REAL ESTATE – NEW SOUTH WALES – RESIDENTIAL

‘I know what it’s like to struggle’: PM defends $4.3m beach house

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Campbell Kwan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 16-Oct-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is under scrutiny following revelations that he has bought a waterfront home on the NSW central coast. Albanese and fiancee Jodie Haydon will pay $4.3m for the clifftop home, which has views over Copacabana Beach. One Labor MP has conceded that the purchase is "not a great look" for Albanese ahead of a federal election that is likely to be dominated by the rising cost of living and the housing crisis. Albanese has downplayed suggestions that he is preparing for life after politics, stating that he intends to remain in his current job "for a very long time". He adds that while he has been fortunate to earn a big salary as prime minister, he knows what it is like to struggle, having grown up in public housing.

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

Developer says tower cracks years old

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Original article by Brad Norington, Ben Wilmot
The Australian – Page: 7 : 27-Jun-19

Aland Developments MD Andrew Hrsto has rejected suggestions that construction work on his company’s Peak Towers project caused the cracks in the structure of the adjacent Mascot Towers. Hrsto says an engineering report on buildings near the Peak Towers project showed that structural defects were found in the Mascot Towers building several years before work on his company’s project commenced. John Barilaro, the Deputy Premier of New South Wales, recently claimed that the problems at Mascot Towers were caused by construction work at adjacent building sites.

CORPORATES
ALAND DEVELOPMENTS, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Property taxes will hit safe Labor seats

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Original article by Duncan Hughes
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 10-May-19

The Real Estate Institute of New South Wales has urged Labor to reconsider its proposed negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms. CEO Tim McKibbin says most of the 50 suburbs across Sydney that will be hardest-hit by the reforms are in Labor-held electorates. The median values of rental properties in some of these suburbs have fallen sharply in the last year, and the REISW warns that Labor’s reforms could result in a further decline.

CORPORATES
THE REAL ESTATE INSTITUTE OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, HERRON TODD WHITE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Sydney house prices fall 3.1pc over March quarter

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Original article by Ingrid Fuary-Wagner, Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 30-Apr-19

Domain Holdings analyst Nicola Powell says Sydney’s residential property market downturn is close to being the longest on record. She adds that the median house price in Sydney will fall below $1m if prices continue to fall at the current rate. The median house price has fallen from $1,161,083 to $1,027,962 in the last year. Data from Domain shows that house prices in Sydney have fallen by 14.3 per cent since peaking in mid-2017.

CORPORATES
DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

Opal engineers insist tower is occupant-safe

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones, Ean Higgins
The Australian – Page: 3 : 17-Jan-19

WSP’s Guy Templeton says the core of Sydney’s Opal Tower is structurally sound and it is safe for residents to return to most floors of the residential building. The global engineering firm designed the 36-storey tower, and Templeton says legal action over the structural defects in the building is likely. An independent experts’ report has attributed the structural flaws to design and construction issues.

CORPORATES
WSP GROUP, ICON CO PTY LTD, ECOVE GROUP PTY LTD

Design and building flaws behind fiasco

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian – Page: 6 : 16-Jan-19

The New South Wales Government has released an independent experts’ report on the cause of cracked concrete panels on the Opal Tower in Sydney. The interim report found a number of design and construction problems with the residential tower, although it concluded that the building is structurally sound. The reports’ authors noted that while the cracks were primarily the result of design and construction issues, the problem was exacerbated as residents began moving into the building.

CORPORATES
NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE, ICON CO PTY LTD, WSP GROUP

Towering loophole: taxpayer may foot the bill for defects

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 11-Jan-19

The troubled-plagued Opal Tower is built on land that is owned by the Sydney Olympic Park Authority rather than the apartment building’s developer, Ecove. Legal experts say that under changes to the Home Building Act in 2010, the New South Wales Government may have to bear the costs associated with fixing the tower’s structural defects, as the SOPA is regarded as the developer of the building. The government will receive the report of an independent investigation into Opal Tower on 11 January.

CORPORATES
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK AUTHORITY, ECOVE GROUP PTY LTD, ICON CO PTY LTD, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT, AUSTRALIA AVENUE DEVELOPMENTS PTY LTD, NEW SOUTH WALES. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET, WSP GROUP, CHAMBERS RUSSELL LAWYERS, HOMEBUSH BAY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, BROOKFIELD MULTIPLEX LIMITED

Units are now selling faster than houses in downturn-hit Sydney

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Original article by Michael Bleby
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 11-Sep-18

Domain figures reveal that homes and apartments in Sydney were both on the market for an average of 67 days in August. The figure for homes represents an increase of 20 days when compared to the same time in 2017, while apartments were only taking nine more days to sell. Homes in Melbourne were taking an average of 55 days to sell in August, compared to 44 in August 2017. Melbourne apartments were taking an average of 77 days to sell in August, down from 88 days for the same time in 2017.

CORPORATES
DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC

Airbnb popularity with landlords puts squeeze on rental market

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Original article by Misa Han
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 28-Nov-16

The number of homes in Sydney’s central and eastern suburbs that are listed as short-stay accommodation on Airbnb now significantly exceeds the number of residential properties that are available to rent. Data from the University of Sydney’s Urban Housing Lab also shows that property owners can earn significantly more each month by letting their homes via Airbnb rather than seeking longer-term rental tenants.

CORPORATES
AIRBNB AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, HEYTOM

Sydney houses cement price growth

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Original article by Su-Lin Tan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 2-Nov-16

Data from CoreLogic shows that house prices in Sydney increased by 10.2 per cent year-on-year in October 2016. House prices in Sydney also rose by more than 10 per cent year-on-year in September, after recording single-digit growth since February. Tim Lawless of CoreLogic says the Reserve Bank is likely to adopt a cautious approach to further easing of monetary policy due to rising house prices and high auction clearance rates in Sydney and Melbourne.

CORPORATES
CORELOGIC AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, SQM RESEARCH PTY LTD, STANDARD AND POOR’S CORPORATION, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED