The inclement weather Saturday did not affect demand at this weekends auctions with a clearance rate of 67 per cent recorded.

This is a good result in light of the fact that this weekend has a higher number of auctions than the comparable weekends in the past 5 years.

There was a total of 343 auctions reported of which 229 sold and 114 were passed in, 68 of those on a vendors bid.

This weekend last year saw 338 auctions reported and a clearance rate of 83 per cent.

Stock levels continue to be high with 2600 auctions expected in the next three weeks.

Enzo Raimondo
CEO REIV

TOTAL AUCTIONS

This week: 343
Last Weekend: 1051
This weekend last year: 333

S Sold at Auction: 196
SB Sold before Auction: 31
SA Sold after Auction: 2

Passed in: 114
Passed in on vendor’s bid: 68

Clearance rate: 67%

Postponed: 3
Withdrawn: 0
Auctions with no result: 90

PS Private Sales: 634

Total Volume (Auctions): $156.13mil
Total Volume (Private Sales): $316.97mil

Total Auctions Houses: 225
Clearance Rate: 68%
Median Price: $633,500
Total Value: $103,396,500

Total Auctions Flats/Apartments: 108
Clearance Rate: 68%
Median Price: $552,500
Total Value: $51,034,000

Total Auctions Vacant Land: 10
Clearance Rate: 30%
Median Price: $848,500
Total Value: $1,697,000

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INVESTOR confidence in the Asia-Pacific region rebounded in the third quarter with improving business sentiment and market fundamentals.

This, according to a report from Jones Lang LaSalle.

In the Jones Lang LaSalle Market Perspective for October, the real estate agency said sales volumes were up by 12 per cent on the quarter.

Sovereign wealth funds and pension funds remained major players and were increasingly adopting co-investment approaches. For the third quarter, there was $3.3 billion worth of direct real estate investment in Australia.

Australia ranked fifth in the world for third-quarter investment, with the US leading the globe with more than $20bn worth of investment, followed by Britain, Japan, Germany and France.

The agency said overall investment sentiment was positive and growing stronger as market fundamentals improved.

Shortages of prime property for sale was constraining investment volumes and would eventually push investors towards secondary stock.

Corporates were showing greater confidence and no longer aggressively cutting costs.

Story by Bridget Carter www.theaustralian.com.au

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HOME buyers were spoilt for choice at the weekend but clearance rates held steady despite the bumper crop of auctions.

The number of homes scheduled to go under the hammer ramped up to more than 1000, making it the city’s biggest weekend for residential property in more than two years.

A total of 594 properties sold at auction, while 109 were sold before, three after and 325 were passed in.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria spokesman Robert Larocca said the 68 per cent clearance rate was “pretty much exactly where it’s been for the last 3 1/2 months”.

The fact the rate could stay steady when stock levels jumped “so substantially” pointed to the underlying health of the property market and the Victorian economy, Mr Larocca said.

Research by CommSec shows Victoria is surging ahead of the rest of the country in housing finance and construction, second only to the ACT.

Victoria posted record housing starts in the June quarter, up 38 per cent on the decade average, while the number of home loan approvals was 0.6 per cent above the average.

Commsec chief economist Craig James said Victoria’s strength was driven largely by strong population growth.

“In fact, in the year to June 2009, annual population growth of 2.3 per cent was the fastest since the early 1960s, although growth has eased more recently,” he said.

Mr James said home prices across Australia had eased in recent months with the supply of homes lifting and demand softening.

But Melbourne house prices were still 13.2 per cent above a year ago. Brisbane and Perth prices “are only a scant 0.8 per cent up on a year earlier”.

Expectations of further interest rate rises have been lurking in the minds of prospective home buyers for some months now.

The chances of a rate rise on Melbourne Cup day will be gauged when critical consumer price inflation data is released on Wednesday.

About 430 auctions are expected next weekend and 690 a week later.

Story by Rachel Hewitt www.hearaldsun.com.au

View the original article here

HOME buyers were spoilt for choice at the weekend but clearance rates held steady despite the bumper crop of auctions.

The number of homes scheduled to go under the hammer ramped up to more than 1000, making it the city’s biggest weekend for residential property in more than two years.

A total of 594 properties sold at auction, while 109 were sold before, three after and 325 were passed in.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria spokesman Robert Larocca said the 68 per cent clearance rate was “pretty much exactly where it’s been for the last 3 1/2 months”.

The fact the rate could stay steady when stock levels jumped “so substantially” pointed to the underlying health of the property market and the Victorian economy, Mr Larocca said.

Research by CommSec shows Victoria is surging ahead of the rest of the country in housing finance and construction, second only to the ACT.

Victoria posted record housing starts in the June quarter, up 38 per cent on the decade average, while the number of home loan approvals was 0.6 per cent above the average.

Commsec chief economist Craig James said Victoria’s strength was driven largely by strong population growth.

“In fact, in the year to June 2009, annual population growth of 2.3 per cent was the fastest since the early 1960s, although growth has eased more recently,” he said.

Mr James said home prices across Australia had eased in recent months with the supply of homes lifting and demand softening.

But Melbourne house prices were still 13.2 per cent above a year ago. Brisbane and Perth prices “are only a scant 0.8 per cent up on a year earlier”.

Expectations of further interest rate rises have been lurking in the minds of prospective home buyers for some months now.

The chances of a rate rise on Melbourne Cup day will be gauged when critical consumer price inflation data is released on Wednesday.

About 430 auctions are expected next weekend and 690 a week later.

Story by Rachel Hewitt www.hearaldsun.com.au

View the original article here

The Perth real estate market has experienced a winter of discontent, with property prices dropping 4.8 per cent in the three months to August, according to RP Data-Rismark.

The real estate consultancy said the Perth market was the worst performing of all capital cities last winter, with the homes around the nation averaging a 1.2 per cent drop.

Perth’s median price – once the highest in the nation at $500,000 – is now $460,000 following a 3.3 per cent reduction in the value of dwellings in the past year.

This is barely above the $457,000 Australian average, following a 3.9 per cent increase across the nation in the year to date.

RP Data’s research director Tim Lawless said no further capital gains were expected this year as the market battled increasing interest rates.

"Just 12 months ago mortgage rates were 160 basis points lower and the market was still benefiting from the first home buyers boost," he said.

"Since the RBA has normalised rates with six hikes, combined with additional bank top-ups, capital growth has halted."

Christopher Joye, the managing director of Rismark International, predicted further interest rate increases, with the headline rate expected to peak at seven to eight per cent before any discounts.

Mr Lawless said rental yields across capital cities are showing signs of improvement, and creating big investment opportunities.

The rental yield in Perth was 3.9 per cent in August, up from 3.8 per cent a month earlier. Units rents were steady in both months at 4.3 per cent.

"This has resulted in an overall improvement in rental yields. The outlook is likely to be positive for investors but not so great for renters as vacancy rates remain exceptionally tight and rents are now rising," Mr Lawless said.

Kim MacDonald, The West Australian

With Australia’s residential property sector finally coming off the boil, investors should be set to head back into the market to take advantage of easing demand and weakening buyer competition.

But while owner occupiers and first home buyers are fast disappearing from the market, the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that investors aren’t exactly jumping in to take their place.

It’s a sign of just how strong Australia’s property market became over the last 18 months that investors are now finding it a bit of a struggle to see a profitable way in.

One of the biggest problems is the across-the-board decline in gross rental yields seen in every capital city for both houses and units in the last year, according to analysts RP Data.

(Gross rental yield is calculated as a percentage of the annual rent versus the purchase price; it does not include expenses in maintaining the rental property.)

RP Data estimates that it takes a rental yield of 5.5 per cent or better to be attractive enough to draw investors into the market in any great numbers.

