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

Property

<html><body>
There are property experts who fancy regional investment over capital city.
But the latest CoreLogic RP Data pain and gain report suggests there can often be a pitfall in regional investment.
<div class="page" title="Page 6">
<div class="section">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
Throughout the regional markets the proportion of loss-making resales for houses and units was much higher than in the capital cities. 
Across each regional area units recorded a greater proportion of loss-making resales than houses. 
Regional Qld (15.6% vs 29.3%), Regional WA (20.0% vs 32.4%) and Regional NT (12.3% vs 21.9%) had the largest gaps between the proportion of loss-making house and unit sales. 
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="page" title="Page 6">
<div class="section">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
Proportion of total resales at a loss/gain, houses vs. units, capital city vs regions: March 2015 quarter.
<a href="/images/2015/06/22/Screen%20Shot%202015-06-22%20at%202.16.59%20PM.png" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2015/06/22/Screen%20Shot%202015-06-22%20at%202.16.59%20PM.png" alt="">
</div>
</div>
{mijopolls 116}
 
</div>
</div>
</body></html>

jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Where capital cities yield higher capital growth than regions as property investments

<html><body>
LF Economics duo Lindsay David and Philip Soos have published 23 recommendations into Australian banking reform in an attempt to curb what they believe is a 'perverse culture of homeowner entitlement' and a 'religious-like culture of property ownership and speculation'.
Featured in their submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics 2015 Inquiry into Home Ownership, <a href="/news/the-great-australian-household-debt-trap-lf-economics-lobs-first-submission-into-hor-housing-bubble-inquiry">The Great Australian Household Debt Trap: Why Housing Prices Have Increased</a>, the paper backs the use of macro-prudential tools to moderate house price inflation, suggests the implementation of a new RBA risk assessment framework and the RBA raises in the current interest rate.
The 23 recommendations are:
Recommendation #1
Prepare legislation for the implementation of a future Chicago Plan-style reform in the event of a severe banking crisis. This includes a progression to 100% reserve lending and backing for deposits, and public control of the money supply via issuance of government money (equity) when banks want to lend, unless they wish to pay an increased premium for private debt liabilities. Forcing the requirement that banks issue debt instruments to the government, rather than the private sector, is a blueprint forremoving the noxious impact of usurious fees and interest charges, and rapid inflation in themoney supply that causes asset bubbles and financial instability.
Recommendation #2
A range of macro-prudential tools should be implemented to moderate housing price inflation and subdue credit growth in a pro-cyclical financial system, particularly those affecting the loan to value (LVR), debt servicing (DSR) and debt servicing to income (DSTI) ratios.Quantitative restrictions are placed on the share of new mortgages with moderately high LVRs (60 to 79%), and significantly strengthened for mortgages with an LVR of 80 to 89%. Mortgages with an LVR of 90% and above, interest-only loans and those backed by parental guarantee are disallowed. Mortgage debt is capped at a multiple of ten times the imputed or actual annual rental income of the property being purchased to prevent a positive feedback loop forming between rising housing prices and debt.41 The ’30-10-30 Plan’ should be a future policy consideration following a severe downturn in the housing market.
Recommendation #3
To reduce systemic risk, a large rise in capital and liquidity ratios (buffers) is implemented so banks can withstand a future economic downturn, bank run, credit market freeze or large fall in the value of collateral. Research suggests the probability of a banking crisis can be reduced to a 1 in 100 year event by raising core equity (Tier 1) capital ratios to 11 per cent in isolation or raising core equity to 10% with an additional rise in liquid assets of 12.5% (the rise in liquid assets over total assets).For the Big Four banks, this represents a rise of around 3% in core equity. Liquidity and capital buffers (and general debt provisioning) must rise during the expansionary phase of the credit cycle, taming the size and duration of a debt-financed asset price boom.
Recommendation #4
APRA enforces a transparent and prudent risk-weighting methodology for determining capital ratios. APRA rescinds banks’ authority to calculate their own risk-weights with advanced internal methods (APS 113) and enforces all new bank lending under APS 112, applying more conservative criteria and risk weights for residential mortgages. Requisite modifications to APS 112 include higher risk-weights when asset prices significantly diverge from the long-term mean (25-30 year minimum), and re-calculation of potential super-sized LGD, PD and EAD during a large housing correction.
Recommendation #5
Significant capital allocations arising from conservative risk-weights imposed on financial derivatives, with prudential regulations requiring derivatives to be placed on-balance sheet in SPVs. 
Recommendation #6 
Development of a new RBA risk assessment framework including a range of macroeconomic, banking, market-priced and qualitative indicators:
<ul>
<li>Macroeconomic metrics include the stock and flow of credit to all sectors of the economy (household, non-banking financial, non-financial business, and government sectors), sectoral leverage, associated DSRs and estimations of credit quality. </li>
<li>Banking sector metrics include capital adequacy as a proportion of total asset value (not RWAs), liquidity ratios, non-performing loan rate, asset quality in high-risk sectors (e.g. residential housing), proportion of high-LVR and interest-only lending, asset concentration on bank balance sheets, and the level of specific provisions for bad debts. </li>
<li>Market-priced metrics include the divergence of asset prices from long-term averages (e.g. P/I and P/R ratios), credit spread between market/deposit and lending rates, proportion of securitised, offshore and short-term wholesale funding, degree of foreign investment, loan to deposit ratios, and the average maturity profile of debt. </li>
<li>Qualitative measures include lending standards and risk appetite, ratio of prime to non- prime/subprime lending, trends in loan control frauds, rapid bank network growth and the intensity of financial sector competition. 
</li>
</ul>
Recommendation #7
Strict limits are placed on the Big Four banks to prevent any further mergers or acquisitions due to the high concentration of Australian financial system assets under management and the already non-competitive operating environment. A maximum threshold is established for the proportion of credit aggregates directed towards any single asset class.
Recommendation #8
