilding the pipeline.&nbsp;

However, Urbis said Perth remains behind comparable markets on pipeline scale. In a national comparison of projects under construction, the report shows under construction Perth Build‑to‑Sell (BTS) at 3,446 apartments versus the Gold Coast at 7,922. Mr Cresp said “The challenge for Perth is how to we grow the delivery pipeline”.

Urbis’ conclusion is that Perth’s market is increasingly defined by product discipline and delivery certainty, with the research identifying “delivery certainty is key” and calling out builder risk and procurement models as core success factors, alongside “timing and staging”.&nbsp;

Joel Robinson

Perth apartment sales hit strongest pace since late 2021 as builder capacity tightens

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sammut-developments">Sammut Group</a> has secured development approval for its latest Brisbane apartment project, marking the Sydney developer’s next step in expanding its Queensland pipeline following the success of its debut Gold Coast development, Coast.

The approved project at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/44-glen-road-toowong-qld-4066">44 Glen Road, </a><a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/toowong-qld-4066">Toowong</a> will deliver a 15-storey riverfront apartment building with 42 residences, significantly increasing the scale of the site’s previous approval for a smaller luxury scheme. Designed by Bureau^proberts, the development will comprise a mix of predominantly four-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments positioned to maximise Brisbane River and city views.

Sammut Director Julian Sammut said the group had been actively searching Brisbane for several years before identifying Toowong as the right fit.

“Brisbane was the right step for Sammut,” Sammut said.

“With the success of Coast we thought we should definitely look to do more in Queensland alone. We then pushed up to look at Brisbane. We've been looking for I'd say two to three years actually and it was hard to find the right location.”

<img alt="Sammut makes Brisbane apartment play" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/f_auto,c_limit,w_1440,q_75/https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/field/image/Screenshot%202025-12-23%20at%203.27.14%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=dYAVIL7qdcGA8ojvkslSrLjczXFejSSx" />

Sammut said suburbs including New Farm and Teneriffe were considered before the group ultimately focused on Toowong due to its strong downsizer demographic and limited supply of developable riverfront land.

The site was acquired off-market after what Sammut described as a lengthy negotiation and planning process, with the developer pursuing an uplift to the original approval.

“We are DA approved now which is very exciting,” Sammut said.

“We've had our change approval come through and we've obviously doubled the height, 15 storeys plus rooftop. We've got 42 amazing apartments that are going to be coming to market soon.”

<img alt="Sammut makes Brisbane apartment play" 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/Screenshot%202025-12-23%20at%203.27.26%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=ohkRkY0dIZlqdfME2EZePsCQavRiBadE" />

Bureau^proberts said the design responds to Toowong’s evolving urban character, balancing contemporary apartment living with the area’s established residential identity.

“A place where traditional Queensland living has taken place for centuries; Toowong is seeing a shift of contemporary influence, commercial and retail hubs mixed with well-considered residential offerings – all the while maintaining its character and charm,” the architect noted in planning documents submitted to Brisbane City Council.

The architecture practice said the project’s form was shaped by its riverfront setting, flood considerations, neighbouring building scales, and view corridors.

“They said the mix of four and two-bedroom apartments capture the ‘fundamental qualities of Queenslander living,’ translated into the context of a contemporary subtropical building.”

The development sits just off Coronation Drive within walking distance of Toowong’s retail precinct and the upgraded Regatta ferry terminal, while also benefiting from proximity to the incoming green bridge connection to West End. Sammut said the accessibility and amenity offering were central to the site’s appeal.

The approval adds to growing residential activity along the Toowong riverfront, joining nearby projects including Consolidated Properties’ Monarch Residences and Spyre Group’s ARC Residences.

Sammut secures approval for debut Brisbane apartment development in Toowong

Developer Lanevick is heading back into Sydney’s apartment market after focusing more heavily on the luxury townhouse and terrace sector in recent years.

Lanevick, founded and directed by Steve Maroun, is expecting to receive approval in the coming months for a new apartment development in Gladesville, with the aim to launch it to the market later this year.

The 51-apartment project, designed by Studio Johnston, will comprise a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments positioned toward the Hunters Hill downsizer market.

“Traditionally it’s been difficult for people in that market to downsize because there just hasn’t been the right product available,” Maroun said.

“We’re targeting buyers who might have 30 to 40 per cent of their house value sitting in the bank after downsizing.

“They still want good spacious entertaining areas, they still want quality design, but they also want flexibility and the ability to enjoy life a bit more after working hard for a long time.”

The project sits near Boronia Park and within close proximity to the Parramatta River foreshore, an area Maroun says offers more of a Hunters Hill lifestyle than a traditional apartment precinct.

“From a lifestyle perspective, it’s really more Hunters Hill than Gladesville,” Maroun said. “You’re close to the foreshore, close to parklands, and still connected back into the village precinct.”

From level four and above, apartments will capture water views&nbsp;toward Sydney Harbour. Communal amenity will include rooftop entertaining areas, wellness spaces, and a gym tailored toward owner-occupier buyers.

“We’ve really designed these apartments around that buyer coming from the Hunters Hill LGA and what they’re actually looking for in their next chapter.”

The proposed development has also been designed to respond to the changing character of the broader Gladesville town centre, where a growing number of mixed-use and residential proposals are expected to emerge over the coming years.

“Gladesville presented a rare opportunity to deliver a genuinely design-led residential project within an evolving lifestyle precinct, just moments from the growing Gladesville town centre, and we’ve approached the project with a strong focus on architecture, liveability and long-term community value,” Maroun said.

