Source:  Australian Property Journal ASX-listed Desane Group has successfully fought off the New South Wales government in the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling over the compulsory acquisition of its prized site. The Supreme Court of NSW decision paves the way for Desane to move forward with plans for a $100 million, 200-apartment mixed-use project at a Rozelle property that the Roads and Maritime Services authority had sought to compulsorily acquire. Justice Hammerschla...

Source:  Australian Property Journal FOREIGN buyers continue to retreat from Australia's housing market, as Sydney's cooling market prompted NAB to downgrade its 2018 price forecast. The major lender's latest Quarterly Residential Property Survey showed share of foreign buyers tumbled further in the December quarter to a 6-year low of 8.4% in new property markets, and a five-year low of 5.5% in the established markets. "Clearly, the efforts of policymakers...

Source:  Australian Property Journal In January 2018 the Government introduced legislation designed to strengthen compliance with GST law in the property development sector. Under the new arrangements, purchasers will withhold the GST on the purchase price of new residential premises and new residential subdivisions, and remit the GST directly to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) as part of settlement. The purpose is to address GST tax evasion while minimising complianc...

Source:  Felicity Moore - REIQ Real estate agent selection agencies should be treated the same as financial advisers and directly remunerated by the vendor, according to the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA). In a submission to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking Industry REIA President Malcolm Gunning said there has been a proliferation of businesses established to assist vendors selling their homes by choosing an agent for them. "These busine...

Source:  Australia Property Journal APRA'S macroprudential measures coupled with state and federal government policies have had an impact on activity in the apartment market nationwide, with the total number of units under construction falling by around 10,000. According to JLL's Apartment Markets report for G4 2017, self-regulation from developers in the face of tighter lending conditions and slower pre-sales rates has seen the number of projects under construction dw...

Source:  Bees Nees - City Realty Somewhere out in Brisbane's suburbs there's a huge industrial yard full of disassembled tower cranes. Once reaching high and proud over our inner-city's shiny new apartment buildings but now disembodied, laying prone in the dust. Waiting until they're next needed. And many of us hope they rot and rust for some time to come! We've simply had too many apartments built and it's been pleasing to see construction slowing and, mor...

Source: Pete Wargent, Wargent Advisory We should expect to see variations around the country for residential housing in 2018. For example, the Hobart market is extremely tight and there will be ongoing price gains there, and some peri-urban regional markets in New South Wales & Victoria are tracking well. Overall, though, access to credit is being squeezed at present, and on average that means lower price growth and less investor activity. There is a possibility that after the ...

Source:  Peter O'Malley - Inside Real Estate 8 issues that will determine the year ahead Forecasting the performance of the property market in 2018 is anyone's guess. Depending on what you believe, boom/ bust or somewhere in between, you are sure to find an analyst that agrees. The issue with making a forecast is one tends to be prone to confirmation bias. 'A confirmation bias is a type of cognitive bias that involves favoring information which confirms previous...

Source:  Brisbane Times The imminent arrival of online giant, Amazon, has seen a surge in demand for industrial warehouses, with gross leasing activity accelerating past historical benchmarks in the third quarter of 2017, according to JLL research. This has been particularly prominent along the eastern seaboard. Amazon has its first base in Dandenong, in south-east Melbourne, and is said to be preparing for a pre-Christmas "launch". It is believed to be...

Source:  Australian Property Journal CHINA'S tightening on capital movement out of the country has tempered buyers demand in the Australian residential market, however the surge in apartment construction continues to pose the greatest risk. The Reserve Bank of Australia's head of financial stability, Jonathan Kearns, told the Aus-China Property Developers, Investors & Financiers lunch in Sydney yesterday that the capital controls had seen purchases of new propertie...