APRA enforces less reliance on wholesale borrowing, particularly short-term foreign debt, via existing regulatory powers. The average maturity of wholesale funding is lengthened by adopting suitable benchmarks for short and long-term wholesale borrowing, and imposing restrictions on off-shore bond issuance. A minimum level is also set for ‘stickier’ funding sources like domestic deposits.
Recommendation #9
Covered bonds are phased out, as this dual recourse funding arrangement poses significant over-collateralisation risks. The numerous funding advantages of the Big Four banks over second-tier lenders indicate they are not disadvantaged by this reform. Legislative amendments to the Banking Act 1959 subordinating depositors in the creditor hierarchy are unwound.
Recommendation #10
RMBS funding arrangements are reviewed and a maximum 10% limit set for total RMBS financing in any asset class. The AOFM explicitly rules out any future support for RMBS.
Recommendation #11 
Establishment of a Royal Commission to conduct an exhaustive investigation of the financial system and regulatory bodies. The Terms of Reference are broad and explore accusations of extensive subprime mortgage fraud, predatory lending, and regulatory agency culpability and negligence in addressing systemic risk and unconscionable financier conduct.
Recommendation #12 
External dispute resolution (EDR) organisation regulations are reformed to better assist victims of predatory lending. Arbitrary caps on mortgages are removed, allowing EDRs to write-off the entirety of loans in the worst cases of fraud. The powers of EDRs are significantly expanded to deal with recalcitrant lenders.
Recommendation #13
The Financial Claims Scheme (FCS) is broadened to include significant ex-ante funding from banks to provide depositor and general policy insurance. A financial contribution from banks discourages moral hazard and guarantees they bear a greater loss for subsequent failures.
Recommendation #14
Economists in senior and executive public roles are subject to a suitable incentive structure to ensure appropriate management of the economy and commentary. A range of key performance indicators can be adopted and benchmarked against the performance of the economy. Economists are held accountable for the quality of their work, with a number of penalties being introduced for poor performance: fines, loss of employment and even imprisonment in the worst cases of financial and economic collapse.
Recommendation #15
The development of a more transparent and empirically-validated stress-testing framework. Primary variables that predict future instability include the size of the credit-to-GDP gap (breaching 6%), DSRs greater than 20% (related to more severe recessions), a large proportion of credit aggregates directed towards real estate (42% of all Australian banking assets are housing loans), large deviations of asset prices from the long-term mean, and low equity to deposit ratios (a greater number of creditors have a claim on banking assets). APRA ceases to use ‘soft stress-testing assumptions’ for liquidity as noted in the 2012 IMF Financial Stability Report.
Recommendation #16
The APRA stress-testing framework includes the following secondary variables: large ToT shocks precipitating a significant fall in national income, persistent tepid or negative economic growth, steep rises in unemployment stressing high DSR households, and significant Australian bank exposure to the New Zealand market.A mining sector downturn would increase the likelihood of rising personal and commercial defaults, declining credit quality, and rising bank funding costs as credit ratings agencies lose confidence in credit quality. New Zealand’s housing bubble is also heavily dependent on capital inflows for funding, suggesting a simultaneous property downturn could amplifydifficulties for the Australian parent companies, despite legal ring-fencing.
Recommendation #17
The decision to implement a CLF is reviewed, alongside the conditions of access and possible taxpayer risk. At a minimum, the cost of accessing CLF liquidity should be substantially increased, as there is a spread of well over 100bps between the wholesale funding and cash rates. Banks may otherwise try to access the CLF for cheaper funding, instead of as a last resort measure. The RBA could also threaten to convert debt into equity following a large fall in the value of collateral pledged to access liquidity. Abolishing the CLF is the most prudent measure as it is a thinly-disguised, taxpayer-funded bailout mechanism. If financial institutions require capitalisation at taxpayer expense, they should be nationalised rather than bailed out.
Recommendation #18
Bail-in provisions overseen by the FSB and endorsed by APRA are repealed, despite Australia’s implementation of the new global liquidity framework (Basel III International Framework for Liquidity Risk Measurement, Standards and Monitoring). An independent panel of experts considers a range of alternative policy measures that contribute to financial stability, outside of the costly bailout/bail-in paradigm.
Recommendation #19
A ‘true cost of service provision’ regulation is implemented regarding the pricing of essential bank services. The banking and financial sector is regulated like utilities, rather than viewed as profit centres yielding infinitely rising returns for management and shareholders.
Recommendation #20
A levy is imposed on the financial sector for the government deposit guarantee, and calculated to be the approximate size of the derived market benefit. The Big Four’s heavy concentration and majority control over financial system assets means theyalready reap significant cost savings due to economies of scale.
Recommendation #21
The alleged benefits and costs of high frequency trading are reviewed. Algorithm-based trading has led to heightened volatility in many of the world’s markets and innumerable cases of market manipulation, such as front-running of orders by large institutional players with computerised infrastructure advantages.
Recommendation #22
Lender’s mortgage insurance (LMI) is disallowed. The shifting of risk to mortgage insurers is a form of private moral hazard providing banks with an incentive to lend without considering the capacity to repay. LMI does not afford lenders any real protection in a major crisis as these companies are often severely under-capitalised for the sizeable real estate risks they are insuring.
Recommendation #23
The RBA raises the interest rate. The current speculative housing price booms in Sydney and Melbourne are amplified by the cuts to the cash rate in recent times and thus should be reversed in an attempt to dampen speculation. This may provide an incentive to many highly-leveraged and negatively-geared investors to offload their properties and dissuade new entrants into the market. The knock-on effects of record low interest rates also negate the ability of retirees, dependant on their cash savings, to spend within the domestic economy. By sustaining housing price growth through lower interest rates, the RBA has reduced incomes which will inevitably push more retirees onto the pension as their bank accounts yield increasingly fewer returns.
 
</body></html>

Housing affordability must-do 23 banking recommendations: Lindsay David and Philip Soos 

<html><body>
Deniliquin had returned to the investor radar, local agent Ashley Hall at Big River Real Estate said.
"They come from far and wide," he said.
"Last week we have investors down from the Gold Coast, but more regularly from Sydney, Melbourne, Adeiaide and WA too," he said.
His Deniliquin agency has the most popular investor listing on realestateview.com.au at the moment.
"Yields are going up," he explained, adding the town's recent mention in a magazine list helped.
"But Deniliquin property is coming into its own," he said given the elevated employment for the rice mill, the abattoir and the police station under construction   
  
1) 428 Wood Street, DENILIQUIN, NSW, 2710
With six bedrooms spread across two brick properties on a 974 square metre block, this Deniliquin find comes with a motivated vendor and long term tenants.
The property is currently returning $200 per week for the four bedroom, two bathroom house and an additional $160 per week for the two bedroom fully renovated unit.
<a href="https://www.realestateview.com.au/Real-Estate/428-wood-street-deniliquin/Property-Details-buy-residential-8709714" target="_blank">Click here to see the property</a>
 
2) 45 Deans Road, AIRDS, NSW, 2560
<div>
A three bedroom offering complete with a renovated bathroom, second toilet, solar panels and gas cooking make up this listing which has attracted the second most clicks from investors on realestateview.com.
It has been marketed as a "bargain in Sydney's Western Suburbs." It is now sold to an investor. Initially it was advertised at offers over $380,000 with the vendor sensing the strong interest upped it to over $420,000.   
It noted that market rents for the area hover between $350 and $360 per week, making "this the ideal investment," Wayne Browne, the listing agent at Prudential Real Estate suggests. 
Wayne Browne told Property Observer that 70% of his buyer interest came from investors on the offering. The wide net cast through the website listing, allowed the buyer to come from 40kms away at Punchbowl.
</div>
<a href="https://www.realestateview.com.au/Real-Estate/45-deans-road-airds/Property-Details-buy-residential-8638014" target="_blank">Click here to see the property</a>
 
</body></html>

Deniliquin tops most clicked investor listings on realestateview.com.au

<html><body>
A number of young (and the not so young) homebuyers will have stopped looking for their dream home in the last few weeks.
This could be a bad situation (for them).
In fact it could well have been a completely counterproductive action if at any stage, in the future, they want to own a family home.
I bought my first home in 1985. Since then I have bought over a 1000 homes and never have I once purchased a home by not giving it my all.
Waiting never works
Never have I seen a friend or a client be in a better position by waiting out of the market for any length of time. Please don’t confuse this statement with passing on buying the wrong home and then continuing to look for the right one.
There are good and bad homes for each and every one of us. Don’t rush (there is no rush, even now). However you won’t find the good homes by not looking.
A number of younger buyers will have been turned off by media talk, Facebook interactions and discussions at work or home.
There is a lot of talk that we are in a bubble and by implication the bubble will burst, home prices will drop dramatically and bargains will miraculously appear.
We at James do not see that – not over the longer term anyway, not unless the population changes dramatically.
To stop the home search, to give up, to lose focus is WRONG, an untruth , a false perception IF your longer term happiness is tied to being in a family situation where you, or you and your partner control your destiny – eg you live in your own home.
Markets will continue to rise in the longer term
No easing of the market will assist you to any noticeable degree.
We did see the effects of the worst financial markets correction since the Great Depression in 2008, the market has bounced back and now much farther ahead than it was in 2007, 2008 or 2009. If you are viewing a home over a “lifetime” investment horizon, there will be bumps, but it will be a strong long term proposition.
Over time the market will/must continue to rise whilst there is population growth.
It’s simple demand and supply. Infrastructure Australia released their report two weeks ago and in it they have projected a 45% increase in population in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth over the next 15 years.  If that isn’t reassurance of continuing property demand, I don’t know what is. 
The government cannot and will not “save” you, the young homebuyers. 
The only thing that will “save” you, the young homebuyer, is you (and if you are lucky – good parents).
So, Mr. Hockey might have been clumsy in his words, but his message had some truth.
Perhaps I am being generous, but one of the more helpful statements this last week seemed to be the most controversial.
If you want to buy a good home, get a job that pays. This, in my opinion, was one of the few accurate and helpful comments of this last week – if buying a good home is your main priority.
BUT please, there is more to this than getting a good job. A number of young doctors feel they can’t buy their first home and they have what society deems is a good job.
As a young home buyer, please don’t get caught up in the minutiae or the politics.
Mr Hockey’s statement is a helpful pointer if you take it as meaning:
<ol>
<li>Take action yourself</li>
<li>Get the resources you need to get a home</li>
</ol>
You as young home buyers need to act and take it upon yourselves to control your own destiny.
Theories do not put a roof over your head, practical solutions do
House affordability is a theoretical problem.
Effective house buying is a practical solution.
Your choice as a young homebuyer is to be caught up in the problems – good dinner party chatter or caught up in the solutions, which will put a roof over your family’s head and more importantly build long term security for your family.
First the problems and then we put the VIOLIN away and discuss solutions.
Negative Gearers
As a young home buyer you face negative gearers (AND super funds AND other investment vehicles as well).
If you are looking at an $800,000 home and you are competing against a negative gearer, then a negative gearer can borrow all the money they need and can pay well over $2,000,000 for that same $800,000 home and it will still COST LESS to service than what it would for you pay for your mortgage, even assuming you had a 20% deposit.
<a href="https://marketnews.com.au/2015/06/young-homebuyers-issues-solutions/slide1yhb/" rel="attachment wp-att-50829"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-50829" src="https://marketnews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Slide1YHB-597x422.jpg" alt="Slide1YHB" width="597" height="422"></a>
The argument that negative gearing and super funds increase rentals is true, but its also BALONEY for you because with SMART BABY BOOMER INVESTORS it increases rentals at the cost of young home buyers buying a home.
So lets get rid of negative gearing, super funds OK. 
Maybe, but please not in a hurry, without thinking it through.
We buy a number of homes for parents who have been reading our blogs for the last decade. If the government or the opposition got rid of negative gearing, then in many cases, all they would be doing, is making it easier for overseas buyers to purchase the stock that you are hoping will be freed up for younger people.
I have teenage children and I need the firepower negative gearing gives me to maintain and buy homes against overseas buyers. I represent many parents and they need the firepower negative gearing gives them to maintain and buy homes against overseas investors.
So do you really think the government is going to alienate the baby boomers. In theory yes, but in practice, I’m not so sure. They may water down negative gearing. However, as you can see from the above maths watering down will have limited effect, as the gap is so great.
Many parents need negative gearing or super funds to compete against Chinese buyers and other overseas buyers and are doing so right now. We know as we are buying for parents.
If the government removed negative gearing, super funds they could suffer a tremendous backlash from many people (with resources) because they would take away a significant tool in competing on the international stage for buying Inner Melbourne Homes for their children.
Possible Solution Number One is to get your parents involved NOW.
If we were talking to Grade 6’s about home buying, the main message we would be telling them is get Mum and Dad out there now looking for a good home for you to rent off them when you’re 30. Of course I would be adding in make sure Mum and Dad know the difference between a good and a bad family home to buy for you.
If you cant beat them, join them. Maybe DON’T hate negative gearing, USE IT.
PROPERTY ORPHANS (no helpful parents) STILL want and need negative gearing, otherwise you will get beaten up by OTHER BUYERS.
Here are some clues (but please talk to us about what to buy, most apartments ARE NOT the things to negative gear).
Possible Solution Number Two: Buy a GOOD home NOW and negative gear with a tenant, then move in when you can afford it.
Possible Solution Number Three: Bit more adventurous – buy a GOOD home and get a friend to buy a GOOD home and use negative gearing, possibly with a solicitor and a formal/informal agreement to live in each other’s homes. Your main purpose is not to avoid tax; your main purpose is to provide shelter, to afford a home. The lessening of your tax allows you to compete against other local and overseas buyers. I would still get some legal advice on this type of set up, just in case.
BUT please this is not the whole solution in itself. This is part thereof, of you taking charge and getting negative gearing to help you, not hurt you.
Overseas Buyers
If not Chinese buyers, then Indian buyers, Brazilian buyers, and Indonesian buyers and so on will be competing on the homes you want to buy.
Overseas buying is unlikely to stop in a hurry as all political parties want population growth and they want it from rich overseas people.
Whether that is right or wrong is not for us to say – but Overseas bidding particularly from China dominates the Inner Melbourne Market – even where Chinese people are not bidding.
Overseas buyers have more money to spend on an $800,000 home than you, particularly while the A$ is as it is.
Lets say in 2010 you as a young person decided to save for a deposit on a then $700,000 home. You were looking to save $140,000 deposit. During this time the main issue IS NOT that your $700,000 has gone to $800,000 or $900,000 but that the Australian dollar has dropped and you are in an international market.
The couple in Beijing who were also saving in 2010, but were saving in US dollars have now effectively $210,000 AUS as a deposit and can fund a $1,000,000 purchase simply because of the exchange rate changes. A 50% drop in the AUS $ vs. US$ in the last 5 years.
So for that $700,000 home now worth $800,000 the overseas buyers could bid to $1,000,000 with the same savings since 2010 as you.
<a href="https://marketnews.com.au/2015/06/young-homebuyers-issues-solutions/slide2yhb/" rel="attachment wp-att-50828"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-50828" src="https://marketnews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Slide2YHB-597x422.jpg" alt="Slide2YHB" width="597" height="422"></a>
That’s only one part of the equation, there are many Chinese and other international families who don’t need to borrow – they are $800,000 to $8,000,000 cash buyers. As we said recently there are over 2,000,000 millionaire Chinese families looking for homes.
Let’s stop Overseas Buyers from taking our kids homes is the under the breath comment at many dinner parties.
OK how? The FIRB Act (designed to limit overseas investment) is as effective as Airline security – meaning if people want to do it, then they will do it – if they have been allowed to get to the threshold stage.
And besides that, will stopping overseas buyers actually help or hurt you in your quest for a good home in Inner Melbourne close to transport, shops, work, friends and schools?
Think about it, overseas buying has positives.
Chinese buying saved Melbourne property in 2009 from experiencing what almost every other country experienced – a significant and sustained property downturn.
Do you really want to stop Chinese buyers? Do you want a 20 year flattish property market like Japan – which has zero population growth and zero immigration?
And its not just the money – Chinese families have a lot to offer us through their older and more modern cultures.
Maybe we want to be like Japan and shut our borders or Canada who has partially shut them to Chinese buyers.
As a community we will all have to make that decision through our politicians.
I’m not so sure any total lockdown is the way to go. Perhaps a focus into regional areas may be a better alternative – maybe not – it needs discussion and then action, rather than knee jerk reactions.
What is true is overseas bidding particularly from China dominates the Inner Melbourne Market – even where Chinese people are not bidding.
However we have had Chinese buying for 40 years, just never at this level of intensity.
But can you and your children wait? They may have gone from 6 to 16, or 16 to 26, or 26 to 36 while discussions are happening and your children need a home sooner than that.
Real Estate Agents and Buyer Advocates
Agents and advocates are ruining it for young people by pushing the prices up.
Good selling agents do push prices up and bad buyer advocates can hurt young homebuyers with their incompetence. But the real truth is us agents/advocates are not that good – we can’t control markets.
It’s demand and supply that controls markets.
Demand is from population, with wealthy immigration being the main driver; and supply is very restricted on most Inner Melbourne Homes with good position and good land.
So while agents are often their own worst enemy (with regards to their quoting and some tactics), they are not the reason why young homebuyers can’t buy a home to live in.
If we stopped everything
Ok, so lets say in your perfect world we’ve got rid of the Chinese buyers, got rid of the Negative gearers, banned Super Funds from buying homes, stopped immigration and yada yada yada.
Where would that leave you – does that mean you can automatically buy a home much more easily?
Not necessarily.
Wounded Underbidders
Have you been to auctions in the Inner North for instance – you know the single-fronters in need of a reno – the ones you can almost afford?
Are you just competing against negative gearers, super funders and families from Asia?
Well no – you are also competing against WOUNDED UNDERBIDDERS – that is other buyers who have bid before. They have come from Inner Melbourne organic population increases via Inner Melbourne births and Australian intra-migration from Outer Melbourne and Regional wealthier homebuyers wanting to be closer to schools and infrastructure that works.
NOW they are better resourced than you. By better resourced we mean they:
<ol>
<li>Have a clearer focus</li>
<li>Have a buyer advocate or other property professional</li>
<li>Have done greater research and so on – eg they may have a more competitive interest rate – every dollar counts!</li>
</ol>
CONCLUSION TO ISSUES for YOUNG HOMEBUYERS
If the government or the army or the media or …….. were somehow able to:
<ul>
<li>Stop the overseas buyers coming</li>
<li>Stop negative gearing and super funds and ….</li>
<li>Stop other locals competing against you</li>
</ul>
and all the while:
<ul>
<li>Kept the economy buoyant</li>
<li>So you can keep a job and</li>
<li>Kept the developers actually building new homes in a negative economic environment.</li>
</ul>
Where would you be?
Do you really want to buy you first home in Whoop Whoop West and live in a country with a 20 year property market like Japan – which gave you almost no hope of a few good property moves that saw you end up in Hawthorn – near schools in a nice home for not much else than three good decisions?
Me personally – I want a gently rising market for my children 
And I want them to learn how to use the rising Melbourne market to their advantage.
Don’t give up – don’t whine about negative gearing and Chinese buyers, learn to deal with them and get into the property mix.
But please get into the property mix sooner rather than later
Because once you are in, then if you make good decisions and buy well, the market will work for you.
Example: We have bought for families who have moved from $480,000 in Albert Park in 2000 to $880,000 in Sandy in 2005 to $2,000,000 in Bayside in 2015 all with manageable changeover costs. Look at the number $480,000 – isn’t that what you have now?
How do you do that, how do you use this market to your advantage?
The four solution keys
<ol>
<li>Good plan</li>
<li>Good professional assistance </li>
<li>Good processes</li>
<li>Good decisions</li>
</ol>
Its all about NOW plus the LONGER TERM, not just the NOW.
Now for young people and by that we mean anybody under say 45, this article may appear lacking in empathy. 
All I can say is I have teenage children and I totally, totally share the concerns re home affordability, BUT………… I share my/our credentials to be able to say what we are saying.
My family has bought two of the needed three homes for our children and we are still paying off those mortgages, just as many other families are. We have used negative gearing. We needed it. Our children are 20,16 and 14. I/we have significant fears that if we had not been working towards this goal our children would have had significant housing problems that would impact negatively on their lives (and that still may happen).
Our family and James Buyer Advocates has been substantial supporters since 2006 of Hanover’s for the Homeless Private Rental Brokerage programme. The work of Hanover has allowed us to see first hand the hundreds and hundreds of families who sleep rough every night because they cannot afford decent housing.
I am a professional buyer advocate, have bought over a 1000 homes and see the current housing affordability situation affecting not only young first homebuyers, but many other people as well. The only generation that has done well from all this is the baby boomers (my generation). In my humble opinion, we as a generation, need to do a hellava lot more in giving back in a meaningful way to help those that follow us; rather than leave some sort of scorched landscape as we depart planet Earth (sorry about the soapbox).
Mal writes weekly auction reports, advice and in-depth market analysis on <a href="https://www.jamesbuyeradvocates.com.au/" target="_blank">James' website</a>.
</body></html>

maljames-vHwm28JUAa

Attitude and help gets young people into the market: Mal James

<html><body>
Perth housing conditions have remained stable over the last year with only one city making the exception, a new report found.
Buying conditions are ripe in the central metropolitan area of Perth according to the <a href="/expert-insights/buyers-favoured-over-sellers-in-queensland-commonwealth-bank-home-buyers-index">Commonwealth Bank-Core Logic Home Buyers Index</a>, which noted an 'equilibrium' in the marketplace, with neither buyers nor sellers holding power during negotiations.
<img src="/images/2015/06/17/PErth_hbi.jpg" alt="">
</body></html>

po-LsXgBTHBmX

Perth housing market on middle ground: Commonwealth Bank-Core Logic Home Buyers Index

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVER
For the last few years, Sydney has been virtually synonymous with <a href="https://www.dpn.com.au/services/property-investment" target="_blank">i</a>nvesting in property in Australia. Sometimes it seems like it's all anyone is talking out.
It's not surprising, given that property prices have seen a year-on-year increase of 14.5%, as noted by the latest RP Data Hedonic Home Value Index. But over time, this focus on Sydney has come to seem less like excitement over a well-performing market and more like tunnel vision.
Starting from the top
A lot of the reason why people are excited about Sydney is because of this exceptional growth. And make no mistake, there are still areas in the Harbour City where you can get incredible value. However, it seems like many people are basing this enthusiasm on how well it's performed in the past, and as I've cautioned before, past performance is no guarantee of future returns.
In fact, those who are trying to invest in some parts of Sydney now could well be buying at the top of the market. Future capital growth in these suburbs that have seen extraordinary increases is likely to be subdued going forward - so it's best to avoid following the herd. It would be unwise to buy something that has increased in value considerably, hoping that this will simply continue on and on.
Expanding your horizons
Of course, one shouldn't discount Sydney entirely. But if you're desperate to buy into the city, you'll need to be more selective, less emotional and buy in emerging markets instead of the ones doing spectacularly well. Those suburbs do still exist in the New South Wales capital.
Alternatively, it could be just as beneficial to look at the emerging markets outside of Sydney.
In New South Wales, for instance, two cities that show some promise are Newcastle and Wollongong. Here, the house prices are lower, the yields are better and the cities boast strong, diversified economies and population centres.
Meanwhile, outside the state, Brisbane is looking increasingly attractive. The Queensland capital has a greater degree of potential as its real estate values haven't seen as much growth as cities like Sydney and Melbourne, and yields are higher on average. In particular, I'm thinking of the suburbs in the corridors between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and the northern and northeastern areas.
In the latter two, you've got neighbourhoods that are close to the coastline, have a billion dollar train line coming in and are a mere 25 minutes from the Brisbane CBD. Suburbs in the North Lakes region are especially encouraging, given the large amounts of investment in retail, infrastructure and education. An equivalent area in Sydney would be triple the price.
Why Queensland is poised for big gains
I was at a barbecue over a weekend, and someone told me they were thinking of moving to Queensland because they could sell their house in Sydney and buy a large home there outright with cash. There is a huge divergence in price between Brisbane and Melbourne and Sydney, and people are taking notice.
Interstate migration is picking up, with Melburnians and Sydneysiders moving over to Brisbane for its warmer climate and the cheaper house prices. It's appealing for both foreigners and Australian families looking for a certain lifestyle without the stress and burden of large debts. All of this means that there are likely to be a lot of investment property buyers in Brisbane in the coming years.
It's all about applying the same methodology of finding emerging growth suburbs, but applying it to new areas and suburbs. If you've had your fill of Sydney, expand your horizons and look across state lines.
SAM KHALIL is founder and director of Direct Property Network. He can be contacted <a href="https://www.dpn.com.au/" target="_blank">here</a>.<a href="https://www.dpn.com.au/" target="_blank"> </a>
 