Maroun said Lanevick saw a first-mover advantage within the precinct as planning controls continue to evolve to accommodate greater housing density.

“We think there’s a real opportunity there that hasn’t really been serviced properly yet,” he said.

“There’s going to be a broader evolution of the whole Gladesville village precinct over time, particularly with more activation and mixed-use outcomes.”

The Venus Street proposal will include a commercial and retail component at ground level designed to contribute to that evolving streetscape activation.

“A big part of the thinking was how do you activate that area properly and create more vibrancy and amenity, which is what Hunters Hill has been looking for,” Maroun said.

Lanevick’s focus since 2020 has largely been on smaller-scale luxury townhouse and terrace developments. The developer recently completed Royale Randwick, also designed by Studio Johnston, where prices reached $3.65 million. The project was featured in the UDIA NSW 2026 Professional Development Prospectus and was also named a finalist for Development of the Year.

&nbsp;

Lanevick to cater for Hunters Hill downsizers with new Gladesville apartment development

Property developer One Living, backed by former Macquarie banker turned investment manager Chris Green’s investment firm, has unveiled plans to bring more institutional capital into housing to help address the national supply crisis.

The New York-based investor has focused his firm, GreenPoint Partners, on addressing the supply shortage hitting middle market housing in Australia.

It is backing the new One Living business to develop more than 1000 units along the eastern seaboard. The new firm is starting with a development on Mona Vale Road, on the border of Mona Vale and Pymble, in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, with around 140 apartments planned. They are eyeing off more sites across the city.

With cost pressures rising in the industry, One Living’s model is to be a vertically integrated developer-builder, so it can respond directly to the housing gap by removing the cost inefficiencies embedded in traditional residential delivery.

“We are building a platform designed to operate at scale and starting in a market where there’s a clear need for quality, attainable housing,” One Living joint managing director Joseph Scuderi said.

“It’s that missing middle – it’s that attainable end of housing… that’s what most Australians invest into and what Australians can actually afford.”

<img alt="Mona Vale" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="798dfa93-4941-4db6-a696-31e9dc18e81c" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%202.31.50%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=mKBqi5C_DmeiXS.AtJkcR8LQIxqCqmFi" />

GreenPoint Partners brings years of experience assembling and scaling real estate operating businesses across major markets. And Green sees a big opportunity in Australia.

“For its size, sophistication and importance to the community, Australia’s living sector has remained largely under-institutionalised, which represents significant opportunity,” Green said. “GreenPoint identified that gap, assembled the right team, and is backing One Living to build a platform that is aligned to market needs.”

Green said being a builder-developer would give the company the capacity and flexibility it required to deliver reasonably-priced homes.

“We want it to be at that attainable level; not super high end luxury but at that attainable level,” he said.

<img alt="Mona Vale" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="74a5344a-4b26-4d4a-ada3-056b1220be77" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-28%20at%202.32.15%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=vY8hXHO4reBMdO8ZXMWCNtGZJofUPQ3j" />

&nbsp;

One Living will undertake a component of affordable housing in its schemes, which it will own and operate, and it could also run build-to-rent on some sites.

Green praised local policy settings.

“The NSW government is being very supportive, strategic and pragmatic in terms of how do we generate more supply of housing,” he said. “We think it’s actually positive for development and the bit that’s been lacking at that attainable level is that it’s lots of relatively small private developers, whereas we want to create an institutional platform.”

One Living is also&nbsp;looking at high-density projects and could take on more institutional funding in the future.

“The way we will be able to achieve economies of scale is through size,” Green added.

One Living enters Sydney's new apartment market with Northern Beaches site acquisition

It's been several years since there's been an opportunity to buy a brand new townhome in Melbourne's coastal suburb of Mordialloc. Even apartment developments in recent times have been few and far between in the area.

Local developer LDS Property identified the gap in new housing, securing a site on White Street, directly opposite&nbsp;Woodlands Golf Club Mordialloc. They've recently launched&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-townhouses/wm-residences-mordialloc-102-white-street-mordialloc-vic-3195">WM Residences</a>, just 13 townhouses which they have already started building.

Projects by Buxton Director Heath Thompson, who is selling WM Residences, says the townhouses x that perfect middle ground be

"Mordialloc residents have had limited options to downsize within the suburb, often forcing them to look elsewhere despite long-standing ties to the area," Thompson says.

"With very little comparable new supply coming to market, projects like WM Residences are well placed, particularly as buyers look to capitalise on current conditions amid constrained supply."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134646 project_image_fid=6109]

The development, designed by regarded architecture firm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/ewert-leaf">Ewert Leaf</a>,&nbsp;adopts a deliberately restrained architectural approach, focusing on simplicity, durability and liveability rather than overt design gestures.

The boutique scale is central to the offering. With only 13 three-bedroom residences, each home is configured to prioritise functional layouts and everyday use, supported by private terraces and secure two-car garages.

Ewert Leaf’s design response leans into a calm, neutral material palette. Interiors are defined by oak flooring, white walls and soft finishes, creating a consistent and understated backdrop. The approach avoids trend-driven detailing in favour of longevity, with an emphasis on natural light and spatial clarity.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134646 project_image_fid=6110]

Beyond aesthetics, the homes are designed to meet contemporary performance expectations. Each residence targets a minimum 6-star energy rating, incorporating double glazing, comprehensive insulation and all-electric Bosch appliances.