Many capital cities – particularly for houses – don’t even come close to that threshold:

HOUSES               Jul-10                    1 Year Change

Melbourne             3.5                              -0.6                        

Perth                     3.8                              -0.4

Adelaide                3.9                              -0.3

National                3.9                              -0.4

Sydney                  4.1                                0.3

Brisbane                4.2                              -0.3

Canberra               4.6                               -0.3

Hobart*                 4.9                               -0.1

Darwin                  5.2                               -1.2

UNITS                 Jul-10                    1 Year Change

Melbourne            4.1                               -0.5

Perth                    4.3                               -0.2

Adelaide               4.5                               -0.3 

National              4.8                               -0.3

Brisbane               4.9                               -0.3

Sydney                 5.1                               -0.3

Canberra              5.3                               -0.2

Hobart*                5.4                               -0.5

Darwin                 5.6                               -0.5

Sure, gross rental yields are a blunt instrument for measuring the profitability of an investment  — because they don’t account of other expenses and outgoings – and what ultimately matters is the rental yield calculated for an individual property.

But the data does point out pretty clearly how spiraling property prices in many of the capital cities have put real pressure on would-be investors.

Vacancy may be tight in many cities but rental growth has proved weak-to-moderate, which means investors are having to wait longer to see a decent rental return after paying those high purchase prices.

Then there’s the other risk that comes with buying into a near-peak market — pay too much above market value and you can end up sacrificing months or even years of potential capital growth.

Avoiding both these scenarios are sure to be on the forefront of investors’ minds heading into the spring property season.

*Due to the low volume of sales in Hobart, rental yield figures cited by RP Data cover the period from June 2009 to June 2010. 

Story by Chris Vedelago Fairfax Digital

Real estate sales in Australia jumped by 11 per cent during August, official figures reveal.

The property market in the country received a boost as homebuyer confidence strengthened and first-time buyers returned to the market.

With the Reserve Bank keeping official interest rates on hold, property sales across the nation were 10.9 per cent higher than in July, the figures from the Australian Finance Group (AFG) show.

According to the figures, greater competition between lenders on price and policy combined with increasing loan-to-value ratios are also proving beneficial to property investors.

"With property prices in many areas having stabilised, and some lenders prepared to lend up to 95 per cent of the property’s value, property is becoming more accessible to first home buyers and more attractive to investors," he explained.

Indeed, investor activity varied across the states, with New South Wales and Victoria topping the market.

In New South Wales almost 37 per cent of all mortgages sold were to investors, while in Victoria they accounted for 36.4 per cent of the total sales volume.

However, investor confidence in Queensland and Western Australia remained low, largely due to the uncertainty over a possible mining super tax.

Source: www.ipinglobal.com

Million dollar properties are selling at a rate of one every two hours in Australia but there are signs that the red hot real estate market is cooling.

The equivalent of 12 $1 million plus homes have been sold each day at auctions for the past three weekends, according to an analysis of the figures by Melbourne based James Buyers Advocates.
‘There has been an incredible 180 sales over a million in the last fortnight, said spokesman Mal James.

Robert Larocca,  spokesman for the Real Estate Institute of Victoria confirmed record numbers of properties in this price bracket are being sold but he believes the market is starting to cool. ‘Sellers are not getting the increases that we saw three months ago,’ he said.
But analysts are divided over whether this is a sign of the market cooling in the longer term or just the usual winter seasonal drop off. Philip Kingston of Gary Peer Real Estate, said the property market was still performing but was much more normal than it was just a few months ago.

‘The reality is we were living in an unsustainable market. But as long as vendors are realistic, buyers are more than happy to perform,’ he said.

However, Real Estate Institute of Australia president David Airey disagrees and said that while things were normalising, the sector could be in for a bumpy ride in the not too distant future. ‘This is not a market going to offer premium price for property being sold,’ he said.

A key will be tax proposals and unemployment levels, he believes. ‘I think if the resource super profits tax is made reality it will have quite a negative impact on the housing market. The impact on employment and investment in the mining sector will ultimately filter back to the economy and filter back to property and how willing people are to invest,’ he explained.

source: www.propertywire.com

Lois Buckett

Lois Buckett Real Estate based in Lennox Head and Bangalow specialises in meeting your real estate needs throughout the region.

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