Australian Property

Via AFR: China’s HNA Group said it had reached a deal to sell a building in Sydney for $205 million in what is the latest in a series of measures taken by the aviation-to-financial services conglomerate to address a liquidity crunch.

Over the long weekend the increasingly desperate Domainfax wasted thousands upon thousands of words in a coordinated assault upon the Australian imagination and its views on property.

Via the legendary John Mauldin: Flying Blind at 20X The housing sector has two characteristics that lead to these problems.

Via Domainfax: Hopeful first-home buyers across Victoria will soon be able to apply for the state government to cover up to a quarter of their mortgage.

Bye: Chinese conglomerate Wanda has confirmed to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange it has sold its Circular Quay apartment development site in Sydney as well as the $900m Jewel triple tower complex on the Gold Coast as reported by The Australian last week.

Via the AFR: Analysts have downgraded the share price of McGrath to as low as 25¢, a far cry from its $2.10 listing price, after a shocking week in which the real estate agent issued another profit warning and lost its chief executive and board.

McGrathmaggedon himself unleashed a torrent of fake news yesterday at a spruiker event: “We will be moving forward at a pace not seen before.

Via CoreLogic: Rental rates increased by 0.1% nationally in December 2017 with capital city rents unchanged and regional rents up 0.5%.

Via the AFR: The out-of-schedule board meeting called for last Friday afternoon at the McGrath real estate agency headquarters in Edgecliff, Sydney, was always going to be a showdown between founder John McGrath and the rest.

Via Gottiboff today: Domain chief executive Antony Catalano — “The Cat” — gave Fairfax Media a growth future in the new era of publishing and he probably saved it from being split into its component parts.

Via the AFR: Sydney has 600,000 bedrooms not being used according to a new analysis that recommends the removal of stamp duty enabling better, cheaper transitions for people in property.

Via the AFR: The residential vacancy rate in greater Sydney picked up to 2.2 per cent in December from 2.1 per cent in November, figures from the industry group showed on Monday.

Via CoreLogic: And the Leading Mortgage Index is now down a meaty 20% year on year, touching 2015 levels: If you’re wondering why you’re seeing some mortgage discounts emerge, here it is.

Lordy, is property falling apart suddenly?

Oh dear, via the ASX: Seems to me that the wrong folks are getting boned.

By Leith van Onselen The 14th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey has been released and, once again, it ranks Australia as having one of the most expensive housing markets out of the countries surveyed.

Via the AFR comes Su-Lin Tan with the leaking of internal McGrathmaggedon documents: They show McGrath Limited was targeting a $3.3 million net profit after tax between July and November 30 but instead sunk to a $1.3 million loss as it suffered from falling commission income from residential house sales.

Via the AFR: Clearance rates in Melbourne and Sydney slipped to 54 and 50 per cent respectively over the weekend off low volumes, compared to about 67 and 61 per cent for the same weekend last year.

Via The Australian: “There is absolutely no question we have seen a considerable softening in the construction end of the residential apartment space,” Martin Monro, the managing director of listed construction company group Watpac, told The Australian yesterday.

Via News: COMMONWEALTH Bank is encouraging struggling first home buyers to borrow 100 per cent of the value of a property using their parents’ home as security, describing the highly risky strategy as a “great option”.

From HIA New Homes Sales for December: While detached house sales fell back by 5.7 per cent during 2017 as a whole, the year finished relatively strongly with a 7.1 per cent jump in sales in the final quarter.

Via CoreLogic: Over the 12 months to June 2017, 3,861 dwellings were sold after having been held for less than a year nationally with a further 16,749 resold after being owned for between one and two years.