Australian Property

Via Chanticleer today: In the final six months of the year, as a violent correction shook global markets and the ASX 200 fell 5.4 per cent, many of Australia’s retail REITs took off.

From CoreLogic’s Quarterly Rental Report: Weekly rents across the nation fell by -0.1% in December 2018 to be -0.3% lower over the fourth quarter of 2018 however, rents increased by 0.5% over the 12 months to December 2018.

By Leith van Onselen Earlier this month, the senior bureaucrat who reviewed building regulation for the NSW Government warned that defects in the 34-storey Opal Tower at Sydney’s Olympic Park “are likely just the tip of the iceberg”.

By Leith van Onselen It began in H2 last year as Chinese developers stopped buying: Chinese developers are steering away from expensive inner city site purchases for apartment projects as they wait out the housing downturn and the uncertainty of next year’s federal election.

From Damien Boey at Credit Suisse Yesterday, NAB announced a 12bps increase on owner-occupier conventional mortgages, and a 16bps increase on interest-only investor mortgages.

NAB has released its Q4 property survey, which confirms that foreign buyers continue to flee Australian property, exacerbating the downturn: The boom in Australian real estate sales to foreign investors has clearly run its course, with NAB’s latest survey results highlighting a trend decline in foreign buying activity over the course of 2018.

From Damien Boey at Credit Suisse We have just published an article about the outlook for Sydney housing, now that prices have dropped around 15% from their late 2017 peak, and are falling at their fastest pace in several decades. We take note of a few positives: 1).

By Leith van Onselen Australian Finance Group (AFG) has released its housing finance data for the December quarter, which registered a heavy quarterly decline in the number of mortgage applications, with applications also crashing over the year.

From Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital: Key Points: Australian home prices are likely to fall another 5-10% this year driven by a further 15% or so fall in Sydney & Melbourne.

By Leith van Onselen Labor remains unflappable in the face of the housing bust.

By Leith van Onselen The Coalition’s incessant claim that Labor’s negative gearing policy would reduce rental supply and force-up rents has been demolished once again, with one Sydney developer claiming that Labor’s policy would be a “shot in the arm” of the off-the-plan market.

By Leith van Onselen Growing concerns around the poor build quality of Australia’s high-rise apartments risks poisoning the entire off-the-plan industry, according to several industry commentators.

By Leith van Onselen You’ve gotta love the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA).

By Leith van Onselen Yesterday I argued that Labor had little to fear from the incessant scare campaign against its negative gearing and capital gains tax (CGT) reforms, noting that it took the very same policy to the 2016 Federal Election and performed better than anyone expected.

By Leith van Onselen Domainfax has posted a wishful article speculating that Chinese buyers will come to the rescue of Australia’s sinking housing market: “Because few other appealing investment opportunities exist, Chinese have put 53 per cent of their wealth into real estate.