National
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Reader Poll: Do you want the ‘right to disconnect’ from work?
The French government is implementing a new law that requires companies to negotiate the hours of their employees’ ‘right to disconnect‘. We wonder how this would work in the real estate context. Would you want the right to switch off from work?
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Australia’s home building activities to soar this year: Master Builders
Australia’s 2017 home building activities will go down as one of the best performing years in history with the peak likely to come before the end of the financial term, said Master Builders of Australia’s National Manager for Housing Matthew Pollock. “This would leave the possibility for a softer landing later down the track, with housing finance commitments and building…
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Shift to higher density living fuels market growth but renews concerns of glut
Lending approvals are up; New dwellings are up; High-density commitments are up. While there is no doubt that multi-unit construction remains the strongest performing sector of the industry over the past five years, there is continued speculation that the demand will not be sustainable. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures published on Tuesday reports that mortgage lending among investors in November had risen…
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Single home ownership among women has fallen, says ME Bank
More singles, especially women, are being squeezed out from home ownership, an analysis by super fund-owned ME Bank has revealed. The number of individual home loan applicants put forth with the bank had fallen by 9 points to 35 percent out of all loans over the past two years with home loan applications produced by women falling by 14 points…
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St George says Australians should be resolved to saving
New research commissioned by St George Bank in December had found that Aussies were a worried lot when it came to money matters and had put in plans to save more this year for an overseas trip and to buy a home. The research found that 70 per cent of the respondents interviewed by the bank had concerns for the…
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NAB raises its fixed home loans interest rates, follows in on rivals
One of Australia’s largest lenders, the National Bank of Australia (NAB) has raised the interest rates on several of its fixed-rate home loans, following its rivals. In a statement on Monday, the bank said its second, third and fourth-year package fixed rate for home loans would increase effective today, to 3.98 percent, 4.09percent, and 4.59 percent per annum respectively. While…
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Purplebricks opens offices in Sydney and Central Coast, plans expansion to Perth and Adelaide soon
Purplebricks has just opened up new offices in Sydney and the Central Coast, with plans underway to expand into Perth and Adelaide as well. The company’s latest set up in New South Wales (NSW) comes just four months after it opened offices in Brisbane, Melbourne, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. Established in the UK in 2014, Purplebricks has…
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Airbnb ventures into restaurant booking app Resy.com
New York-based Resy.com has just received a fresh round of funding worth $13 million from global accommodation portal Airbnb along with the participation of First Data Corporation, RSE Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau Ventures, technology website VentureBeat reports. Founded in 2014, Resy.com, is a restaurant booking platform which offers a consumer-focused mobile app that allows travellers to book tables at great…
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RBA may not lower the cash rate any further : RateCity.com.au
A growing number of economic indicators have suggested that the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) historically low cash rate of 1.5 percent would not go down any lower. Peter Arnold, data insights director at RateCity.com.au said banks were beginning to hike their home loan rates with close to two-thirds of lenders increasing rates on fixed loans and a smaller number lifting…
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Reader Poll: How are you feeling about the market heading into 2017?
Are you optimistic about your market and success in 2016? Let us know. View Survey
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Sydney and Melbourne records lower sales this year: REA
Highlights of REA Group Property Demand Index Report for December 2016: National demand for property dropped by 6.6 percent on realestate.com.au in December, down from peak levels recorded in October and November. Victoria had the largest decline over the month, as demands dip for both houses and apartments. New South Wales (NSW) followed closely, possibly suggesting that the housing boom…
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REA Group to buy stake India’s PropTiger and Housing.com
REA Group have agreed to buy a 14.7 per cent stake in Indian online real estate marketing group PropTiger for $67.9 million. PropTiger.com and Housing.com, two of India’s leading online real estate service providers, in a seperate announcement said the investment will enable it to become India’s largest online real estate services company in the near future. Under the agreement,…
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Research shows “The Block” and “House Rules” inspires more Aussies to renovate their homes
Research from Roy Morgan has revealed that the number of Australian homeowners refurbishing their properties has skyrocketed in the last three years, all thanks to the influence of popular home improvement programs such as the “Block” and “House Rules”. Close to 8.4 million or 62 per cent of Australia’s 13.6 million proud homeowners have renovated in the last 12 months…
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Investorist helps Melbourne-based developer sell $12m worth of apartments in 15 minutes
A Melbourne-based developer has racked up over $12 million in apartment sales in just 15 minutes after using an online platform known as Investorist. The new Blackburn Boutique Apartments at East End in Blackburn South situated near Monash and Deakin universities in Melbourne were snapped up within minutes without the developers having resort to traditional real estate marketing campaigns. Investorist…
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iProperty Group announces Haresh Khoobchandani as General Manager in Malaysia and Singapore
REA Group today announced the appointment of Mr Haresh Khoobchandani to the role of iProperty Group General Manager, Malaysia and Singapore. He will commence the role on 12 January 2017. Mr Khoobchandani has more than 20 years of sales, marketing and leadership expertise, with extensive experience within the Asia Pacific region. Previously, Mr Khoobchandani was GM Microsoft Business Solutions for…
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Stamp duty breaks for older empty nesters will help solve second home buyer dilemma
A stamp duty break for empty nesters aged over 70 could ease housing affordability stresses in Sydney and Melbourne, according to Angus Raine, Executive Chairman, Raine & Horne. “The national housing debate focuses mostly on first home buyers, and with good reason given climbing real estate values combined with an ongoing shortage of new homes,” said Mr Raine. Sydney housing…
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CoreLogic: Capital city dwelling values experience highest growth rate in seven years
Highlights over the three months to December 2016 Best performing capital city: Darwin +5.9 percent Weakest performing capital city: Adelaide -1.6 percent Highest rental yields: Hobart houses with gross rental yield of 5.1 percent and Hobart Units at 5.7 percent Lowest rental yields: Melbourne houses with gross rental yield of 2.7 percent and Darwin units at 3.6 percent Most expensive…
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Supercharge your results this year with Tom Panos and John McGrath as your mentors for 2017
Two of Australia’s most respected real estate coaches are teaming up to deliver a specially designed ‘boot camp’ that is committed to helping real-estate agents achieve exponential results by giving them proven formulas that work. Tom Panos, who is arguably Australia’s most popular real estate coach and trainer will be teaming up with property legend John McGrath of McGrath Estate…
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Bondsure records high uptake, just weeks after its launch
Bondsure, an insurance company that provides tenants with an option to pay their bonds on an installment basis been making waves within the real estate industry 10 weeks after its launch in October. The product which is specifically aimed at Australia’s growing tenancy market has had over 80 real estate offices signing up to use its services with more expected…
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Raine & Horne reacquires its South Australian operation from long-time franchisees
In a bid to strengthen its presence in South Australia, Raine & Horne had reacquired its real estate business from long-term franchise holders, Chris and Sue Weston for an undisclosed sum late last year. The husband and wife team who has been operating the group’s franchise since 1996 is the latest business to be reacquired by Raine & Horne after…
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realestate.com.au welcomes EnergyAustralia to Connection Services
Connection Services by realestate.com.au, an online solution helping movers to easily connect with utilities and telecommunications providers, has now welcomed EnergyAustralia to its list of energy providers. EnergyAustralia joins AGL and Origin as utilities providers on Connection Services, giving Australian movers more choice than ever before. Movers that select EnergyAustralia for Electricity or Gas will have their services supplied under…
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Seller Hub by realestate.com.au opens for inspection
Seller Hub, a new dedicated space on realestate.com.au, aims to give consumers access to the best information and insights before their property goes under the hammer. The new Seller Hub is designed to help make the selling process easier for consumers, by arming them with relevant tools to help with a successful sale. In Australia alone there are 1.2 million…
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realestate.com.au moves into the mortgage space
