REAL ESTATE – AUSTRALIA – RESIDENTIAL

Red-hot market means the only way is up for apartments … way up

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Original article by Matthew Cranston, Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 10 : 27-Nov-14

A number of residential property developers have proposed to build apartment towers of at least 260 metres in Australia’s major capital cities. AMP Capital and Billbergia plan to construct a 300-metre tower in Brisbane, while Fragrance Group intends to build a 302-metre apartment tower in Melbourne. In Sydney, Mirvac is teaming up with Coombes Property Group to develop a 260-metre apartment tower. The boom in apartment development is in response to factors such as Australia’s growing population and the trend toward inner-city living

CORPORATES
AMP CAPITAL INVESTORS LIMITED, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, BILLBERGIA PTY LTD, FRAGRANCE GROUP LIMITED, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, COOMBES PROPERTY GROUP, ASPIAL CORPORATION LIMITED, UEM SUNRISE BERHAD

$A fall attracts Chinese buyers

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Original article by Samantha Hutchinson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 11-Nov-14

Property investors in China are capitalising on the nine per cent fall in the value of the Australian dollar to buy into the domestic property market. Peter Li of CBRE notes that a lot of Chinese investors are opting to buy higher-priced apartments, as they have become more affordable due to the currency’s recent weakness. Jock Langley of real estate firm Abercrombys notes that may expatriate Australians are taking advantage of the lower dollar to buy into the property market

CORPORATES
CBRE PTY LTD, ABERCROMBYS REAL ESTATE PTY LTD, COMPASS GLOBAL MARKETS PTY LTD, OZFOREX GROUP LIMITED – ASX OFX

Sydney exceeds Melbourne in auction sales for first time

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 10-Nov-14

The respective residential real estate auction clearance rates for the Sydney and Melbourne markets over the 10 months to early November 2014 are 74.9% and 68.8%. The system of selling by auction is becoming more common in Sydney, meaning that the city has had more such transactions than Melbourne, at 24,590 against 24,335. Meanwhile the average price of Sydney properties has grown 11.9% during the calendar year so far

CORPORATES
RP DATA LIMITED, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SQM RESEARCH PTY LTD, BELLE PROPERTY PTY LTD, TOGA DEVELOPMENTS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FINANCE GROUP PTY LTD, BELLER RESIDENTIAL, MORRELL AND KOREN PTY LTD

Capital-city rents hit a wall as apartment stock floods in

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Original article by Kylar Loussikian
The Australian – Page: 8 : 7-Nov-14

RP Data has issued its latest figures on residential rents in Australian state and territory capital cities, showing an increase of 1.8% for the 12 months to November 2014. The average per annum over the past half-decade by comparison is 3.8%, and the current CPI rate 2.5%. One factor is the ample supply of apartments, as new projects are completed. Perth has suffered a decline of 3.1%. Meanwhile rental yields have fallen to 3.3% in Melbourne and 3.7% in Sydney

CORPORATES
RP DATA LIMITED, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BANK OF AMERICA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD

Sydney leads home listing surge

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Original article by Robert Harley, Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 41 : 5-Nov-14

Data from SQM Research shows that there was a 7.3 per cent increase in house and apartment listings across Australia during October 2014. This includes a 21 per cent rise in Sydney, where residential property values increased by 1.3 per cent during the month. Listings in Melbourne rose by just 2.6 per cent in October, and by 1.8 per cent year-on-year

CORPORATES
SQM RESEARCH PTY LTD, RP DATA LIMITED, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Melbourne tops fastest list

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Original article by Samantha Hutchinson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 4-Nov-14

New figures show that there was a one per cent rise in Australian house prices in October 2014. House prices in Melbourne recorded the strongest growth at nearly two per cent, ahead of 1.3 per cent for Sydney and 0.6 per cent in Brisbane. However, there was a 2.3 per cent decline in house prices in Hobart and an 0.1 per cent fall in Perth. Nationally, house prices have risen by 8.9 per cent in the last year

CORPORATES
RP DATA LIMITED, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSSIE HOME LOANS LIMITED

Negative gearing main factor in high house prices: Saul Eslake

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Original article by Nick Lenaghan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 34 : 29-Oct-14

Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist Saul Eslake has downplayed the role of foreign investment in the rising cost of residential properties in Australia. He argues that negative gearing has been a major contributor to the housing boom. Other factors cited by Eslake include the chronic housing shortage and the preference for Australians to live in more expensive inner-city suburbs

CORPORATES
BANK OF AMERICA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD

RBA must ‘bite the bullet’ on housing and lift rates

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Original article by Christopher Joye
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 8-Oct-14

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has finally adopted the advice of "The Australian Financial Review", and started to consider macroprudential measures to rein in rampant residential real estate prices growth. Some banking leaders also want the central bank to lift the official cash interest rate from its all-time low, to signal to property buyers that the current environment cannot last. Investors appear oblivious to the fact that the increase in asset values of 7%-plus per annum must come to an end, and a dangerous "bubble" may be forming

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMICS

Asian developers say ‘what’s the drama’

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Original article by Su-Lin Tan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 50 : 2-Oct-14

Chinese property developers have rejected claims that Asian investors are dominating the Australian residential property market. Country Garden Australia CEO Johnson Zhang said that local developers are competing for residential development sites, so claims that foreign investors are inflating prices are false. He said that the second-hand market offers enough housing for local buyers

CORPORATES
COUNTRY GARDEN HOLDINGS COMPANY LIMITED, SHANGHAI GREENLAND GROUP COMPANY LIMITED, MERITON APARTMENTS PTY LTD, GUANGZHOU R AND F PROPERTIES COMPANY LIMITED, FRAGRANCE GROUP LIMITED, ASPIAL CORPORATION LIMITED, UEM SUNRISE BERHAD, CROWN RESORTS LIMITED – ASX CWN

RBA asked to explain backflip on lending risks

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Original article by Christopher Joye
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 29-Sep-14

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in mid-2013 reduced the official cash interest rate to a record low, and said the residential real estate market was not experiencing a "bubble". However a year on the central bank has revised its stance, and now warns of a dangerous prices surge. It may even resort to using macroeconomic tools, which has sparked concern among federal Senate economics committee members Matthew Canavan and Sam Dastyari of the National Party and Australian Labor Party respectively. RBA deputy governor Philip Lowe has been asked to address the committee on the issue

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMICS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS