REAL ESTATE – AUSTRALIA – RESIDENTIAL

Affordability likely to stall for 40 years

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

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

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

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

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

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

Residential lending hits record levels

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Duncan Hughes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 1-Aug-17

Reserve Bank of Australia figures show that there was a 7.4 per cent increase in mortgage loans to property investors in the year to June 2017. This compares with an increase of 6.2 per cent in loans to owner-occupiers. Overall, a record $A1.69 trillion worth of mortgages were active at the end of June. Martin North of Digital Finance Analytics said the figures suggest that regulatory attempts to cool the residential property market do not seem to have had any impact yet.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, DIGITAL FINANCE ANALYTICS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, ME BANK, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL, CANSTAR PTY LTD, MORTGAGE CHOICE LIMITED – ASX MOC, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Cooling property market good for Domain, REA

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 28-Jul-17

Online real estate advertising groups REA and Domain will benefit from any slowdown in the Australian residential property sector, according to David Kaynes of Citigroup. He says this is because agents may have to place a listing advertisement more than once before a property is sold if the market starts to cool off. Citigroup’s share target price for REA is $A80, while its target price for Domain parent Fairfax Media is $A1.10.

CORPORATES
REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, DOMAIN.COM.AU, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TPG CAPITAL LP, HELLMAN AND FRIEDMAN

Foreign apartment buyers to halve

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 24-Jul-17

The number of new apartments funded by foreign investors in Australia is tipped to fall significantly over the period from 2016 to 2019, according to Master Builders Australia. It attributes the expected decline to federal and New South Wales government curbs on foreign property investors. The MBA also expects foreign investment in new standalone properties to decline, but by not as much as apartment investment. The MBA expects NSW to feel the biggest impact in terms of a decline in new foreign investor-funded apartments, but Tim Lawless of CoreLogic suggests that Victoria instead will be most affected.

CORPORATES
MASTER BUILDERS OF AUSTRALIA, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Housing supply ‘does not lower prices’

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Su-Lin Tan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 32 : 24-Jul-17

House price and new home approval figures for 2016 seem to bear out the view of Joe Flood that boosting housing supply does not lead to lower prices. New home commencements rose by 14,000, but house prices showed no sign of falling, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. Flood, who works for affordable home supplier Community Housing, says governments may need to develop a revised version of the National Rental Affordability Scheme, while curbs on housing finance and tax changes could also help the situation.

CORPORATES
COMMUNITY HOUSING LIMITED, CURTIN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Sydney unit rents on par with houses as affordability bites

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 20-Jul-17

Data from Domain Group shows that the median weekly rent for apartments in Sydney rose by 4.8 per cent in the year to June 2017. The median weekly rent for detached houses increased by 3.8 per cent. Meanwhile, the median weekly rent for apartments and houses in Melbourne increased by 5.3 per cent and five per cent respectively. The figures also show that the median house price in Sydney rose by 1.6 per cent to a new high of $A1,178,417 in the June quarter, while the median price in Melbourne rose 3.5 per cent to $A865,712.

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

Housing price rises to halve, says NAB

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Elizabeth Redman
The Australian – Page: 6 : 14-Jul-17

National Australia Bank forecasts that house prices in the nation’s capital cities will rise by just five per cent in 2017, compared with growth of 11.6 per cent in 2016. NAB also expects growth in apartment prices to fall from 5.9 per cent in 2016 to three per cent. Chief economist Alan Oster says growth in residential property prices will be constrained by factors such as low growth in wages, the high level of dwelling construction and measures aimed at curbing foreign investment in the housing market.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, PROPERTY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MORTGAGE CHOICE LIMITED – ASX MOC

Property price growth set to halve

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Matthew Cranston, Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 30 : 13-Jul-17

A new survey of property industry professionals shows that most expect a slowdown in residential property price growth in the next 12 months. The ANZ/Property Council of Australia index of house price growth expectations has fallen from 20.2 points to 4.3 points. The anticipated slowdown is particularly acute in Sydney, with house price growth expectations falling from 29.6 points to 1.7 points. The survey also shows that property professionals are bearish about the outlook for capital growth in the retail property sector.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, PROPERTY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MOODY’S ANALYTICS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, BIS SHRAPNEL PTY LTD, RAY WHITE GROUP, AVENTUS PROPERTY GROUP PTY LTD, QUINTESSENTIAL EQUITY PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY