REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT – AUSTRALIA

ASIC warns on property bubble

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Original article by Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 18-May-15

Australian Securities & Investments Commission chairman Greg Medcraft has raised concern about the growth in residential property prices in Melbourne and Sydney. He notes that the long-term average income to average household income is now at a record high, and he warns that interest rates will eventually rise. Medcraft is particularly concerned about self-managed superannuation funds investing in residential property, as a house is often their only asset.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, FIRSTMAC LIMITED, RESERVE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, THE CASH STORE PTY LTD, NIMBLE PTY LTD, COUNCIL OF FINANCIAL REGULATORS

Symond calls for ban on interest-only

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Original article by Shaun Drummond
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 17-Mar-15

Australian businessman John Symond says residential property buyers who intend to be owner-occupiers should be prohibited from taken out interest-only loans. There has been strong growth in interest-only mortgage loans in recent years, particularly to property investors. Symond, who is the chairman of Aussie Home Loans, argues that property investors tend to be a lower risk than owner-occupiers

CORPORATES
AUSSIE HOME LOANS LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, MEMBERS EQUITY BANK PTY LTD, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA

Bush is back: rural land sales hit $13.7b

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 36 : 16-Mar-15

Data from CoreLogic shows that some $A13.72bn worth of rural land across Australia changed hands in the year to November 2014. This includes some $A6.27bn worth of farmland in New South Wales, $A3.02bn in Victoria and $A1.3bn in Queensland. Simon McIntyre of Landmark Harcourts notes that there has been an upturn in the rural property market in the last 18 months

CORPORATES
CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, LANDMARK HARCOURTS PTY LTD, BENGERANG LIMITED, TA FIELD ESTATES, DARLING FARMS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COUNTRY CHOICE PTY LTD

Queue lengthens for tilt at Morgan Stanley’s Investa property business

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 37 : 19-Feb-15

Australian and offshore groups are expected to bid for Investa Property Group’s assets, following a decision by Morgan Stanley Real Estate to exit the business. Cbus Property has expressed interest in the assets, with its main focus likely to be Investa’s development land in Sydney. BlackRock and Fosun International are among the offshore groups that could be potential buyers

CORPORATES
INVESTA PROPERTY GROUP, MORGAN STANLEY REAL ESTATE, CBUS PROPERTY PTY LTD, FOSUN INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, BLACKROCK INCORPORATED, BLACKSTONE REAL ESTATE ADVISORS LLC, VALAD PROPERTY GROUP, DEXUS PROPERTY GROUP – ASX DXS, CROMWELL PROPERTY GROUP – ASX CMW, IDERA, MGPA PTY LTD

Commercial deals a record $26.8b

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Original article by Larry Schlesinger
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 9-Jan-15

Data from CBRE shows that there was six per cent growth in sales of Australian commercial properties worth at least $A5m in 2014, to a new high of $A26.8bn. Sales of industrial properties rose by 55 per cent to $A5bn, while sales of office buildings grew by two per cent to $A14.5bn. Separate figures from Jones Lang LaSalle suggest that commercial property sales rose by 16 per cent to $A28.2bn in 2014

CORPORATES
CBRE PTY LTD, JONES LANG LASALLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, GPT GROUP – ASX GPT, CBUS PROPERTY PTY LTD, DEXUS PROPERTY GROUP – ASX DXS

Elderly Welfare Street tenant stands ground in eviction row

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Original article by Rose Powell
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 8 : 5-Jan-15

Real estate investment groups HBW1 and Centennial Property in mid-2014 acquired residential assets from the New South Wales Government. One of the tenants now facing eviction, John Higgins, and his legal representatives from the Inner West Tenants’ Advice & Advocacy Service dispute a claim by the Lands Legal firm that the client ceased to be a protected tenant when the property was sold in 1989 to the Sydney Olympic Park Authority. Higgins maintains that his father signed the original lease in 1948 and that it is still in force. The Civil & Administrative Tribunal will hear the matter in early January 2015

CORPORATES
NEW SOUTH WALES. CIVIL AND ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL, SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK AUTHORITY, LANDS LEGAL PTY LTD, STRATHFIELD REAL ESTATE PTY LTD, CENTENNIAL PROPERTY GROUP PTY LTD, INNER WEST TENANTS ADVICE AND ADVOCACY SERVICE, HBW1

Property curbs pave way for RBA rate cuts

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Original article by Jonathan Shapiro
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 11-Dec-14

Martin Whetton of the ANZ Bank says the decision to implement measures aimed at curbing growth in loans for investment properties could lead a reduction in the cash rate. The bond market had anticipated such action by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, with the 10-year bond rate falling below three per cent and the three-year bond rate easing to 2.27 per cent

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP LIMITED – ASX ANZ, AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY, COUNCIL OF FINANCIAL REGULATORS, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, TRIPLE T CONSULTING LIMITED

No charges, but watchdog takes civil action after LM property collapse

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Original article by Ben Butler, Roseanne Barrett
The Australian – Page: 19 : 21-Nov-14

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) is bringing a civil action against real estate investor Peter Drake, but it will not pursue criminal charges. His LM fund management firm raised $A800m-plus from small retail shareholders before failing in 2013. The watchdog alleges that Drake channelled $A26m to personal spending, and that director’s duties were breached in approving the loans by LM’s Francene Mulder, Eghard van der Hoven, Simon Jeremy Tickner and Lisa Maree Darcy

CORPORATES
LM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, LM ADMINISTRATION PTY LTD, LM MANAGED PERFORMANCE FUND, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, MADDISON ESTATE PTY LTD, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS, ERNST AND YOUNG

Surge likely for China investment

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Original article by Rowan Callick
The Australian – Page: 28 : 19-Nov-14

Ross Hamilton of Ernst & Young forecasts that Chinese investors will ramp up their investment in Australian commercial property to $A8bn a year due to the free trade agreement. He notes that Chinese investment in the sector has totalled just $A24bn over the last seven years. Greenland Australia MD Luo Xiaohua says the Chinese group has invested $A2bn in Australia to date

CORPORATES
ERNST AND YOUNG, SHANGHAI GREENLAND GROUP COMPANY LIMITED, WANDA GROUP

$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