The project’s location supports a walkable coastal lifestyle, sitting within close proximity to Mordialloc’s foreshore, Main Street retail strip and the train station. Local cafés and dining venues, including Suburbia Deli and Hendriks Café, are within a short walk, reinforcing the area’s established neighbourhood character.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=134646 project_image_fid=6116]

While <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/mordialloc-vic-3195">Mordialloc</a> is often defined by its beach and pier, the project taps into other areas of day to day living, offering easy access to local food, casual dining and transport, rather than positioning itself purely as a lifestyle retreat.

WM Residences reflects a continued trend across Melbourne’s coastal suburbs towards smaller-scale, design-led townhouse developments, particularly on infill sites where proximity to amenity is already established.

With construction commenced prior to its market entry, the project aligns with a growing preference among buyers for developments with visible progress and defined delivery timeframes.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=134646]

WM Residences fills gap in Mordialloc townhouse market

Housing Affordability

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Following recent policy announcements by the Federal Opposition, housing related issues such as affordability have come onto the political agenda. 
Whether Labor’s policies would actually improve housing affordability, especially without supply and infrastructure reforms, remains to be seen. Nevertheless the following piece looks at affordability by analysing median house and unit values into bands across Australia’s suburbs in order to get a deeper look at the cost of housing.
House values tend to be more expensive in capital cities than in regional areas. This is highlighted by the fact that 51.2% of regional suburbs have a median value of between $200,000 and $400,000 compared to 15.4% of capital city suburbs. 
Similarly just 0.6% of capital city suburbs have a median house value of less than $200,000 compared to 13.1% of regional suburbs. There is no value band that shows a clear majority across the combined capital cities however, the 33.1% of suburbs with a median value of between $400,000 and $600,000 is the band with the greatest share of suburbs.
<div>
<h3>Suburb median house value bands, capital cities vs. regional areas, Dec-15</h3>
<a href="/images/2016/03/4/2016-02-29--image1.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/03/4/2016-02-29--image1.jpg" alt="">
Across the unit markets, the greatest share of suburbs both across the capital cities and in regional areas have a median value between $200,000 and $400,000. There is a large difference between the two in that 71.4% of regional suburbs have a median unit value of between $200,000 and $400,000 compared to 41.2% of suburbs in the capital cities. Again when we look at the most affordable suburbs there is a large difference, just 1.7% of capital city suburbs have a median unit value of less than $200,000 compared to 13.3% across regional Australia. 
<h3>Suburb median unit value bands, capital cities vs. regional areas, Dec-15</h3>
<a href="/images/2016/03/4/2016-02-29--image2.jpg" target="_blank"> Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/03/4/2016-02-29--image2.jpg" alt="">
Focusing solely on the data across the capital cities really highlights just how expensive Sydney is relative to other cities.
For houses, 25.3% of Sydney suburbs have a median value of between $1 million and $1.5 million making it the largest single value band for the city. Across the other capital cities the value band with the greatest proportion of suburb median values is $400,000 to $600,000 with the only other exceptions Hobart ($200,000 to $400,000) and Darwin ($600,000 to $800,000).
Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin have no suburbs with a median house value of less than $200,000. In Sydney, 47.8% of suburbs have a median house value of more than $1 million compared to 20.5% in Melbourne, 2.6% in Brisbane, 3.8% in Adelaide and 12.9% in Perth.
<h3>Suburb median house value bands across capital cities, Dec-15</h3>
<a href="/images/2016/03/4/2016-02-29--image3.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/03/4/2016-02-29--image3.jpg" alt="">
It is a similar story for capital city unit markets with 33.1% of Sydney suburbs having a median unit value of between $600,000 and $800,000 making it the largest band for the city. In most other capitals, the highest proportion of suburbs have a median unit value of between $200,000 and $400,000 with the exception of Melbourne and Perth (both $400,000 to $600,000).
As with house values, no suburbs in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin have a median unit value of less than $200,000. 8.8% of Sydney suburbs have a median unit value of more than $1 million compared to 0.3% in Melbourne, 0.4% in Brisbane, 0.0% in Adelaide and 0.9% in Perth.
<h3>Suburb median unit value bands across capital cities, Dec-15</h3>
<a href="/images/2016/03/4/2016-02-29-image4.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge </a>
<img src="/images/2016/03/4/2016-02-29-image4.jpg" alt="">
The data shows that particularly in our larger capital cities there is a critical undersupply of affordable housing options (even in the unit market). As a result an increasing number of residents are being locked out of home ownership or are being forced to purchase outside of the cities. Remember that although job prospects are generally better in the larger capital cities the difference in average wages across the capital cities is nowhere near as large as the differences in home values.
Cameron Kusher is research analyst for CoreLogic RP Data. You can contact him <a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/about/">here</a>.
</div>
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ckusher-ujnxiKuFQs

Limited capital city housing options under $200,000: CoreLogic RP Data's Cameron Kusher

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Of all the real estate issues regularly mangled by media, probably the most misreported is the one about first-home buyers and affordability.
Reliable information showing good affordability levels (outside of Sydney) are generally ignored in favour of the much-loved “The Great Australian Dream is Dead” storyline.
The numbers of first-home buyers are constantly misreported, despite the ABS warnings about the unreliability of the data and the reasons why FHBs are under-counted. 
More credible information, such as the quarterly surveys by NAB which show strong activity from first-time buyers, are shrugged off because it doesn’t fit the prevailing theme of an affordability crisis.
The growing tendency of first-timers to buy an investment property rather than a home is overlooked as a key factor, because it doesn’t suit that pre-determined headline.
And the whole issue of young adults delaying commitment is ignored as well.
It’s pretty well established that young Australians are making different choices to those of their parents. Their preferences can generally be summarised as a deferral of commitment. Getting married, settling down, having kids and establishing a nest – all that can wait. Priorities these days include lifestyle, career and travel.
There’s lots of research showing this as a major demographic – the young adults who have put off family creation and home ownership until they’ve dealt with the travel bug and indulged other lifestyle priorities.
The latest research on this comes from Westpac, which found that 18 to 35-year-olds — known as Millennials — spent $11.3 billion travelling overseas last year — more than any other age group.
Generation X-ers — aged from 36 to 55 — were the most frugal spending $6.8 billion, followed by Baby Boomers who splashed out $9.8 billion.
Westpac’s Head of Young and Millennial Markets, Ashley Gray, says the decision to prioritise travel over home-buying doesn’t make the age group financially irresponsible.
“They’re very aware of their finances and are prepared to make sacrifices to pursue their passion,” says Gray. “We found that 70 percent of Millennials are saving for eight months before heading overseas on their trip.
“They’re also prepared to make sacrifices while they’re abroad so they’ll walk instead of getting a bus, skip meals and miss out on big tourist attractions.”
Lots of other research in the past couple of years have made similar findings about the different options young Australians are taking, compared to their parents – many of whom were married with kids, a mortgage and a car loan before 30.
But despite that, there’s still a high level of real estate buying activity by first-timers. It’s largely flying under the radar screen because relatively few first-time purchases are newly-built homes (the ones that get counted as first-home buyers by the ABS).
The latest NAB quarterly Residential Property Survey indicates that a third of sales of new properties across Australia, and 27 percent of sales of established properties, are made to first-time buyers (some of which are buying investment properties, rather than a home, as a first purchase).
The 27 percent of buyers of established homes who are first-timers aren’t counted in the ABS figures, because first-home buyers are identified in the lending statistics by their state government grants, which are now available only for newly-built homes.
I think those daily headlines about an affordability crisis, requiring top-level action by political leaders, are inaccurate and misleading. And when you dispassionately examine what the research tells us, comments about a whole generation being priced out of home ownership are rendered ridiculous.
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>
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terryryder-YECXbqmri2

Strong market activity from first-time buyers: Terry Ryder

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Yes, those two words that keep trending every day on the 24-hour news cycle for 365 days each year – housing affordability.
So why can’t anyone come up with a logical explanation on how to fix this ever-growing Australian curse? Well first, nobody is really drilling down to find the precise definition and what will lead to the likely cure and allow me to tell you that massive new high density construction in the major cities is not going to fix the problem.
Sydney is a prime example although first we need to pin point a year when housing affordability really started to change for the worse and for me that year would be 1990 which is when the Australian economy embarked on its unprecedented 25 years of economic growth.
Yes house prices boomed in 1987 to 1989 which really was Sydney’s last massive housing boom which then was brought crashing down with the recession of the early 1990’s. In the late 1980’s our population was not really going anywhere, for example in Mosman in 1987 Cremorne Girls’ High School closed its doors to then see it acquired by SCEGGS Redlands.
In 1989, Balmoral Beach Infants’ School was closed and mysteriously sold to Queenwood Girls’ School the night before the site was due to go to public tender. Beauty Point Public School, Middle Harbour Primary School, Mosman Primary School and Mosman High School all were facing closure as attendance records were well below the Department of Education acceptable levels for operation requirements.
Today, all these schools are at maximum attendance levels. The closure of schools over this period was happening all over NSW – it was not an isolated event.
Back then property prices in Mosman were ten to fifteen times lower than where they find themselves today. The cash rate was sitting at 17.00 to 17.50 per cent on 23 January 1990 where today it sits at 1.50 per cent.
 
The “Baby Boomers” born the decade after World War II (now roughly aged 47 – 65) were all jumping into that family tradition of buying real estate. The problem here is that the strong concentration of the boomers all wanted to live in the Sydney CBD – which remains the same patterns that we see today. The missing link here in this housing affordability discussion is that transport infrastructure was frozen to the extent that 25 years later despite a massive upswing in our population we are still using the same archaic transport infrastructure.
For the past 25 years, our elected politicians have all been caught up in a transport infrastructure brain freeze where sadly today there is no big picture for Sydney, although we could name an abundance of other major cities around the world who have successfully addressed growing populations with transport infrastructure.
This explains exactly why we now have raging property prices today, which certainly would not be the case if we had a transport infrastructure where a 200-kilometre radius around Sydney was inter connected with state of the art fast train services. It really should not be that difficult to pinpoint the problem. Although it is very clear why so many have extreme difficulties when attempting to define housing affordability and what needs to be done to correct these huge problems facing so many Australians.
Exorbitant stamp duties payable on the purchases of properties have played a major role in seeing record low stock levels across Sydney, although there is another part of this mystery puzzle that keeps sailing under our property radars. Look again at the baby boomers who would be Australia’s largest property owners in the home ownership and investment portfolios. They are astute businesspeople who know that they will not get any returns with cash sitting in the bank where we now have the lowest cash rate on record. In recent years, they have been enjoying huge capital gains on their principle place of residence, so they have held – off selling for most obvious reasons.
This in turn has significantly impacted the supply side of the equation where such collaborative actions have driven prices higher, and in all probability this will continue in 2017. Although having said that all eyes will be on Trump, Brexit and how Europe reacts together with the goings – on in China and Russia. Of course, we can’t ignore this week’s unemployment rate which hit 5.8 per cent being the worst calendar year result since 2013.
It is hard to see the Reserve Bank of Australia lowering the cash rate further from the present 1.50 per cent so it would be fair to suggest that we are at the lowest possible rates.
So, in 2017, I will be closely watching the baby boomers simply because at the first sight of severe head – winds they will be first to cash – up which in turn would see stock levels increase significantly. In the meantime, we just sit back and observe the property market machinations with great interest.
Next week, NSW will appoint its seventh premier in 12 years – what does that tell you? No doubt the allergy to economic reform will remain in isolation.
ROBERT SIMEON is a director of <a href="https://www.rwm.com.au/" target="_blank" title="RWM" rel="nofollow">Richardson Wrench Mosman and Neutral Bay</a> and has been selling residential real estate in Sydney since 1985. 
He has also been writing real estate blog <a href="https://www.rwm.com.au/news/" target="_blank" title="Virtual Realty News" rel="nofollow">Virtual Realty News</a> since 2000.
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robertsimeon-hRNTwJyXkQ

Housing affordability and the ever-growing Australian curse: Robert Simeon

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

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For those predicting housing values to start dropping in the near future you should start rethinking that analysis.
Of course, the newly created investment market is facing severe headwinds and yes, it would be fair to assume that there will be a correction should a large number default on their respective acquisitions.
The mistake many continue to make is that housing affordability is actually about the established markets of households not the investment market.
If you were asked a simple question for those residing in NSW, do you want a second Sydney Airport or high-speed rail connecting Newcastle to Sydney, the Hunter Valley to Sydney and Wollongong/Southern Highlands to Sydney I am pretty sure what the answer would be.
With the second Sydney Airport estimated to cost between $6 and $8 billion it is comical that a second airport is prioritised over high-speed rail networks.
Everybody aside from politicians can see that high-speed rail networks would have an instant effect on housing affordability in NSW.
For those who disagree NSW is facing major problems over the upcoming decade that require immediate attention.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/06/02/Screen%20Shot%202017-06-02%20at%2010.59.17%20am.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<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/2017/06/02/Screen%20Shot%202017-06-02%20at%2010.59.17%20am.jpg" alt="">
As a direct result of what is happening to Sydney rental markets and housing markets we are now starting to see the exodus of NSW residents to the more affordable Victorian markets.
This is happening to such an extent that Melbourne will surpass Sydney in terms of population to seize the title as Australia’s biggest and number one city.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/06/02/Screen%20Shot%202017-06-02%20at%2010.59.40%20am.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<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/2017/06/02/Screen%20Shot%202017-06-02%20at%2010.59.40%20am.jpg" alt="">
It has been well documented that since that Sydney 2000 Olympics there has been next to no forward planning which explains exactly why Sydney is now overcrowded with our transport infrastructure at breaking point.
What makes this even worse is that there are no viable solutions – no drawing boards.
This then leads to the population considering alternate solutions to relocate simply because the financial pressures have become untenable.
NSW has had no succession planning where vision has simply been ignored, and now it is starting to pay the price for that ignorance.
In the established property markets we are now at levels never seen before.
Only last week, a garden apartment that was sold in Cremorne in September 2016 for $1,582,000 sold again less than eight months later for $1,970,000.
At a federal level, we are now witnessing the lowest annual growth rates in terms of government spending since the 1960’s.
Federal government overheads keep increasing so we are now witnessing cutbacks that will seriously damage growth as infrastructure continues to be ignored.
There is no collaboration between the states and territories with Canberra and this is fracturing growth given population growth continues to climb to record highs.
If elected politicians started displaying signs that Sydney was full 17 years ago then what do you think they should be displaying now?
With the federal government tightening the spending belts then the states and territories will start cancelling future projects simply because there is no available funding.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures reveal that approximately 2.3 million Australians earn the lowest legal rate of pay for what they perform.
Recently the Reserve Bank of Australia commented that “wage growth is low.
Although it seems unlikely that wage growth will slow much further, wage pressures are expected to pick up only gradually.”
There has been next to no political commentary about wage growth where one would think that elected politicians would make this a priority to find out exactly why Australia has such weak wage growth?
With record low wage growth how is it possible that we can have record high property rentals?
The Property Council of Australia recently released a five-point plan to assist the NSW government with housing affordability.
<ul>
<li>Turbocharging housing supply through increased land supply and planning reform.</li>
<li>Reforming state property taxes and reducing fees, charges, and red tape.</li>
<li>Better co-operation between all levels of government.</li>
<li>Bridging the deposit gap and supporting first home buyers better.</li>
<li>Supporting the rental market and fostering innovative, affordable rental product.</li>
<li>Whilst fine in principle – this simply won’t happen.</li>
</ul>
Sydney has a massive problem with no clear solutions in the short-term.
Common sense needs to prevail so put the second Sydney Airport on immediate hold and start building fast-train networks.
I am yet to see a better solution to tackle housing affordability. Have you?
MOSMAN – 2088
Number of houses on the market this time last year – 51
Number of houses on the market last week –56
Number of houses on the market this week –57
Number of apartments on the market this time last year – 41
Number of apartments on the market last week – 40
Number of apartments on the market this week –38
CREMORNE
Number of houses on the market this time last year – 10
Number of houses on the market last week – 6
Number of houses on the market this week – 9
Number of apartments on the market this time last year – 18
Number of apartments on the market last week – 16
Number of apartments on the market this week – 18
NEUTRAL BAY – 2089
Number of houses on the market this time last year – 8
Number of houses on the market last week – 2
Number of houses on the market this week – 3
Number of apartments on the market this time last year –23
Number of apartments on the market last week –21
Number of apartments on the market this week – 19
ROBERT SIMEON is a director of <a href="https://www.rwm.com.au/">Richardson Wrench Mosman and Neutral Bay</a> and has been selling residential real estate in Sydney since 1985. He has also been writing real estate blog<a href="https://www.rwm.com.au/"> </a><a href="https://www.rwm.com.au/news/">Virtual Realty News</a> since 2000.
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Politicians are doing nothing to fix housing affordability: Robert Simeon

