REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS – AUSTRALIA

Property giants sell land amid slower market

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Original article by Ben Wilmot, Elizabeth Redman
The Australian – Page: 25 : 26-Oct-18

Residential developer Stockland is targeting over 6,000 settlements in 2018-19, but it only achieved 1,030 in the first quarter. Stockland and fellow developer Mirvac are targeting first-home buyers, but both are worried about Labor’s policies on negative gearing and capital gains tax, as well as the tightening of credit. Mirvac is selling a land site at Ingleside in Sydney, while Stockland has put its The Grove Estate project in Melbourne’s west on the market.

CORPORATES
STOCKLAND – ASX SGP, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, BIGGIN AND SCOTT PTY LTD, CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CBRE PTY LTD

Top 500 companies: booming housing construction boosts builders

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 6-Sep-18

Property and construction companies feature prominently towards the top of the latest list of Australia’s top 500 private companies. Meriton and BGC were in fifth and sixth place, as they were for the previous year, while Brisbane-based Hutchinson Builders rose two places to seventh. Its revenue rose 14.7 per cent to $2.65 billion, with revenue up 20 per cent in both Sydney and Melbourne. Metricon finished at 22nd place in the list, up from 48th place in 2017, while Built rose from 43rd place to 25th.

CORPORATES
MERITON APARTMENTS PTY LTD, BGC (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, HUTCHINSON BUILDERS, METRICON HOMES, BUILT PTY LTD, STOCKLAND – ASX SGP, RICHARD CROOKES CONSTRUCTIONS PTY LTD, THE STAR ENTERTAINMENT GROUP LIMITED – ASX SGR

MP’s China donor bombshell

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 23-May-18

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has used parliamentary privilege to name property developer Chau Chak Wing as a suspect in the payment of bribes to a United Nations official in 2013. He said Chau is the individual that the FBI has given the code-name of "CC-3" in the bribery case. Chau has denied any involvement in the plot, and lawyer Mark O’Brien has stated that the FBI gave his client a pseudonym to protect his reputation, as he had never been a suspect. Chau, who has made substantial donations to both of Australia’s major political parties, has also denied that he has ever been a member of China’s Communist Party.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, UNITED NATIONS, COMMUNIST PARTY (CHINA), FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION

Developers warned about GST trap on unsold units

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Original article by Duncan Hughes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 37 : 15-May-18

Tax adviser Ken Fehily has urged property developers who rent out newly-completed apartments because they are struggling to sell them to be mindful of their goods and services tax liabilities. He says developers in this situation could be triggering GST liabilities without being aware of it, and that they will certainly have to pay the full GST when they eventually sell the apartment. Capital Economics expects Melbourne apartment prices to fall by nine per cent in 2018, while Sydney apartment prices are tipped to decline by four per cent.

CORPORATES
CAPITAL ECONOMICS LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, FEHILY ADVISORY

Builders a sitting duck as banking royal commission comes hurtling down the track

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Original article by Robert Gottliebsen
The Australian – Page: 28 : 17-Apr-18

Australia’s builders and property developers do not seem to realise the potential impact that the banking royal commission could have on their business. They seem unaware that one of the commission’s areas of focus is on banks that having been making loans to home buyers on the basis of living expense estimates that are flawed, and that a clampdown on this practice could reduce the number of mortgage loans being issued by banks. Developers and builders could be hit hard by this, and some could potentially collapse as a result.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO MISCONDUCT IN THE BANKING, SUPERANNUATION AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

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

Developers told GST changes out of left field despite talks

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Original article by Duncan Hughes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 4-Dec-17

Changes to the goods and services tax treatment of property transactions are due to take effect on 1 July 2018, although they must first be passed by parliament. They are aimed at preventing a practice known as "phoenixing", whereby developers close their business before they have settled their GST obligations, and start up another entity under a different name. The changes are tipped to boost GST collection by $A660 million over four years, but developers are concerned that they will face more red tape and greater compliance costs.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, FEHILY ADVISORY

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

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

Foreign banks fill lending void

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Original article by Scott Murdoch
The Australian – Page: 23 : 30-Nov-16

Data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that the average mortgage balance has risen from $A244,000 in 2015 to $A255,000. However, the value of new home loans grew by only 0.1 per cent year-on-year in the September 2016 quarter. A recent move by Australia’s major banks to reduce their lending to residential developers has also seen the value of offshore banks’ lending to local developers rise from $A1.49bn to $A2.65bn in the last year. Meanwhile, data from the Housing Industry Association shows that sales of new detached homes and apartments fell by 8.2 per cent and 9.2 per cent respectively in October.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, HOUSING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LIMITED, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD