REAL ESTATE – AUSTRALIA – RESIDENTIAL

Housing risks rise as foreign approvals soar

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Original article by Samantha Hutchinson
The Australian – Page: 23 : 12-Apr-16

Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board processed 36,841 applications for offshore investments in the residential property sector during the last year. The FIRB approved a record $A61bn worth of foreign investments in the sector. A banking analyst has downplayed concerns that settlement risk will be heightened by any move by Chinese authorities to crack down on cash outflows, arguing that such measures have not been very effective to date.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC

Low rental yields a risk: Moody’s

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Original article by Su-Lin Tan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 12-Apr-16

Credit ratings agency Moody’s has warned Australians about the pitfalls of investing in residential property in the current investment environment. A decline in rental yields to record lows in Sydney and Melbourne has resulted in a higher risk of default. Savills’ head of research, Tony Crabb, says the Moody’s warning should be seen in the wider context of risk mitigation strategies that are available to investors.

CORPORATES
MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, SAVILLS (AUST) HOLDINGS PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

What a broad land tax would cost you

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Original article by Robert Harley
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 6-Apr-16

A McKell Institute report has described land tax as "equitable and efficient". However, while replacing stamp duty on property purchases with an annual land tax may have its merits, family homes are not subject to the land tax regime at present. Modelling by Deloitte Access Economics in 2015 concluded that a land tax would cost the average homeowner about $A2,360 a year. A report by KMPG has estimated that the annual land tax burden could be much higher for most homeowners in New South Wales.

CORPORATES
THE McKELL INSTITUTE, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD, KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, PROPERTY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NSW BUSINESS CHAMBER LIMITED, COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICE OF NEW SOUTH WALES

New home approvals slow for fourth month

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 32 : 5-Apr-16

New figures show that a total of 232,194 new dwellings were approved across Australia in the year to February 2016, compared with 234,002 in the year to January. A total of 115,115 apartments, townhouses and semi-detached dwellings were approved in the year to February, after peaking at 120,953 in the year to October 2015.

CORPORATES
HOUSING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIMITED

City’s three-year house price surge at an end

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Original article by Samantha Hutchinson
The Australian – Page: 2 : 23-Mar-16

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that there was a 1.6 per cent decline in Sydney house prices during the December 2015 quarter. Darwin was the only other capital city to record a decline in house prices, while Hobart posted the highest growth in prices, at 2.8 per cent. Housing industry executives have identified various factors as possible causes for slowing house price growth, including new restrictions on lending to property investors and a surge in house construction activity.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, HOUSING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN POPULATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Sydney’s bleak outer west the outlier in record home auctions

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 21-Mar-16

Data from APM PriceFinder shows that Sydney’s residential property market recorded an auction clearance rate of 75 per cent on the weekend of 19-20 March 2016, with 911 dwellings going under the hammer. Andrew Wilson of Domain notes the wide variation in clearance rates across Sydney, with the clearance rate in western Sydney remaining at around 40 per cent. The clearance rate in Melbourne eased from 76 per cent to 74 per cent, with 1,600 properties listed for auction.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PROPERTY MONITORS PTY LTD, DOMAIN.COM.AU, DEVINE REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS PTY LTD, PLACE ESTATE AGENTS, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Call to count home in pension

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Original article by Adam Creighton
The Australian – Page: 2 : 14-Mar-16

A report from the Actuaries Institute argues the case for retirees’ homes to be included in the means test for the age pension. The report notes that around one per cent of retirees’ home equity is currently being used to provide a retirement income stream. The institute has also proposed streamlining the regulation of home-equity release products such as reverse mortgages, as well as a reduction in stamp duty to encourage retirees to move to smaller homes.

CORPORATES
THE ACTUARIES INSTITUTE, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL COMMISSION OF AUDIT, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION, THE CENTRE FOR INDEPENDENT STUDIES LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB

‘Very messy end’ to the apartment boom predicted

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Original article by Robert Harley
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 11-Mar-16

BIS Shrapnel’s MD Robert Mellor forecasts that Australian dwelling starts will peak in the March 2016 quarter, driven by growth in apartment developments. However, he has warned that the apartment boom is also approaching its peak, and New South Wales will be the only state that does not have a dwelling oversupply by 2016-17. Mellor forecasts that Melbourne and Brisbane will be hardest hit by the downturn in the apartments market.

CORPORATES
BIS SHRAPNEL PTY LTD

Rate of investor home loans plummets

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 10-Mar-16

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that total lending to residential property investors fell by 14.8 per cent to a seasonally adjusted $A11.36 billion in January 2016. This is the fastest rate of decline in seven years. Total lending to owner-occupiers increased by 15.9 per cent in the 12 months to January 2016.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, HSBC AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Sydney auction success slips, but Melbourne holds its own

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 7-Mar-16

Sydney’s residential property market boasted an auction clearance rate of 73.3 per cent on the weekend of 5-6 March 2016, compared with 76.9 per cent one week earlier. The clearance rate in Melbourne rose from 75.3 per cent to 75.8 per cent, and Andrew Wilson of Domain expects a large rise in auction listings for the "super Saturday" ahead of the Easter break.

CORPORATES
DOMAIN.COM.AU, AUSTRALIAN PROPERTY MONITORS PTY LTD, ABERCROMBYS REAL ESTATE PTY LTD, SIMEON MANNERS PROPERTY, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TOGA PTY LTD