L67 Property Operators and Real Estate Services

Unlisted funds beat market in 2017

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Original article by Nick Lenaghan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 32 : 27-Feb-18

Australian unlisted property funds delivered average total returns of 23.4 per cent in 2017, compared with a return of just 7.7 per cent for Australian equities. Maarten Broek of MCSI stated that the strong performance of unlisted property funds was aided by factors such as rental growth and investor demand, while he noted that yields had contracted in recent years. Australian direct property also performed well in 2017, with a total return of 11.9 per cent.

CORPORATES
MSCI INCORPORATED, ZENITH INVESTMENT PARTNERS PTY LTD, PROPERTY FUNDS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN UNITY LIMITED

There is no plan B to Westfield takeover: Lowy

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Original article by Nick Lenaghan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 34 : 23-Feb-18

European shopping centre group Unibail-Rodamco announced plans to acquire shopping mall owner Westfield Corporation in early December. At the time, Unibail’s scrip-focused deal valued Westfield at $A10.01 per share, but this had fallen to around $A8.82 per share on 22 February. Asked about the future of the deal at the announcement of Westfield’s full-year results, co-CEO Peter Lowy advised that there was "no plan B" in place. Westfield’s 2017 profit of $US1.55 billion is 13.5 per cent higher than previously.

CORPORATES
WESTFIELD CORPORATION – ASX WFD, UNIBAIL-RODAMCO, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Landlord tougher than Lowy

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 33 : 20-Feb-18

Unibail-Rodamco owns EUR42.5 billion ($A66 billion) worth of shopping centres across Europe. CEO Christophe Cuvillier notes that it weeds out 10 per cent of its poorest-performing tenants every year. Cuvillier says he is unsure if any other shopping centre operates in such a manner. He is currently in Australia to speak with Westfield Corporation and Unibail-Rodamco investors in order to convince them of the merits of his company’s $A33bn bid for Westfield.

CORPORATES
UNIBAIL-RODAMCO, WESTFIELD CORPORATION – ASX WFD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NM ROTHSCHILD AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, SCENTRE GROUP – ASX SCG, L’OREAL SA

Push for Unibail to recut takeover

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Original article by Ben Potter
The Australian – Page: 20 : 19-Feb-18

French shopping centre group Unibail-Rodamco released details of a plan to acquire the Lowy family’s Westfield Corporation on 10 December. At the time the deal was valued at $A32 billion, but its value has since fallen by over 12 per cent, due to a combination of a fall in Unibail’s share price and a rise in the Euro and the Australian dollar against the US dollar. Michael Doble of APN says that if there was to be any changes to the terms of the transaction that the impetus for change would come from the Lowys.

CORPORATES
UNIBAIL-RODAMCO, WESTFIELD CORPORATION – ASX WFD, APN FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED, FOLKESTONE MAXIM ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, PHOENIX PORTFOLIOS PTY LTD, RESOLUTION CAPITAL LIMITED, ANTARES EQUITIES

Airbnb is not a threat: Wyndham CEO

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Original article by Larry Schlesinger
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 12-Feb-18

Stephen Holmes, the CEO of hospitality company Wyndham Worldwide, believes that the impact of accommodation-sharing platform Airbnb on the hotel sector has been overexaggerated. When it comes to the question as to whether Airbnb has been the biggest factor behind the recent consolidation within the global hotel sector, Holmes suggests that a more important factor has been the growth of online travel agents like booking.com and Expedia.

CORPORATES
WYNDHAM WORLDWIDE CORPORATION, AIRBNB INCORPORATED, BOOKING.COM BV, EXPEDIA INCORPORATED, MARRIOTT CORPORATION, STARWOOD HOTELS AND RESORTS WORLDWIDE INCORPORATED, ACCOR SA, MANTRA GROUP LIMITED – ASX MTR, HOTELS.COM, CENDANT CORPORATION, RAMADA INNS PTY LTD, SUPER 8 MOTELS INCORPORATED

Flat incomes, cost of living take harsh toll

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 5-Feb-18

ME Bank’s latest survey of mortgage holders has found that 46 per cent are spending at least 30 per cent of their disposable income on meeting loan repayments. Although the percentage was slightly down on its previous survey in June 2017, ME Bank noted increased mortgage stress among lower-income households due to greater living costs and little or no increase in wages. ME Bank also found that the percentage of renters who are paying 30 per cent or more of their disposable income on rent payments has increased from 69 per cent to 72 per cent.

CORPORATES
ME BANK, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, INDUSTRY SUPER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Perfect storm hits apartments market

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 2-Feb-18

Approvals for new homes, apartments and semi-detached dwellings have recorded their biggest monthly fall since July 2012. Approvals for apartments fell in all mainland states in December 2017, while approvals for new attached dwellings declined by 39 per cent. Developers have cited a number of reasons for the decline, including increased investor taxes and tightened consumer credit. However, ANZ economist Daniel Gradwell said the bank is not overly concerned by the figures.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, EVOLVE DEVELOPMENT PTY LTD, HOUSING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIMITED, COSTA FOX, URBAN TASKFORCE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MASTER BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION

Former insiders cast doubt on company trading update

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Original article by Su-Lin Tan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 23-Jan-18

Listed real estate firm McGrath advised the ASX of an earnings downgrade on 22 January. McGrath reported that it expects to make a loss of $A50,000 for the first half of 2017-18, although internal documents provided to a newspaper suggested that the figure might be a lot higher. Past employees of McGrath suggest that the figures it provided to the ASX were somewhat optimistic. It is also understood that Peter Malouf recently resigned as head of training at McGrath, as did Michael Conolly as head of network property management.

CORPORATES
McGRATH LIMITED – ASX MEA

Veteran McGrath quits REA Group board

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Original article by Robyn Ironside
The Australian – Page: 13 & 18 : 18-Jan-18

REA Group has advised that real estate agent John McGrath has stepped down as a director of the online property listings group. McGrath is said to have resigned from REA’s board for personal reasons, and Gareth James of Morningstar says it would not be a surprise if McGrath chose to focus on his real estate business. McGrath Limited’s profits and share price fell sharply in 2017, prompting speculation that it could delist from the stock exchange. John McGrath was on the REA board for almost 19 years, and he owns $A10.9m worth of shares in the group.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, McGRATH LIMITED – ASX MEA, REALESTATE.COM.AU, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Backlash as foreign buyers flee

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Original article by Matthew Cranston, Larry Schlesinger
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 29 : 11-Jan-18

South Australia was the only state that did not record a downturn in sales of residential properties to foreign buyers in the December quarter, according to a new ANZ/Property Council survey. Property developers say factors such as restrictions on access to credit and higher taxes on foreign buyers have contributed to the downturn in demand, and prompted some developers to withdraw from the residential market. Meriton founder Harry Triguboff says his company is having to resell many apartments that had been pre-sold to Chinese buyers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, PROPERTY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MERITON APARTMENTS PTY LTD, REALESTATE.COM.AU, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, CROWN GROUP PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS