Australian Property

From West Australian: Billionaire Kerry Stokes has added his weight to the view that conditions are ideal for entering the housing market, staking his reputation on now being the best time to take the plunge.

By Leith van Onselen Remember when Treasurer Joe Hockey told first home buyers (FHBs) “to get a good job that pays good money” if they want to afford a home.

Via Martin North: Data from our Core Market Model highlights that in recent months the number of mortgage applications which are made, but which do not lead to a funded loan is on the rise.

By Leith van Onselen Open borders extremist, Peter Martin, penned a curious article yesterday on how Sydney has “benefited” from extreme levels of immigration, which has forced locals to leave the city: Sydney is running a “population deficit” with the rest of the country, new census figures show.

Via LF Economics: While our long-term charts on the housing market are often presented as indexes, it would be an interesting exercise to see the trends in prices over time.

Via the Herald Sun: MELBOURNE’S median house price will gain ground on Sydney’s in the coming years, hitting $940,000 in 2020, a new report predicts.

By Leith van Onselen The Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) has delivered yet another whinge about the high cost of stamp duties in Melbourne, which it claims has eroded housing affordability.

Poor old Bernard Salt wants to set the record straight: One year ago, I used the now infamous words “smashed avocado” in this column.

My old mate and sparring partner Morry Schwartz has rung another bell on property today: “I haven’t got one property under development and I don’t have any property development planned at the moment,” he said.

By Leith van Onselen Desperate to keep the East Coast property bubble going, the Turnbull Government has passed through the lower house legislation to allow first-home buyers (FHBs) to use up to $30,000 of voluntary super contributions for a housing deposit.

By Leith van Onselen Earlier this month, we argued that Sydney’s housing boom looked cooked due to a combination of regulatory curbs on investor lending (whereby investors are about %60 of new mortgage lending), falling auction clearances, rising stock on market, and rapidly slowing dwelling value growth.

From Domain: Despite some of Australia’s heavyweight property markets – including Sydney – recording price declines, one expert is forecasting significant house price growth in 2018 across Australia.

From the HIA today comes news that mortgage affordability remains poor, despite a modest improvement in the September quarter: “Despite the poor levels of housing affordability there are signs of improvement for home-buyers, stated Tim Reardon, HIA’s Principal Economist.

It’s as obvious as the nose on your face that global markets are beginning to suspect that the Australian property bubble may burst.

By Leith van Onselen The bolshy Tim Gurner is sitting on a Brisbane bomb: More than 100 apartments in a high-profile inner-city Brisbane development are yet to settle amid warnings it is “crunch time” for ­developers in the Queensland capital.

From the latest NAB Residential Property Survey comes some welcome news: The influence of foreign buyers in Australian property markets continued to lessen according to surveyed property professionals, suggesting that tighter conditions imposed on foreign buyers is still having an impact.