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GUEST OBSERVER
The housing market is gradually responding to higher mortgage rates, tighter credit policies and affordability challenges, with the quarterly trend in capital gains moderating relative to early 2017.
<div>
The July 2017 CoreLogic Home Value Index results recorded a 1.5% rise in dwelling values across the combined capital cities for the month.  Most individual capital cities recorded a rise, however, a 3.1% gain in Melbourne was a significant driver for the strong monthly result across the combined capitals.
The latest housing market results highlight the diversity of housing market conditions, with dwelling values down over the month in Brisbane (-0.6%), Perth (-1.3%) and Darwin (-1.2%).
<h3>Index results as at July 31, 2017</h3>
Click to enlarge
<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/2017/08/02/2017-08-01--indices.jpg" alt="">
The recent bounce in capital gains may be partially due to a recovery from the seasonal slump in values recorded in April and May. However, other factors, such as stamp duty concessions for first home buyers in New South Wales and Victoria, may also be having a positive impact on market demand.
It’s still too early to measure the effect of first home buyer incentives, which went live on July 1st. However historically, the first time buyer segment has been very responsive to stimulus measures.
Despite the higher month-on-month capital gains in June and July, the quarterly trend rate of growth has clearly reduced.  The rolling quarterly pace of capital gains across the combined capitals has fallen from 3.6% in February earlier this year to reach 2.2% at the end of July. 
The slowdown in growth conditions is most evident across the hottest markets, with the quarterly growth trend reducing from 5.0% in Sydney earlier this year to 2.2% at the end of last month.  Melbourne growth conditions have also slowed, though to a lesser extent, with growth easing from a 2017 quarterly peak of 5.5% to 4.2%.
The divergence in growth rates between Sydney and Melbourne is also evident in auction clearance rates.  Sydney’s clearance rate has been below 70% for seven of the past eight weeks, while Melbourne auction clearance rates have consistently held around the mid 70% range. 
Melbourne appears to be benefitting from consistently high population growth which is creating strong demand for housing, as well as consistently high jobs growth and more affordable housing options relative to Sydney.
At the other end of the growth spectrum, Perth and Darwin have continued to see dwelling values slip lower over the month, taking the cumulative decline to 10.2% in Perth and 14.5% in Darwin since both markets peaked in 2014.
The ease in the rate of decline has been most visible in Perth, providing a signal that the Western Australian capital may be approaching the bottom of the downturn; listing numbers have been falling across Perth which is a positive sign of improving conditions, and transaction numbers have found a new floor at around 2,500 sales per month.
TIM LAWLESS heads up the CoreLogic RP Data research and analytics team and can be contacted<a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/author/timlawless/" target="_blank"> here.</a>
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tlawless-5VLUrbAk9s

