Australian Property

The latest scheduled review of Australia’s anti-money laundering (AML) laws by the global Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) has been cancelled, with Australia given free rein to continue laundering money through property.

SQM Research’s latest newsletter provides commentary on Australia’s pending dwelling construction bust, which SQM believes will run into 2021 and could cause a significant increase in unemployment: Today we have run with three charts – Australian dwelling completions, commencements and approvals.

Late last month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its 2018-19 Australian System of National Accounts (ASNA) release, which provided a detailed presentation of annual national accounts data.

Via CoreLogic, the leading index for weekly mortgages is up modestly year on year: But the real story is the serious weakness in listings: A balance still leading to house price gains.

With Australia’s East Coast littered with flammable and faulty towers, Meriton Apartments founder, “high-rise” Harry Triguboff, has demanded banks rescue the sector: “If the cladding is a problem the banks will suffer a lot because of the value of the apartments dropping,” Mr Triguboff told The Australian.

But it is seasonal, via S&P: That said, there’s a year on year break lower in regional banks so the worst is probably past for now.

Via the excellent Garth Aird at CBA: Overview Australian capital city dwelling prices, led by Sydney and Melbourne, have risen sharply since mid-2019.

Earlier this week, we learned that construction insolvencies are booming, according to ASIC: Insolvencies in the $150bn residential and non-residential construction industry remain at a high level… insolvencies in the three months to September jumped 78 per cent in Victoria, 41 per cent in Queensland and 7 per cent in NSW.

SQM Research MD Louis Christopher expects growth in housing prices in Australia’s capital cities to average 11% in 2020.

Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) has released new research claiming that older empty-nesters are clinging to their larger family-friendly homes.