L67 Property Operators and Real Estate Services

Investors back Accor deal, says Mantra chief

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Original article by Larry Schlesinger
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 34 : 13-Oct-17

Mantra Group shareholders are expected to vote in March 2018 on its proposed merger with Accor by means of a scheme of arrangement. Mantra Group head Bob East says its shareholders are very supportive of the $A1.3 billion merger, which will create an entity with over 300 hotels and around 15 per cent share of the Australian hotels market. The deal will also have to be approved by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board.

CORPORATES
MANTRA GROUP LIMITED – ASX MTR, ACCOR SA, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, PEPPERS HOTEL GROUP, BREAKFREE LIMITED, CHOICE HOTELS AUSTRALIA, MFS LIMITED, HIGHBURY PARTNERSHIP PTY LTD, AUSTRALIANSUPER PTY LTD, BT FINANCIAL GROUP PTY LTD, CENTRAL BANK OF NORWAY

Sydney median house price falls for first time in nearly two years

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 12-Oct-17

Data from Domain Group shows that the median house price in Sydney fell by 1.9 per cent to $A1,167,516 in the September quarter. The median house price in Melbourne increased by 1.3 per cent to $A880,902 and the median house price in Hobart rose 4.4 per cent to $A409,592. However, there was a decline in the median house price in Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. Domain’s chief economist Andrew Wilson says the crackdown on interest-only loans has contributed to the house price falls in Sydney.

CORPORATES
DOMAIN.COM.AU. FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ

Sydney house prices slump for the first time since 2015

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Original article by Su-Lin Tan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 3-Oct-17

Data from CoreLogic shows that there was an 0.1 per cent decline in Sydney house prices during September 2017. Sydney recorded house price growth of 0.2 per cent in the September quarter, although this compares with 3.5 per cent growth for the same period in 2016. The figures also show that house prices in Melbourne rose by 0.9 per cent in September, while Hobart recorded price growth of 1.7 per cent and house prices in Perth increased by 0.1 per cent.

CORPORATES
CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, McGRATH LIMITED – ASX MEA

Sellers beware: Auction action could be slowing to 50 per cent

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Original article by Nick Lenaghan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 2-Oct-17

House auctions in Melbourne and Sydney on the weekend of 30 September-1 October were impacted significantly by the AFL and NRL grand finals respectively. Just 118 auctions were held in Melbourne, down from 1,361 for the previous weekend, although the clearance rate rose from 70.6 per cent to 89.4 per cent. Sydney auctions fell from 1,033 to 597, while its clearance rate increased from 65.9 per cent to 69.1 per cent. Louis Christopher from SQM Research expects clearance rates in both October and November to decline.

CORPORATES
SQM RESEARCH PTY LTD, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BELLE PROPERTY PTY LTD, UBS GLOBAL REAL ESTATE INDEX

Stockland is stacking up solar centres

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Original article by Nick Lenaghan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 12-Sep-17

Real estate developer Stockland will spend $A23.5 million on the installation of 39,000 solar panels on the roofs of 10 of its shopping centres. The panels will generate 17.2 GWh of electricity each year. Further down the track, MD Mark Steinert hopes that if Stockland can combine its solar panels with battery storage technologies, it could be in a position where it can sell electricity into the national grid.

CORPORATES
STOCKLAND – ASX SGP, TESLA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN ENERGY MARKET OPERATOR LIMITED, GPT GROUP – ASX GPT

Apartment slowdown to hit economy hard: Triguboff

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Original article by Turi Condon
The Australian – Page: 2 : 11-Sep-17

Apartment prices have fallen by around 10 per cent over the past six months, according to Harry Triguboff. Australia’s biggest builder of apartments says governments may need to take action if prices, along with new apartment starts, continue to fall. He says trends that are seeing young people share or stay with their parents for longer is hurting new apartment construction, as is tepid wages growth.

CORPORATES
MERITON APARTMENTS PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, BIS OXFORD ECONOMICS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Build-to-rent will struggle in Australia

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Original article by Larry Schlesinger
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 37 : 6-Sep-17

Melbourne-based Caydon Property Group has started work on its first "build-to-rent" apartment project in the US. However, Caydon founder Joe Russo questions whether the build-to-rent model will be successful in Australia, noting that rising property values means that such an apartment building is likely to be less profitable than selling all apartments off the plan. Mirvac is undertaking a capital raising to finance its first build-to-rent project, while Salta Properties also plans to enter the sector.

CORPORATES
CAYDON PROPERTY GROUP PTY LTD, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, SALTA PROPERTIES PTY LTD, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, SCAPE LIVING STUDENT ACCOMMODATION, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, GREYSTAR REAL ESTATE PARTNERS LLC, DOMUS HOLDINGS CORPORATION

Affordability likely to stall for 40 years

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Original article by Jacob Greber
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 29-Aug-17

Housing affordability may not improve for another four decades, according to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. Factors that may bring about an improvement include increases in capital gains tax and more supply of land for housing. The CEDA also expects the proportion of Australians living in capital cities to rise in coming decades, and notes that this may only serve to increase wealth inequality, while low-income workers will struggle to find accommodation in large cities. The CEDA notes that the housing market appears to be geared to producing homes at a lower rate than is needed, thereby contributing to higher prices and reduced affordability.

CORPORATES
COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF AUSTRALIA

Chinese buyers retreat

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Original article by Angus Grigg
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 14-Aug-17

New Chinese Government controls on capital are in part leading to a significant drop in Chinese investment in Australian real estate. Jane Lu, the Australian head of Chinese-focused real estate portal Juwai.com, says other factors include new Australian taxes on foreign buyers and curbs being imposed by Australian banks on loans to overseas buyers. However, she notes that Australia is still the second most favoured nation for Chinese property investors. Morgan Stanley estimates that Chinese buyers accounted for $A20 billion worth of investment in Australian residential property in the 2016 fiscal year.

CORPORATES
JUWAI LIMITED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, BELLER GROUP, DALIAN WANDA GROUP COMPANY LIMITED

First-home buyers back in the market

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 10-Aug-17

Treasurer Scott Morrison and the Real Estate Institute of Australia have welcomed indications of an upturn in first-home buyer activity. Official figures show that 8,573 mortgage loans were taken out by first-time buyers in June, which is the highest level in almost three years. The total value of loan commitments to this segment of the mortgage market topped $A28.5bn in the year to June. Meanwhile, loan commitments to property investors rose by 10.5 per cent to $A152 billion in 2016-17, in seasonally-adjusted terms.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, THE REAL ESTATE INSTITUTE OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SQM RESEARCH PTY LTD, POLY GROUP CORPORATION, INTRAPAC PROJECTS PTY LTD