Canstar: The Dream Is Alive
Hotspotting
Affordability is the most-debated and the most confused issue in residential real estate. While the rental shortage and rising rents occupies the minds of many, the property issue that occupies the most space most often in news media and in the minds of Australian consumers is housing affordability. It has been this way for years, indeed for decades. And while the so-called Great Australian Dream is often declared dead, with young people doomed to a lifetime of renting, the evidence suggests otherwise. I recently finished working on a report with financial comparison website Canstar which...
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The Art of Buying Against the Grain with Arjun Paliwal of Investorkit
Hotspotting
In this episode of the Hotspotting Podcast, Tim Graham sits down with Arjun Paliwal, the Managing Director of Investorkit and a two-time REB Buyers Agency of the Year winner. Arjun shares insights on his unique approach to property investment, focusing on "buying against the grain." Here are some of the key topics discussed: Episode Highlights: Introduction to Arjun Paliwal: Arjun kicks off by talking about his journey in the property industry, how he scaled Investorkit, and the importance of innovation in finding investment hotspots. The Concept of 'Buying Against the Grain':...
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Listing Leap
Hotspotting
Australian real estate has been characterised by three different types of shortage which have put upward pressure on rents and prices. Those are the shortage of rental properties, the shortage of new dwellings under construction and the shortage of homes listed for sale. While the shortage of rental homes and the under-supply of new homes persists, there has been recent improvement in the number of homes listed for sale by vendors. SQM Research finds that the number of residential property listings nationwide rose by 8% in August, bringing the total to almost 250,000 properties, up from...
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Airbnb Furphy
Hotspotting
State governments across Australia have no meaningful policies for easing the chronic under-supply of rental properties – but they do have a talent for using the rental shortage as an excuse to raise extra revenue from the housing market. One of the primary tactics they use is to scapegoat a section of the community and blame them for the problem that they, the politicians, have created – and then hit the demonised group with new taxes and pretend that they’re doing it to deal with the rental shortage. The worst offender in this regard, although not the only one, is the State Government...
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CoreLogic Illogic
Hotspotting
CoreLogic is one of Australia's leading sources of data on residential real estate matters, although increasingly overshadowed by other, smarter data organisations like PropTrack. CoreLogic has lots of statistics about housing markets but when it comes to analysis and commentary, CoreLogic is very often a source of illogic. Their problem, like so many companies that comment on Australian housing markets, is that they employ economists to analyse real estate and the outcome very often is kindergarten analysis. Here’s a recent example: According to , property markets outside the capital...
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Perth Property Shift
Hotspotting
Perth is moving into a new phase in its property boom, with more and more buyers opting for units as houses become more and more expensive. The latest sales data shows that the strongest markets in Perth are well-located locations with a major presence of attached dwellings. While the most popular house markets for home buyers and investors (mostly those at the affordable end of the market) are a little less buoyant than earlier in the Perth up-cycle, the focus is switching to affordable units. Perth started this boom with a reputation as the most affordable capital city housing market. After...
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Adelaide’s Market Surge
Hotspotting
Adelaide’s property market, one of the nation’s strongest in the past two years, has strengthened further recently. ales volumes shows that market activity in the June quarter was the highest for Greater Adelaide since mid-2022. The June Quarter sales levels represented a 25% increase on the March Quarter and were 10% higher than the same time last year. This is despite the reality that listings of homes for sale across Adelaide are the lowest at any time in the past 15 years, according to SQM Research figures. This continues Adelaide’s track record as a market with consistently...
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Investor Market Share
Hotspotting
One of the greatest misconceptions in the housing market is that property investors are the people who cause property prices to rise. The evidence confirms that this is a major piece of misinformation but some sections of politics and news media love to perpetuate this fiction. And, as an extension, use it as justification for advocating the end to negative gearing. Some people appear to believe that eliminating negative gearing tax benefits will fix all the problems in the property market: rising prices, housing affordability generally, the shortage of new homes, the rental crisis, pretty...
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Exodus Trend 2024
Hotspotting
The trend we call the Exodus to Affordable Lifestyle is among the most powerful forces impacting real estate markets across Australia. It’s a trend that been around for at least the past 10 years, with more and more residents of the biggest cities relocating to smaller cities or regional areas in search of a different and more affordable lifestyle, empowered by technology which allows many people to work remotely. It was NOT created by the Covid lockdowns. It was under way long before Covid appeared in 2020 and it continues to have considerable momentum now that we are well beyond the...
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Poll Fixing Crisis
Hotspotting
Top economists are unanimous in believing Australia's housing market is in crisis, according to a new poll. And I have to say, Wow, we had to go to a group of “top economists” to achieve that startling revelation. It comes from a survey in which the Economic Society of Australia offered these top economists a choice of 14 measures identified by as likely to restrain prices for buyers and renters – in other prevent property prices and rents from continuing to rise. Therein lies the first problem: they polled economists rather than real estate experts. If there’s one thing we’ve learnt...
info_outlineAustralian real estate has been characterised by three different types of shortage which have put upward pressure on rents and prices.
Those are the shortage of rental properties, the shortage of new dwellings under construction and the shortage of homes listed for sale.
While the shortage of rental homes and the under-supply of new homes persists, there has been recent improvement in the number of homes listed for sale by vendors.
SQM Research finds that the number of residential property listings nationwide rose by 8% in August, bringing the total to almost 250,000 properties, up from 231,000 recorded in July.
In annual terms, listings of homes for sale are now 11% higher than a year.
Nationally, new listings recorded a 12% surge in August, with over 73,000 fresh property listings entering the market.
Sydney new listings were the highest level ever recorded for the month of August, according to SQM.
It reports that total listings of homes for sale in August recorded significant increases across most major cities.
Even boom cities like Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide recorded major increases in the number of properties for sale.
Indeed, Perth had an 11% monthly increase in listings, reaching over 13,000 properties for sale – BUT Perth remains the only city with a significant yearly decrease, still 21% below August last year.
Canberra up 11% and Adelaide up 9% both showed solid monthly growth in listings – and Canberra experienced the largest yearly increase of all major cities at 32%.
Brisbane reported a moderate monthly increase of 7% in August, bringing the total to a little over 18,000 listings – which is 3.3% higher than a year ago.
These improvements in listings of homes for sale – which may be inspired by the belief that Spring is a good time to sell – may take some of the pressure off dwelling prices, particularly if the rise in action by vendors continues in September and October.