L67 Property Operators and Real Estate Services

No joy yet for housing construction

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 34 : 31-May-19

Building approvals fell by 4.7 per cent month-on-month in April in seasonally adjusted terms, while detached dwelling approvals declined for a third month to their lowest level in nearly six years. Callum Pickering from jobs site Indeed says the fall in approvals indicates that construction activity is likely to continue to decline over the next 12 months, although National Australia Bank economist Kaixin Owyong notes that non-residential approvals increased by 16 per cent in April.

CORPORATES
INDEED INCORPORATED, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED

Housing recovery on cards, says HSBC

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Original article by Ben Wilmot
The Australian – Page: 23 : 29-May-19

Paul Bloxham of HSBC notes that Australian house prices have fallen by an average of eight per cent since the current downturn began. Prices in Sydney have fallen by 15 per cent, while prices in Melbourne are down 11 per cent. However, Bloxham says house prices are likely to stabilise during the second half of 2019 before improving in 2020. He says factors that should boost the market include the prospect of official interest rate cuts and the re-elected Coalition government’s proposed first-home buyers loan scheme.

CORPORATES
HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Rate cut to end house price slide

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Original article by Matthew Cranston, Ingrid Fuary-Wagner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 5 : 28-May-19

AMP Capital’s Shane Oliver now expects the housing market to bottom in the second half of 2019, rather than in 2020. He says factors such as the prospect of an official interest rate cut and the federal government’s First Home Loan Deposit Scheme will contribute to the end of the correction in house prices. Meanwhile, economist Stephen Koukoulas forecasts that house prices will bottom in the September quarter before rising in the final three months of 2019. Paul Bloxham of HSBC notes that the housing market correction has been orderly, with low levels of distressed sales and mortgage arrears.

CORPORATES
AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ

New apartment sales crash, projects on hold

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Original article by Larry Schlesinger
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 27-May-19

Urbis has reported that just four cent of apartments in Sydney projects were sold during the March quarter. Sales were not much better in Melbourne and Brisbane, while new apartment launches in Melbourne were down by around 80 per cent. Urbis director Clinton Ostwald notes that major infrastructure projects such as Melbourne’s Westgate Tunnel and Brisbane’s Cross River Rail will help increase demand for apartments once they are completed.

CORPORATES
URBIS PTY LTD

Agents feel post-election pick-up

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Original article by Michael Bleby, Tim Boyd
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 24-May-19

AMP Capital’s chief economist Shane Oliver is predicting that Sydney and Melbourne house prices will not fall as far as previously expected, and that prices will bottom out by the end of 2019, rather than during 2020. Oliver cites the federal election result, which put an end to uncertainty regarding negative gearing and capital gains tax, as one reason for his change of forecast. Other factors that suggest a pickup in housing sentiment include expectations that the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates soon and the Coalition government’s plan to assist first-home buyers.

CORPORATES
AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Warning as housing stock piles up

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Original article by Ben Wilmot
The Australian – Page: 25 : 17-May-19

Data from CoreLogic shows that based on current rates of sales, housing supply across Australia’s capital cities is currently 5.3 months, up from 3.9 months a year ago. Meanwhile, Macquarie Equities says Reserve Bank data suggests that 2.5-3.5 per cent of house buyers with bank-issued mortgage loans are in negative equity following the downturn in the housing market. RiskWise Property Research CEO Doron Peleg says Labor’s proposed changes to the negative gearing and capital gains tax regimes would make residential property investment less attractive.

CORPORATES
CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MACQUARIE EQUITIES LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, RISKWISE PROPERTY RESEARCH, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, GRATTAN INSTITUTE, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, STARR PARTNERS PTY LTD, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED

Property taxes will hit safe Labor seats

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Original article by Duncan Hughes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 10-May-19

The Real Estate Institute of New South Wales has urged Labor to reconsider its proposed negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms. CEO Tim McKibbin says most of the 50 suburbs across Sydney that will be hardest-hit by the reforms are in Labor-held electorates. The median values of rental properties in some of these suburbs have fallen sharply in the last year, and the REISW warns that Labor’s reforms could result in a further decline.

CORPORATES
THE REAL ESTATE INSTITUTE OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, HERRON TODD WHITE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Asians still biggest investors: Knight Frank

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Original article by Lisa Allen
The Australian – Page: 25 : 9-May-19

The federal government’s restrictions on foreign investment in residential property have not been a deterrent for Asian buyers. Liam Bailey of Knight Frank says people from China and Southeast Asia are still the biggest investors in the local residential market. The global head of research notes that a number of other countries have imposed similar restrictions on foreign investors. Bailey forecasts growth in demand for geographically diverse property investments as global wealth increases.

CORPORATES
KNIGHT FRANK, CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN

Embattled Purplebricks to quit Australian market

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Original article by Larry Schlesinger
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 8-May-19

UK-based online real estate agent Purplebricks has advised that its Australian operations will be discontinued, citing factors such as challenging market conditions. Purplebricks entered the local market in September 2016, with co-founder and global CEO Michael Bruce forecasting that the Australian business would succeed. However, its fixed-fee sales model proved to be problematic for real estate agents, particularly given the downturn in the housing market.

CORPORATES
PURPLEBRICKS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, PURPLEBRICKS GROUP PLC, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

The end of an era for Lowy family

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Original article by Turi Condon
The Australian – Page: 17 & 27 : 30-Apr-19

Peter Lowy will step down from the board of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield at its AGM in May, having flagged his intention to retire from the board in March. Steven Lowy retired as a director of Scentre Group, which owns and operates Westfield shopping centres in Australia, in April. Peter Lowy’s decision means an end to the presence of the Lowy family on Westfield boards after more than 50 years. Meanwhile, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield CFO Jaap Tonckens says Unibail-Rodamco has "zero regrets" concerning the $32 billion Westfield takeover.

CORPORATES
UNIBAIL-RODAMCO-WESTFIELD – ASX URW, SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, WESTFIELD CORPORATION, UNIBAIL-RODAMCO