According to The Australian Financial Review, unit owners nationwide are holding on to their property longer than average in response to weak capital gains and sharp increases in transaction costs, data from CoreLogic shows.
Those who bought apartments and units are now staying put for 8.6 years, which is six months longer since interest rates started rising two years ago and 12 months more than the 10-year average.
By comparison, the hold period for houses shrank by around three months to 9.1 years, as owners cashed in on the rapid price increases since the pandemic.
The shift towards longer hold period for units defies earlier trends when owners tended to resell them within a shorter period of time.
CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said units’ broader underperformance in recent years could be dissuading some owners from selling.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/unit-owners-hold-tight-as-values-weaken-and-transaction-costs-rise-20240903-p5k7ed

According to The Australian Financial Review, fresh home listings in some of the more expensive Sydney suburbs have more than doubled in the past four weeks as sellers scramble to beat the spring selling rush, data from CoreLogic shows.
New stock is also piling up in Melbourne’s more affluent areas despite falling prices.
Separate data from Ray White shows stock levels are poised to surge even higher in the coming weeks as more properties hit the market.
Eliza Owen, CoreLogic’s head of research said the earlier-than-normal groundswell was likely fuelled by expectations of weaker house price growth, prompting some sellers to get ahead of the competition.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/number-of-homes-for-sale-soar-ahead-of-spring-20240827-p5k5o3

According to The Australian Financial Review, house sellers nationwide pocketed $326,000 gross profit on average in the past financial year, the largest windfall on record, bolstered by robust increases in values despite higher interest rates, Domain’s Profit and Loss report shows.
The proportion of profitable house sales also ballooned across the country, rising to 96 per cent, the highest level in 16 years, while the share of units selling for a profit jumped to a 13-year high of 90.7 per cent.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/the-suburbs-where-every-seller-pocketed-1m-profit-20240820-p5k3rg
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According to The Australian Financial Review, NEX Building Group, the largest residential builder in NSW, has urged the competition regulator to approve Stockland’s purchase of a $1.3 billion housing estate portfolio from Lendlease, saying delays in the deal announced last year were keeping much-needed land out of the housing market.
NEX, majority owned by Asahi Kasei Homes, also said in a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that Stockland was better at bringing residential land to market than Lendlease as its business model required it to continually develop and sell housing lots.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/nsw-builder-nex-wants-1-3b-stockland-lendlease-to-go-ahead-20240812-p5k1u9
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Japanese investment giant Mitsubishi Estate Asia has put its 30 per cent stake in Sydney’s Salesforce Tower up for grabs, in a high-profile, $600 million test for the nation’s battered office market.
A sale at that price would value Sydney’s tallest tower at $2 billion, roughly a 10 per cent discount to what it was worth two years ago. The Japanese fund may even be willing to trade out on offers below that pricing, according to market sources.

https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/salesforce-tower-stake-to-test-battered-office-market-20240805-p5jzhp
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, deal-making in build-to-rent developments could take off within months as more projects are completed, leased up and join the rapidly emerging sector for the new housing form, according to one of the sector’s biggest players.
US property giant Greystar has been one of the lead players in the nascent sector, with about 1900 units under construction, worth around $2.3 billion. It has another 600 units in the pipeline valued at $400 million.
Under the new rules announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers in May, a long-standing prohibition on foreign ownership of established housing would no longer apply to foreign investors wishing to acquire existing build-to-rent housing.
The federal government hopes that easing the path of foreign capital into a secondary market for BTR assets will stimulate further development. So far, there have been few if any sales of major BTR assets to secondary buyers, with most still under development.
But in the meantime, the development of new build-to-rent projects has been buffeted by high construction costs and interest rates. Commencements for new rental units fell to 5290 in FY2024, well down on the 6543 starts achieved a year earlier. Further ahead, prospects brighten, however: by 2027, starts would jump well past 8000, according to Oxford Economics Australia.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/deals-in-build-to-rent-market-ready-for-lift-off-says-us-giant-20240805-p5jzl6
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According to The Australian Financial Review, apartment values are rising faster than those of houses in about six out of 10 suburbs nationwide as the price gap between the two categories blows out to a record 48.2 per cent, CoreLogic data shows.
A sharp decline in borrowing capacity, coupled with the recent house price gains, has consolidated the demand for units, lifting investor and first home buyer activity, said CoreLogic’s head of research, Eliza Owen.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/unit-prices-rising-faster-than-houses-in-60pc-of-all-suburbs-20240801-p5jyax
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Japanese property giant Mitsubishi Estate Asia has made its first investment in Australia’s industrial sector after partnering with global platform ESR on a $175 million estate in south-east Melbourne.
The partners will develop 70,000 square metres of logistics facilities with an end value of $175 million on a 12.1-hectare site at 92 Enterprise Road in Pakenham.
A 12,600-square-metre facility pre-leased to a global textile manufacturer is already under construction and due to be completed early next year. Development of the second stage of Enterprise Industry Park, as it will be known, is expected to start later this year and is available for lease.

https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/mitsubishi-partners-with-esr-on-first-aussie-logistics-project-20240731-p5jy09
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Brisbane’s median house price will surpass the $1 million mark for the first time within the next three months and Perth will become a million-dollar city by June next year as their hot housing markets hit new peaks, Domain says.
Melbourne is also on track to hit a new high by the end of December if values continue to gain momentum.
However, house price growth in Sydney and Adelaide is likely to moderate as affordability worsens due to higher interest rates and previous rises in value.
Nicola Powell, Domain’s chief of research and economics said Brisbane and Perth will achieve their million-dollar milestones earlier than expected after their median house prices surged by 4 per cent and 6.6 per cent in just three months, respectively.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/brisbane-s-median-house-price-to-hit-1m-by-september-20240719-p5jv1q

According to The Australian Financial Review, new apartment and townhouse starts fell to an 11-year low over the four quarters to March, prompting building and infrastructure groups to list union pay and condition agreements among the rising costs and hurdles holding back the development of much-needed housing.
Dwelling commencements for attached homes dropped 5.5 per cent from the December quarter to 14,253, cutting the total over the year to March to 59,783 – the weakest since September 2012 – new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/apartment-starts-fall-to-11-year-low-20240717-p5juf1