</body></html>

SamKhalil-UNoWQ73CmG

Crossing state lines: Where to after Sydney for property investors?: Sam Khalil

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION
Australia’s robust population growth will continue to underpin property prices for decades to come.
Read any government or not-for-profit commissioned reports into the future of Australia and you’ll likely notice one key trend – population growth is forecast to remain strong.
Australia’s population surpassed 23.7 million in January after significant growth over the past 15 years. 
A recent report from The Australia Institute found that since the year 2000, Australia has increased in size by 4.7 million people.
This represents about a 25% rise in the country’s population and equates to adding a new city the size of Canberra every year, the report by the Canberra-based think tank found.
This has undoubtedly helped fuel dwelling prices over that time.
With the exception of Sydney, all of Australia’s capital cities have recorded annual compound house price growth of more than 7% in the same period. Of course, as we know, the Sydney market is experiencing boom time conditions now.
<div>
<table style="width: 302px;"><tbody>
<tr>
<td class="gen10243" nowrap width="113">
City
</td>
<td class="gen1024f" width="189">
15-year compound annual value change (houses)*
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="gen10267" width="113">
Sydney
</td>
<td class="gen10271" width="189">
6.6%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="gen10267" width="113">
Melbourne
</td>
<td class="gen10271" width="189">
8.3%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="gen10267" width="113">
Brisbane
</td>
<td class="gen10271" width="189">
8.1%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="gen10267" width="113">
Adelaide
</td>
<td class="gen10271" width="189">
7.5%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="gen10267" width="113">
Perth
</td>
<td class="gen10271" width="189">
8.6%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="gen10267" width="113">
Hobart
</td>
<td class="gen10271" width="189">
7.8%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="gen10267" width="113">
Canberra
</td>
<td class="gen10271" width="189">
7.7%
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="gen10308" width="113">
Darwin
</td>
<td class="gen10312" width="189">
7.2%
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Source: CoreLogic RPData *15 years to January 2015.
According to many forecasts, Australia’s high rate of population growth over the past 15 years will continue.
The Federal Government’s recent Intergenerational Report predicts that about 40 million people will call Australia home by the year 2054. Similar estimates have also been forecast by The Australia Institute.
This equates to population growth of about 1.3% per year – about half of this growth will be driven by net oversea migration with the remainder comprising natural growth (births less deaths).
Subsequently, Australia will need to add more than 9 million new homes – double the current housing stock – to meet the population demand, according to the Master Builders Association.
What’s more noteworthy, though, is that almost all of these people are expected to live in Australia’s capital cities.
Melbourne and Perth will experience the biggest increases in population growth over the coming decades, according to The Australia Institute report released in March.
Perth’s population is tipped to nearly triple by the year 2061 with the addition of 3.5 million residents. The city’s population is expected to reach 5.5 million people, which would surpass that of Brisbane’s of about 4.9 million, and make it Australia’s third largest capital.
The report also found that Melbourne is forecast to surpass Sydney as the most populace capital city in Australia.
The Victorian capital is predicted to grow to 8.6 million residents by 2061, compared to Sydney with 8.5 million people.
This rapid population growth, in already sprawled metropolitan zones, will continue to drive demand for land and, in turn, apply upwards pressure on house prices
While there will be ebbs and flows in house values over the decades ahead, the ultimate trend will be an increase in prices. 
<img src="/images/2015/05/28/collins.jpeg" alt="">
Source: The Australia Institute, Population Growth in Australia
 
Damian Collins is managing director of Momentum Wealth, a Perth based property investment consultancy firm. You can contact him <a href="https://www.momentumwealth.com.au/blog/" target="_blank">here</a>.
</body></html>

