Australian Property

Rob Burgess is back and you’re a racist again: Rapid population growth is bringing Australia to a ‘make-or-break’ moment, but not in the way many people think.

ABC’s 7.30 Report last night tackled irresponsible lending by the banks, which is expected to be under the spotlight of the Banking Royal Commission today.

Another profit downgrade yesterday: Surely the kitchen sink has been thrown in now.

Via The Australian today comes the story of Fran Jones, 72-year-old pensioner and lollipop woman: …Commissioner Kenneth Hayne has made it clear his inquiry will be looking for systemic issues and can’t order compensation for anyone wronged by the banking industry.

CoreLogic released its auction report yesterday, which reported a small rebound in the preliminary national auction clearance rate to 67.3% from 65.9% last week (later revised down to 63.6%).

From our Chris today: In the scheme of things, this is a benign correction…In February the national clearance rate averaged 65 per cent, which compares to the 74 per cent mark in February 2017.

Via The Guardian: After introducing a 20% tax on foreign buyers, the city in western Canada is continuing to tackle housing affordability Thousands of homes in Vancouver have been declared unused and liable for a new empty homes tax as part of a government attempt to tackle skyrocketing home prices and soaring rents.

By Leith van Onselen The RBA has released a research paper assessing the impact of restrictive zoning rules on Australian house prices, estimating that they represent a punitive tax on home buyers, especially in Sydney and Melbourne.

Via AFR: Another Australian finance company linked to troubled insurance giant CBL is seeking new equity partners, replacing some reinsurance lines and has removed two CBL directors from its board that it plans to replace with independents.

By Leith van Onselen Over the past few years, several reputable international authorities have derided Australia’s failure to implement anti-money laundering (AML) rules for real estate – something the federal government promised to do more than a decade ago.

By Leith van Onselen MB often refers to Treasurer Scott Morrison as “Australia’s real estate treasurer” because of his close links with the Property Council of Australia (PCA), where he served as National Manager of Policy and Research between 1989 and 1995.

Via the AFR: A leading national property finance company has collapsed potentially leaving an estimated 10,000 residential, commercial and property investors in the lurch about the fate of nearly $300 million worth of deposits.

By Leith van Onselen You can’t keep a dumb idea down!

By Leith van Onselen From SQM Research comes stock on market figures for the month of February, which reported a (mostly) seasonal 4.6% lift in total for sale listings over the month but also a 5.5% decline over the year: Listings rose across all jurisdictions except Hobart in February.