Housing market is gradually responding to higher mortgage rates

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Let’s assume for a moment that the people raging about the alleged affordability crisis actually care about the issue and want to see solutions.
I say that because much of it is grandstanding by attention-seekers who really don’t give a damn.
The problem they face is that they’re never going to find a remedy, one that actually works, until they identify the real problems. 
So far the debate, for want of a better word, has focused on fighting phantoms. Everyone, it seems, has their pet theories about who’s to blame and is filling up the airways with angry demands that the culprits be dealt with. 
The problem is, no one can agree on who the villains really are.
Recently we had former federal minister and previous NSW premier, Bob Carr, stridently declaring that rising prices were all caused by migrants flooding into Australia. Apparently these people have more money than sense and rampage around our major cities paying way too much for houses, thereby pushing prices beyond the reach of our kiddies.
But the current Federal Government, after two long and expensive parliamentary inquiries into the affordability smokescreen, somehow came to the belief that it was all caused by foreign investors buying mansions when they’re supposed to be buying new dwellings. With appropriate sabre-rattling, the feds declared they were going to clamp down on the dastardly aliens, thereby creating a level playing field, thereby making homes cheaper for our kiddies, therefore affordability fixed. 
So they jolly well forced a handful of foreign buyers to sell back their mansions. There you go, problem solved. Houses cheaper right across Australia. 
Meanwhile, federal Labor has popped up and postulated that it’s not the fault of overseas migrants, despite one of their own declaring that it was, nor the fault of foreign investors breaking the rules. Labor has mandated that it’s the fault of our home-grown investors – not all of them mind you, just the ones who claim negative gearing tax benefits.
So Labor claims it can fix the (Sydney) affordability problem by removing the right to claim negative gearing tax benefits, except for new properties.
There are a few others, including a couple of obscure university activists who published a paper recently, who adhere to the theology that declares negative gearing the source of all evil in real estate, notwithstanding the laughable illogic of their arguments. 
Labor is also part of the camp, which is also populated by economists, that believes it’s the so-called capital gains concession that drives investors beyond reason to paying silly prices for things. 
But there’s yet another school of thought out there, often put forward by economists who think they know more about real estate than they actually do. They claim that it’s grants and stamp duty concessions given to first-home buyers that have forced up house prices, by empowering youngsters who would not otherwise be competing in the market. One sub-theory is that the price of houses rises by the amount of the government grant. 
So take your pick. According to various schools of thought, all of them expounded vehemently by zealots totally convinced of their validity, the villains who force up house prices are:- 
(1)  migrants,
(2)  foreign investors,
(3)  negatively-geared Australian investors,
(4)  all investors who benefit from the CGT concession, or
(5)  first-time buyers bolstered by government grants and stamp duty concessions. 
So who’s right? The answer, sadly, is: none of them! They’re all wrong!
And this is why there will never be any realistic solution to the alleged affordability crisis. Everyone who appears to care is out there chasing phantom targets.
You can’t devise a cure if you’ve mis-diagnosed the illness. 
The buying sector most responsible for prices rising over time is never mentioned in the “debate”. This buying sector is the biggest influence of housing markets because they’re the biggest in number - and they have both the financial capacity and the motivation to pay high prices to secure the homes they want.
They’re home-buyers other than first-time buyers – the next-time buyers. People relocating, upgrading, moving onward and upward. People who have owned homes for years and are seeking to move to bigger and better ones, armed with a strong financial position. 
The problem for those all worked up about affordability (which, essentially, is a Sydney issue, not a national one) is that it’s very hard to nobble them. They don’t receive government grants, they don’t claim negative gearing and they don’t pay CGT so they can’t benefit from the so-called concession. 
To show you what I mean, let’s examine some statistics about market share, as revealed by the NAB quarterly surveys.
Foreign investors, an easy target for politicians wanting to blame an unpopular minority with no political cost, are about 8 percent of buyers of established property.
Australian investors comprise 28 percent of buyers and first-time home buyers are 20 percent. 
The remainder of the market, around 43 percent of it, are those people who never get discussed in the “why prices rise” debate, the next-time buyers.
Given that foreign investors are only 8 percent of the market, it’s unreasonable to blame them for prices rising. You might well ask: what about the other 92 percent?
ATO data shows that a lot of Australian investors don’t claim negative-gearing tax deductions, as many own properties where the rent covers all costs. I am one of them.
My estimate is that about 15 percent of the market comprises negatively-geared Australian investors. According to Labor leader Bill Shorten, in his announcement of his tax policy, those 15 percent are solely responsible for all price rises over the past 30 years. If he truly believes that, he’s an idiot. Again you might well ask: but what about the other 85 percent? 
It’s not just about numbers of people in the market. It’s also about financial capacity and motivation. 
First-home buyers, with or without state government grants (only available now on new properties), are relatively few in number and are constrained by their tight budgets. They don’t pay silly prices for homes. 
Investors are a little more numerous but are still very much in the minority. And they are highly motivated to buy at the lowest possible prices. For investors, it’s all about the numbers, not about falling in love with a single property they just have to have. If they can’t get it at a price that stacks up as an investment, most will walk away – because there are a hundred others just around the corner. 
That leaves that anonymous bunch of people we call the next-time buyers. They’re remarkable for their ability to fly under the radar of media debate. No one ever talks about them. But they’re the most influential part of the market, by a wide margin. 
They’re not half the buying market, but they’re close to it. Because they’ve owned property for a while and built up equity, they’re financially strong. And they’re aspirational, so they’re highly motivated and will often pay whatever it takes (within reason, mostly) to secure that one property they must have.
They’re the sneaky bastards who force prices to rise. And there’s almost nothing politicians can do to stop them.
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>
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Housing affordability debate focused on fighting phantoms: Terry Ryder

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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.  While Sydney and Melbourne have been grabbing all the attention in recent years, Brisbane prices have just kept rising steadily and under the radar.  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.  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>
<a href="/images/2016/04/11/RP1.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/04/11/RP1.jpg" alt="">
<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.  Maybe there was a property crash and a speedy recovery, for all I know, not sure.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
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>. 
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>.
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pwargent-M4siyDbqQY

Home price growth steadies: Pete Wargent

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If actions do indeed speak louder than words, then politicians don’t give a damn about housing affordability.
Often you’ll see their lips moving, and they appear to care about the cost of housing, but then they’ll take actions that cause costs to rise and affordability to worsen.
Victoria’s 2016-17 State Budget provides another example of why housing is so expensive in this country and why affordability is an enduring issue (although not nearly as serious as mainstream media would have us believe, especially outside of Sydney). 
The Victoria Government has added to the taxation burden on the industry that creates new homes for families. The Property Council is right to be “deeply worried about the Government's unwillingness to deal with its property tax addiction” and to ask for a cap on property tax increases. 
Governments at all levels treat the Australian housing industry as a cash cow and in every budget they milk it more. And the cost of providing housing keeps rising, while politicians point the finger of blame at innocent parties such as foreign investors and negatively-geared Australian investors. 
“Land tax is up 28 percent, foreign investor taxes have been tripled and stamp duty is forecast to exceed $6 billion for the first time,” says the Property Council, in the wake of Victoria’s State Budget. “Melbourne cannot expect to remain Australia's most competitive city for property investment when its property tax haul is surging.
“Another area which concerns the property industry is the stockpiling of Growth Area Infrastructure Contributions (GAIC). Property developers are paying more than their fair share. It is time for the Government to provide full disclosure on where the money is being spent.”
The so-called clampdown on foreign investors is, sadly, another ploy by politicians to give the appearance of doing something about housing affordability while finding new ways to milk the property industry of revenue.
It’s a little like the Federal Government lifting the tax on cigarettes – they claim it’s to discourage smoking but in reality it’s a grab for revenue. If they were serious, they’d ban smoking altogether, just as they would ban foreign buyers if they truly believed they were the prime cause of high house prices in Sydney and Melbourne. 
Victoria has introduced new taxes to slug foreign buyers and NSW is gearing up to do the same, while pretending it’s really a clampdown on illegal activity which allegedly pumps up prices.
The NSW Government is introducing new rules from July. Buyers and sellers of real estate will have to prove their residency and citizenship status before a sale is completed. A land tax certificate showing whether any money is owed must be supplied to a home-buyer by the vendors. The vendors must disclose their residency status and nationality when applying for the certificate. Foreign buyers will have to provide citizenship and visa details, plus FIRB clearance, through the stamp duty process.
The NSW Office of State Revenue will collect the new information on buyers' nationality. This will be passed to the ATO for inclusion in a national register of foreign ownership of land titles, which begins on July 1. The ATO will match data to ensure foreign buyers have paid a $5,000 fee for any property sold for less than $1 million, and $10,000 for properties over $1 million.
The process paves the way for the NSW Government to follow Victoria in imposing foreign buyer surcharges on land tax and stamp duty in the future.
How these moves address housing affordability is a mystery.
Here’s one way it may make it worse. Deterring foreign investment, upon which many major high-rise apartment projects depend, makes it likely many projects will not be built. The reduction in supply adds to the pressures which causes prices to rise.
NSW executive director of the Property Council Jane Fitzgerald says: “Turning investors away by imposing a huge new tax is one way to ensure it doesn’t get any better. There are international investors right now considering whether to build in NSW. If they choose to go elsewhere our housing affordability crisis will worsen.”
Well, exactly. But politicians, generally inept at seeing beyond the end of their noses, haven’t thought it through to that degree.
Rather than seeing foreign investment as being part of the solution (helping to lift the supply of dwellings), they choose to see them a problem – or perhaps, more correctly, as an unpopular minority to blame without losing votes.
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>
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Politicians don’t give a damn about housing affordability: Terry Ryder

