REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT – AUSTRALIA

Negative gearing changes would create distortions

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Original article by Ingrid Fuary-Wagner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 34 : 13-Nov-18

RiskWise CEO Doron Peleg contends that Labor’s proposed negative gearing reforms would create a two-tiered property market. Economist Stephen Koukoulas believes that concerns about Labor’s proposals are unwarranted, as any fall in house prices that might result will make it easier for first-home buyers to enter the market. Tyrone Hodge of JLL thinks the proposed changes could have a negative impact on housing supply.

CORPORATES
RISKWISE, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, JONES LANG LASALLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Investor hit: Labor seats in crossfire

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 7-Nov-18

The federal government’s analysis of income and tax data for 2015-16 shows that 1.3 million Australians owned a negatively-geared investment property during that financial year. Some 640,000 people lived in seats held by the Coalition, while 570,000 were in seats held by Labor. Two Labor-held seats in the Australian Capital Territory had the highest number of people who used negative gearing. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says Labor’s proposed changes to the negative gearing regime will hit not only its own supporters, but all Australians who own a home.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, RISKWISE

High prices to drive spring rural listings

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 32 : 27-Aug-18

The drought does not seem to have had too much impact on the value of farm properties in New South Wales, with values in some areas rising by 30 per cent over the past 12 months. Andrew Street of Landmark Harcourts says there is a lot of interest in cotton properties at the moment. Sam Hempinstall of Michael Keating International expects demand for Victorian rural estate to exceed supply during the 2018 spring, with good interest coming from both Asia and Europe.

CORPORATES
LANDMARK HARCOURTS PTY LTD, MICHAEL KEATING INTERNATIONAL PTY LTD, ELDERS LIMITED – ASX ELD, LABOUR PARTY (NEW ZEALAND)

Westpac to quit SMSF lending

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Original article by Duncan Hughes, Joanna Mather
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 17-Jul-18

Westpac will cease offering new loans to self-managed superannuation funds that wish to invest in property at the end of July. Chris Balalovski of BDO notes that there does not seem to be any problems with losses in the SMSF sector as regards property, and that Westpac’s decision could be more to do with negative regulatory or consumer sentiment towards loans to SMSFs. Jordan George from the SMSF Association says it is his understanding that the Commonwealth Bank and Macquarie still provide loans to SMSFs, but that the National Australia Bank and the ANZ Bank do not lend to the sector.

CORPORATES
WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, BDO AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SMSF ASSOCIATION, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, BANK OF MELBOURNE LIMITED, ST GEORGE BANK LIMITED, BANK OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Retail investment rebounds to $2.4b

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Original article by Larry Schlesinger
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 10-Jul-18

Retail real estate investment in Australia rose from just $751m in the March 2018 quarter to $2.4bn in the June quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Major deals in the second quarter included the sale of a 50 per cent stake in the Grande Plaza Shopping Centre in Brisbane to Invesco for $215 million. Cushman & Wakefield expects sales activity in the sector to remain strong in the second half of 2018.

CORPORATES
CUSHMAN AND WAKEFIELD PTY LTD, CANADA PENSION PLAN INVESTMENT BOARD, AUSTRALIA. FUTURE FUND MANAGEMENT AGENCY, INVESCO ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, QIC LIMITED, VICINITY CENTRES – ASX VCX, STOCKLAND – ASX SGP, RAM

Shorten’s team rich in assets

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Original article by Ben Packham, Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 26-Jun-18

Analysis of federal parliament’s register of pecuniary interests shows that many Labor MPs own at least one investment property. Tanya Plibersek, Anthony Albanese and Mark Dreyfus are among the Labor frontbenchers who will benefit from the party’s proposal to "grandfather" its changes to the negative gearing regime. Labor intends to abolish negative gearing for people entering the property market, although people who invest in new housing stock will be exempt from the change.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Waislitz planning a major property investment fund

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 21-May-18

Billionaire investor Alex Waislitz is understood to be planning to launch either a listed property company or an unlisted property fund. Waislitz has established a partnership with Sydney-based Centennial Property Group, and he could possibly use that relationship to assist his foray into property. Waislitz built his wealth on investing on small and medium-sized listed companies, while he is keen to spend more time on his philanthropic fund, the Waislitz Foundation. It is slated to give away $A50 million over 10 years.

CORPORATES
CENTENNIAL PROPERTY GROUP PTY LTD, WAISLITZ FOUNDATION, THORNEY OPPORTUNITIES LIMITED – ASX TOP, THORNEY TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED – ASX TEK, RCG BRANDS PTY LTD, HUB24 LIMITED – ASX HUB, YOJEE LIMITED – ASX YOJ, AFTERPAY TOUCH GROUP LIMITED – ASX APT

APRA ends investor loan growth cap

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Original article by James Thomson, Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 27-Apr-18

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chairman Wayne Byres says the major banks have improved their lending standards, so a 10 per cap on growth in lending to residential property investors is no longer necessary. The cap will no longer enforced if banks can demonstrate that they have remained below it for the last six months and that they have complied with APRA’s requirements with regard to loan serviceability. Omkar Joshi of Regal Funds Management does not expect removing the cap to have a significant impact on the banks, given that their lending growth is below this level.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, REGAL FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, CLSA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TEACHERS MUTUAL BANK LIMITED

APRA relaxes as home boom ends

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Original article by Michael Roddan
The Australian – Page: 17 & 22 : 2-Mar-18

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chairman Wayne Byres has told a Senate committee that the slowing residential property market may reduce the need to cap annual growth in lending to investors. The latest data shows that there has been a sharp fall in lending to investors, while credit growth across the economy has also slowed. However, a number of lenders have recently moved to reduce the interest rates on their interest-only investment loans. Morgan Stanley forecasts a further slowdown in both credit growth and the housing market.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MORTGAGE CHOICE LIMITED – ASX MOC, ING BANK (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, MACQUARIE BANK LIMITED – ASX MBL, BANK OF QUEENSLAND LIMITED – ASX BOQ, VIRGIN MONEY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, ADELAIDE BANK, CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, DIGITAL FINANCE ANALYTICS, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

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