Source:  SMH - Stephen Bartholemeusz How do you value anything in the time of the coronavirus? Things are, of course, being valued. Shares, bonds, property and businesses are being traded despite the raft of uncertainties spawned by the coronavirus pandemic. Whether it's a share, a property - or a business like Virgin Australia -prospective buyers are having to think through the impacts of the pandemic on the particular asset. They know some businesses will be impacted more sever...

Source:  Australian Property Journal RESIDENTIAL vacancy rates surged across the country in April, with CBDs and holiday destinations feeling the full force of the COVID-19 outbreak as the Sydney and Brisbane city markets hit record highs. SQM Research shows the national rate jumped from 2.0% in March to 2.6%, with the total number of vacancies Australia-wide now at 88,668 vacant residential properties. All states recorded increases in rates with the exception of Darwin, which record...

Source:  NGU Real Estate - Ipswich Local Sales and Rental Update This last month for our Property Management Team has been a busy & an unusual one. From changing our daily practices through to making sure our clients and their properties are being managed at a high level. We are proud of our team and their commitment to their positions. This April we have rented 29 properties which is a mammoth month for our office. Sales is also still strong. We believe at this stage our market ...

Source: CoreLogic The Reserve Bank has announced a 25 basis point reduction in the cash rate, to a new historic low of 0.25% and made it clear the cash rate will remain at this level until labour markets are moving towards full employment and inflation is tracking to be within the target range of 2-3%. Under normal circumstances, such an extraordinary move from the Reserve Bank might be greeted with renewed optimism towards housing market activity. Research from the Reserve Bank points to...

Source:  Australian Property Journal According to the latest CoreLogic Home Value Index, Melbourne saw the sharpest reversal in conditions over the months, with values ticking down by 0.3%. Sydney values rose 0.4%, but both cities averaged monthly growth of around 1.7% over the previous six months. Most regions recorded a rise in home values, but the national monthly pace of growth eased from 0.7% in March to 0.3%. The April result was the smallest month on month movement since a f...

Source: Corelogic The economic slowdown resultant from COVID-19 has changed working conditions for many. But quantifying the impact on labour markets at this stage is difficult. The latest unemployment data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics does not tell us much about how the labour market has changed. That is because labour market data is not real time, but instead references the first two weeks of the previous month to the data release date. The start of the economic slowdown...

Source: IRWA - Shellie Rabago   I'm always excited to get a new project. Although I realize it means that I will be crazy busy for the next few months, it also means I have the opportunity to meet an eclectic group of people I wouldn't typically get the chance to encounter. Over the past several years I have worked with many large corporations, families and even a few famous people. Convincing owners to sell their property to a condemning agency, even if it's a partial ...

Source:  Brisbane Times Given the rapid deterioration in Australia's economic outlook as the coronavirus causes the closure of borders and restrictions on movement, global investment banking giant Goldman Sachs now forecast the sharpest annual GDP contraction since the Great Depression of the 1920s. The Australian economy will shrink 6 per cent in 2020 versus last year, economists led by Andrew Boak wrote in a report dated March 20. Most of the contraction is expected to be d...

Source: CoreLogic The coronavirus outbreak clearly presents some downside risk for the Australian housing market, but ultimately, the impact remains highly uncertain. New information and policy responses are unfolding daily, making it impossible to provide a reasonable forecast of capital growth. Some added context however, is remembering the fundamentals of the property market, and idiosyncrasies of a pandemic-led downturn. Property is less volatile and slower to respond to market shoc...

Source:  Australian Property Journal THE coronavirus pandemic and social distancing measures has likely put an end to the resurging housing market, and it is unlikely to simply bounce back post covid-19, according to ANZ Research. ANZ senior economist Felicity Emmett and market economist Hayden Dimes said prior to covid-19 taking hold in Australia and resulting in the government shutting down parts of the economy, one sector that continued to surprise on the upside was housing. ...