DamianCollins-BiwU8NaWEC

Population growth will drive house prices: Damian Collins

<html><body>
It’s sadly typical of real estate investment that the most popular places for buyers are also the worst places to buy.
Investors are piling en masse into a series of off the plan unit markets that will be the ruination of many people’s wealth dreams. The top five locations in terms of sales volumes are all places that property buyers must avoid.
It’s a commentary on two issues, which are among the core problems for property investors. One is that most investors fail to conduct genuine research before making decisions that involve hundreds of thousands of dollars. The second is that far too many of them think that reading media reports constitutes research.
When I spoke at two Performance Property Advisory seminars in Melbourne earlier this week, I told audiences that most of what they read or hear about real estate in mainstream media is misinformation. Most of what they read or hear is press release material (i.e. someone’s propaganda) regurgitated as credible information. There is no journalistic oversight on the material that is published, in most cases.
Among the most dangerous material is “research” which presents lists of, for example, the 10 best places to buy for high rental yields, or the 10 top buyers’ markets in the land, or the locations with the biggest growth in median prices in the past quarter. 
These lists are presented by incompetent journalists with the inference that these are the places investors should be buying. It amounts almost to criminal negligence. Those lists of the places with the highest yields or the ones described as the best buyers’ markets in the land comprise places where markets are in serious decline. Many of these markets are basket cases.
Earlier this week we saw a list of the most popular locations for buyers in Australia. These are the suburbs with the highest numbers of sales. The treatment given to this press release material from a publicity-hungry research business inferred that these were all great places to buy. If everyone’s piling into these places, then so should you. The inference is that the herd mentality is a viable method of making investment decisions.
Eight of the top 10 locations on the list were all locations that investors must avoid, if they are to escape a financial disaster. Those eight locations were apartments markets with heavy marketing of off-the-plan high-rise units in locations that already have, or will soon have, serious oversupplies.
The No.1 location in the list was the Melbourne CBD. Most of the 1,500 buyers who have purchased apartments there in the past 12 months will live to regret their decisions. Also on the Top 10 list were neighbouring unit market suburbs, Southbank and South Yarra. This is oversupply central for Australian real estate – a place where unit towers are being built not for local consumption but to be flogged at inflated prices to offshore investors. It won’t end well. 
Four of the top 10 places were occupied by unit markets on the Gold Coast, with Surfers Paradise No.2 on the national list. You have to wonder how many people have to lose money in this fools’ paradise before investors get the message to steer clear.
The Gold Coast has just spent five years absorbing the previous surplus of high-rise units, with property values falling in virtually every suburb in Gold Coast City. The median price for Surfers Paradise is still lower today than it was five years ago, but in the past 12 months another 1,255 buyers dived headlong into this investors’ graveyard, even as developers are working hard on creating the next massive over-supply.
The Brisbane CBD, which is working hard to outdo its Melbourne’s counterpart as oversupply central, is No.3 on the list. 
The latest research shows that only 10% of sales in the Brisbane inner-city unit market are to owner-occupiers. Investors are buying 90% of the stock and the great majority of them are distant investors – people from interstate and overseas. Many will wish they had left their money in the bank.
Vacancies in Brisbane’s inner-city suburbs range from 4% or 6.5% - and that’s before all the new supply now under construction hits the rental market. BIS Shrapnel research shows that a record number of new apartments will be completed this year, but more will be finished next year and even more the year after. These numbers are a red flag for sensible buyers.
Brisbane, like Melbourne and the Gold Coast, is building far too many apartments because they’re not being created for local consumption – they’re being conceived for sale to unsuspecting foreign buyers.
The developers will be happy because they will sell all their apartments and make lots of money, but the broader market and the people who own properties there will suffer, as high vacancies cause rents to fall, with values to follow.
If you’re an investor driven by the herd mentality or the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) syndrome, then you will dive into these markets. And when you lose money, you will thoroughly deserve it.
Be afraid, be very afraid.
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>
</body></html>

terryryder-YECXbqmri2

Better in the bank than on Brisbane inner-city apartments: Terry Ryder

<html><body>
Over 1.3 million Australians 14+ (6.8%) intend to buy or build property in the next year — equivalent to over half a million homes trading hands or being built, new intention data from Roy Morgan Research shows. 
Interestingly only a quarter of all property intenders nationally live outside the seven capital cities. 
<h3>Intention to buy or build property in the next 12 months</h3>
<img src="/images/2015/05/22/Screen%20Shot%202015-05-22%20at%202.17.43%20PM.png" alt="">
Source: Roy Morgan <a href="https://www.roymorgan.com/products/single-source" target="_blank">Single Source</a>, April 2014 –March 2015. 
Between them, Sydney and Melbourne are home to just under half of all Australia’s property intenders.
Perth is the next largest market (165,790), with more intenders than Brisbane (124,670) despite being a smaller city overall.
However there are distinct differences between exactly what sort of property these three cities’ intenders want to buy, which may be key to predicting actual sales outcomes in 2015 and beyond. 
The bulk of Sydney property intenders (71%) are planning to buy an established house or apartment, while almost half as many (38%) want to buy or build a brand new property. This desire for established property could signal a continued pricing boom in 2015, with house-hunters battling over the set field of existing properties. In Melbourne, the ratio is close to the national norm with 67% of intenders after an established home and 43% seeking something new. 
However in Perth, half of intenders (50%) want to buy a newly built house or apartment— or to build it themselves— while only 55% have their eyes on an established property. 
<h3>Proportion of intenders seeking established or new property </h3>
<img src="/images/2015/05/22/Screen%20Shot%202015-05-22%20at%202.19.08%20PM.png" alt="">Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan Research, says around 220,000 Sydneysiders and 206,000 Melburnians will keep prices high and auctioneers and agents busy this year, while developers, builders and architects will be most in demand in Perth. 
</body></html>

Strong buying property intent to continue throughout 2015: Roy Morgan

<html><body>
<div>
Confidence in the commercial property industry is at a four-year high, especially in NSW and Victoria.
</div>
The latest quarterly survey of the property industry by NAB shows confidence has risen nationally, although it is down in the resources-based economies of Queensland and Western Australia.
“The lift in sentiment was most notable in CBD hotels after a surprising fall in (the December quarter), but also improved in office and industrial markets. Sentiment was a touch weaker in retail, but is still higher than the broader market average,” said NAB chief economist Alan Oster.
Confidence in the office markets was high in NSW and Victoria but lower in the mining states.
Growth in retail turnover has revised expectations to the upside, the survey noted.
“In contrast, expectations in industrial markets have weakened, mirroring a pullback in business confidence also seen in mining and manufacturing,” Mr Oster said
</body></html>

Property

Editor's Picks

Have something to contribute?

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News

Property

Editor's Picks

Receive the latest news stories to your inbox

Have something to contribute?

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News