realestate.com.au and National Australia Bank (NAB) have today announced a five-year strategic partnership that will transform the property buying experience for Australians. As part of the experience, consumers will be able to access a suite of NAB home loans, a realestate.com.au branded white label product, as well as a panel of other lenders. “We know that Australians are property obsessed,…
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Clearance rates remain above 70 percent on tapering volumes (18/12/16)
The final week of auction reporting for the year sees the combined capital city clearance rate remain above 70 percent, while auction volumes continue their seasonal taper Auction activity continued to ease this week after a surge in auctions over the past four weeks. The combined capital city clearance rate fell slightly to 70.5 percent, down from last week’s 71.6 percent.…
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REA Statistics show Australia is obsessed with property
Australia’s obsession with property has continued this year with realestate.com.au revealing their statistics for the year. A single realestate.com.au user viewed more than 17,000 unique property listings this year, almost 50 per day[1]. 6.5 million visits to property listings on realestate.com.au on average every day[2]. 110 million hours spent looking at property and news on realestate.com.au so far in 2016[3].…
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Property owners celebrate an early Christmas with $35,000 win: LJ Hooker
A Bermagui couple is celebrating Christmas early after walking away with a $35,000 travel voucher as winners of the LJ Hooker network’s spring marketing campaign. Every property owner and landlord that had a market update with LJ Hooker over spring 2016 went into a draw to be the randomly selected person to spin the network’s Million Dollar Prize Wheel. Gordon…
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Property prices reflecting state economies: REIA
REIA has released the REIA Real Estate Market Facts for the September quarter 2016 which shows that the weighted average capital city median price increased by 1.4% for houses and 1.6% for other dwellings. “The weighted average median house price for the eight capital cities is now $712,776. Reflecting the differing fortunes of state economies, over the quarter, the median…
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Stamp duty a significant cost barrier for Sydney and Melbourne markets: CoreLogic
Higher priced properties in Sydney and Melbourne is not the only obstacle stopping people from entering these markets. Varying from state to state, another factor contributing to the high entry cost to housing is Stamp Duty, particularly in Australia’s largest two capital cities. CoreLogic Head of Research Tim Lawless said, “Calculating how much stamp duty is applicable on a property…
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Australian Community Newspaper Readership 2016: Roy Morgan
Readership of community newspapers in all mainland capital cities has declined, but many titles are bucking the trend and finding new local readers, the latest Roy Morgan Community Newspaper Readership results for the 24 months to September 2016 show. In Sydney, the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader extended its lead as the most-read community paper, with 220,000 readers per average issue (up…
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Clearance rates again above 70 percent on soaring volumes (11/12/16)
Auction markets continue their strong run, with the number of auctions recorded at the second highest level this year and clearance rates remaining above 70 percent for the 20th successive week Auction activity does not appear to be slowing through the festive period, with auction numbers reaching the highest level since March earlier this year. There were 3,411 auctions held…
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Historically low rates unable to offset increasing mortgages: REIA
The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) says that in the September quarter of 2016, housing affordability in Australia declined marginally with the proportion of the median family income required to meet average monthly loan repayments increasing to 29.5% from 29.4% in the previous quarter. REIA President Neville Sanders says, “The latest Adelaide Bank/REIA Housing Affordability Report shows that whilst…
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December 2016 RBA decision: Tim Lawless, Core Logic
In response to the RBA’s decision to keep interest rates on hold, Tim Lawless, CoreLogic’s Head of Research, provides his expert commentary on the decision and what may lay ahead when they meet in February. Despite inflation tracking well below the target range of 2-3%, the RBA decided to keep the cash rate on hold at 1.5% today. “On one…
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REA Group Property Demand Index – November 2016
REA Group has released their Property Demand Index for November 2016 showing variable results across capital cities with weakening demand in some locations and a stabilisation in demand. “Perhaps there is a sense of nervousness among Australians following the recent US election, because demand levels stabilised in November, increasing by just 0.1% during the month,” commented REA Group Chief Economist,…
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Real Estate Group Almost Doubles the Number of Members in 12 Months
@realty are a brand on the move, with an interesting and different business model that enables agents to operate autonomously under the @realty brand. Providing enhanced marketing services for agents wishing to have their own business, the brand has grown from 180 agents at the beginning of 2016 to 335 agents at the end of November. The Group started on…
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Rates to hold in December, before rising in 2017: RateCity
Official interest rates are poised to hold at the historic low of 1.50 per cent when the Reserve Bank Board meets this Tuesday, according to analysis by RateCity.com.au However, their study of over 30 key economic indicators suggests the easing cycle has ended with Peter Arnold, data insights director at RateCity.com.au suggesting the chances of a rate hike in 2017…
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