Australian Property

Gottiboff today: Lurking behind the decision by Westpac and other big banks to stop lending to self-managed superannuation funds is a property racket that threatens significant losses to those who were caught.

By Leith van Onselen With the release recently of Australia’s dwelling construction data for the March quarter of 2018, it’s once again time to examine how Australia’s dwelling supply is tracking against population growth.

By Leith van Onselen If you thought Sydney’s auction clearance rate was bad now, it’s going to get much worse in spring, according to SQM Research’s Louis Christopher, with annual price falls for Sydney “of at least 5%”: “It is going to be a very tough spring for sellers,” [Christopher] said.

From Martin North at Digital Finance Analytics: We have released the June 2018 edition of our household financial confidence index, which draws information from our rolling household surveys.

By Leith van Onselen SQM Research has updated its rental vacancies time series for June, which reveals that Sydney’s rental vacancy rate has hit the highest level in the series’ 13.5 year history at 2.8%.

Via the AFR: Westpac is set to rock the increasingly nervous property market by withdrawing new loan offers to self-managed superannuation funds looking to invest in property.

By Leith van Onselen Industry Super chief economist, Stephen Anthony, penned a detailed article in Fairfax over the weekend warning of a “homelessness epidemic” in Sydney and Melbourne due to the serious lack of affordable and social housing, and offering policy solutions: Australia stands on the precipice of a major social crisis.

The Australian has been doing some shopping around: Australian banks have been dragging their feet in meeting new rules on home lending, despite regulatory appeals to wean the industry off riskier loans.

Oh to be Jess Irvine.

CoreLogic released its auction report yesterday, which reported another fall in the preliminary national auction clearance rate to 55.8% from 55.9% last weekend (later revised down to 52.6%).

Via the AFR: Commonwealth Bank home loan applicants will from next week be subject to two rounds of detailed quizzing about their weekly spending on everything from school fees to gym memberships, children and pets.

By Leith van Onselen Australia’s speculator frenzy continues to retreat, according to today’s Lending Finance data for May, released by the ABS. As shown below, the annual value of investor loans in New South Wales (read Sydney) is falling fast, whereas Victoria (read Melbourne) is also moderating.

From NAB’s quarterly property industry survey yesterday: -Survey-Q2-2018 NAB’s survey results have highlighted to a trend decline in foreign buying activity in recent quarters resulting from policy changes in China on foreign investment outflows and tighter restrictions on foreign property buyers in Australia.

Via Westpac on yesterday’s housing finance numbers: Australian housing finance approvals were firmer than expected in May, the number of owner occupier loans rising 1.1% vs expectations of a 2% decline, and the value of investor loans up 0.1% in the month.

Via Morgan Stanley: Morgan Stanley’s forward-looking housing model – MSHAUS – set a new historical low at -1.0 in the June quarter.

Via The Advisor: Interest-only mortgagors are generally wealthier and have a higher risk appetite than other mortgagors, but they are increasingly turning to alternative sources of finance as lending criteria tighten, a Westpac economist has said.

By Leith van Onselen The ABS yesterday released dwelling construction data for the March quarter of 2018, which recorded increases in both dwelling commencements and completions driven by Melbourne and Sydney apartments.

By Leith van Onselen In a taste of things to come, award winning builder, Bayside Construct, has gone into voluntary administration, which follows a series of similar failures.