Australian Property

By Leith van Onselen Treasury Secretary, John Fraser, has given some useless advice to first home buyers (FHB), effectively telling them to ‘suck eggs’.

By Leith van Onselen The first 61 days of 2016 have seen immense pressure build on the Turnbull Government to reform negative gearing and/or the capital gains tax (CGT) discount.

From the OECD 2017 Australia report: Indicators suggest there is some risk of downturn (Box 2), with several potentially destabilising events possible (Table 2). Threats to stability from overheating in terms of output or inflation has lessened in recent years (Figure 12, Panel A).

We reported recently that Vancouver has a staggering 70k residences now sitting empty thanks to Chinese land-bankers, even as young folks struggle to get into the housing market.

By Leith van Onselen Yesterday’s dwelling approvals data for January from the ABS reported another big trend downturn in unit & apartment approvals (see next chart).

By Leith van Onselen Like a wind vane, “Aussie John” Symond has flipped again, this time cautiously backing negative gearing reform.

From APRA head Wayne Byers today in parliament: I will just start with a short statement of a few key issues currently on APRA’s plate.

By Leith van Onselen In the wake of yesterday’s revelation that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has charged Westpac for irresponsible lending practices and will immediately commence civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court, ASIC has revealed that it is investigating 11 lenders for dodgy practices.

Anyone recall this from Australia’s number one rent seeker Stockland CEO and head of the (PCA), Mark Steinert, from The AFR last year: “At the end of the day, house prices are unlikely to adjust so much that it would really change that affordability equation anyway,” Steinert says.

From ASIC: ASIC has today commenced civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) for a number of contraventions of the responsible lending provisions of National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth) (the National Credit Act).

An interesting argument today from Macquarie: Event  We think that Queensland could be on the cusp of a major lift in interstate migration from New South Wales and Victoria over the next few years.

Ah yes, the policy-making billionaire, via News: Speaking to news.com.au after reporting the company’s best ever half-year profit, Mr Harvey said Amazon was “not a good corporate citizen” and if Australia had a choice, it should stop the retailer coming in, “like Donald Trump not letting the Muslims in”.

It does not seem to have occurred to investors in Sydney and Melbourne yet but rarely in their wonderful run of protected property capital gains (I won’t say profits given many are operating a negative carry) have they faced so many mounting risks.

By Leith van Onselen Yesterday, the Victorian Government announced that it is rezoning 100,000 housing blocks and creating 17 new suburbs in Melbourne’s key growth zones in order to cater for Melbourne’s bulging population.

Some good polling here for a dying Coalition if it can be bothered trying to live: Q. Do you approve or disapprove of property investors receiving tax deductions if the cost of buying and maintaining their investment properties is more than the revenue they receive from them (called negative gearing)?

From the HIA: HIA’s New Home Sales Report – a monthly survey of the largest volume home builders in Australia – reveals a decline in the volume of sales at the start of the New Year.

By Leith van Onselen After years of witnessing bogus excuses for why Australian housing affordability is not that bad – with arguments usually centered on the secular fall in mortgage interest rates over the past 25-plus years – finally we have a complete analysis of the issue from Fairfax’s Caitlin Fitzsimmons.

From S&P: The number of delinquent housing loans underlying Australian prime residential mortgage-backed securities was unchanged in December from November, according to a recent report by S&P Global Ratings.