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GUEST OBSERVER
The CoreLogic Stratified Hedonic Index breaks the market into three segments: the most affordable 25% of properties, the middle 50% and the most expensive 25%.
The data shows over the past year the most expensive quarter of the market has recorded the greatest value growth.
Over the 12 months to August 2017, the most affordable 25% of residential properties nationally have recorded value growth of 2.9% compared to growth of 8.0% across the middle 50% of suburbs and 11.4% growth across the 25% of most expensive suburbs. 
The national chart highlights that across all market segments the annual rate of value change has started to slow over recent months.  Importantly, the chart also highlights that when there have been housing market downturns it has typically been the most expensive properties that have been hardest hit while more affordable dwellings have been more resilient to downturns. 
<h3 class="text-align-center">Annual change in dwelling values across market segments, National</h3>
Click to enlarge
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/09/14/2017-09-11-image1.png" alt="">
Over the period shown, August 1987 to August 2017, the thirty year period has seen values across the most affordable 25% of properties rise 1,517% compared to increases of 580% across the middle 50% of suburbs and 432% across the most expensive 25% of suburbs.  This highlights how affordability has deteriorated substantially at the more affordable end of the housing market.
The second chart shows the change in values across the three broad segments throughout the combined capital cities.  Over the 12 months to August 2017, the most affordable 25% of properties have recorded growth of 4.6% compared to 9.3% growth across the middle 50% of properties and a 12.2% change across the most expensive 25% of the market.  Like the national figures, in the event of a housing market downturn it has been the more expensive housing which has tended to see the greater value falls.
<h3 class="text-align-center">Annual change in dwelling values across market segments, Combined Capital Cities</h3>
Click to enlarge
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/09/14/2017-09-11-image2.png" alt="">
The third chart looks at the growth performance across regional housing markets where the change in values has been much more moderate over recent years than that across the capital cities. 
The 25% of most affordable properties in regional Australia have recorded value increases of 2.5% compared to a 4.6% change across the middle 50% and an 8.4% increase in the most expensive 25% of properties. 
Over recent years, growth in the affordable segment in regional Australia has been the strongest performed suggesting that demand has been for more affordable housing. 
However, as the regional markets have picked-up over the past couple of years, it has been the top 25% of suburbs that have outperformed. 
This is likely to indicate demand for luxury housing outside of the capital cities has risen.
<h3 class="text-align-center">Annual change in dwelling values across market segments, Combined Regional Markets</h3>
Click to enlarge
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/09/14/2017-09-1-image3.png" alt="">
The final chart shows the annual change in dwelling values across the three market segments throughout the capital cities.  Melbourne and Darwin are the only capital cities that have recorded the greatest change in values over the year across the most affordable suburbs and the slowest growth across the most expensive suburbs. 
In all other capital cities, either the middle 50% of suburbs or the top 25% of suburbs have recorded the fastest rate of value growth over the year.  In Melbourne, this is possibly due to the fact that Sydney and Melbourne are the strongest economies in the country and are jockeying to attract talent.  Melbourne has a significant competitive advantage over Sydney in terms of being able to offer more affordable housing and the data seems to suggest that lower priced housing is a big driver which has led to a surge in values across the lower and also middle segments of the market. 
<h3 class="text-align-center">Annual change in dwelling values across market segments, individual capital cities, to Aug-17</h3>
Click to enlarge
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2017/09/14/2017-09-11-image4.png" alt="">
The stratified hedonic index offers another interesting look into the performance of the national housing market looking at how different segments are performing.  If the current housing market slowdown continues and turns into declines, watch for whether the most affordable sector of the market is relatively stronger performed than the more expensive segment.  With record high levels of household debt and significant first home buyer incentives over recent years the trends in a future downturn could be different to what has been seen in the past.
Cameron Kusher is research analyst for CoreLogic. You can contact him <a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/about/" target="_blank">here</a>.
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