Would you like to try an apartment before you buy it?
There are only so many things you can check before buying and moving into a new apartment. Some things you only find out about after you have moved in which can make the buying decision a little daunting, especially if you are downsizing from the family home or relocating to a new area or building….Read More→
Apartment market report shows a rebound in 2022
The JLL quarterly apartment market report landed this week with some welcome news for apartment owners. Leigh Warner – Senior Director, Research, and Hollee Hart – Senior Analyst, Research, compiled the National report which finds “For apartments specifically, market balance is likely to tighten significantly. Supply levels continue to fall in most markets and at a national…Read More→
The challenges of social housing is not all about housing
There was an interesting article in The Age on the weekend that highlights the challenges of integrating social housing into society. In summary it shows how despite everyone’s very best intentions sometimes it doesn’t work. It is easy to forget that our homes provide some of our most fundamental needs such as shelter, security, stability…Read More→
How an interest rate rise impact the apartment market?
There has been some recent commentary about the potential for interest rates to rise over the next one or two years. This is a normal consequence of strong fiscal stimulus implemented by many governments during Covid including Australia. There is some interesting reading from experts on this topic here and here and here. Assuming the…Read More→
Selling a leased apartment and what to do
As we approach the Christmas / New Year break, apartment investment owners should plan ahead if they wish to sell their apartment with vacant possession. While some period of vacancy through a sale process is unavoidable, if you don’t plan it right you may incur a lot more lost rent due to vacancy than you…Read More→
Apartment Rent is already recovering
The recent press heralding Melbourne as the cheapest city in Australia to rent comes as no surprise given it also holds the record as the most locked down city in the world through Covid. The travel bans coupled with prolonged restrictions over 18 months has discouraged or prohibited people from coming to Melbourne and prompted many to…Read More→
Government step into the housing market
Last week we detailed five residential property market drivers and how they were moving through Covid. Two of them were; The availability of finance, and How much deposit someone has. Governments (or their authorities) can impact the property market with policies designed to either stimulate or dampen the market but you don’t often see two…Read More→
Why Covid impacted property prices so much
The last 18 months has seen significant changes in business, economies, education, property, social, health etc. etc. etc. Almost everything has been impacted Covid. Interestingly most markets and economies moved in the opposite direction to what was predicted. Remember the forecasts that unemployment would hit over 8% and house prices could drop by up to…Read More→
China’s apartment market up in the air
There are many global political and financial issues in play at the moment including AUKUS, Quad Alliances, Covid, the climate change 2050 agreement, and diplomacy with China who is our biggest trading partner. Far greater minds that mine will opine on how these will impact on Australia. One other issue that is being closely monitored is the potential…Read More→
Agents advise sellers but who helps Apartment Buyers?
It is interesting when buying and selling apartments, the expert adviser (real estate agent) is always acting for the seller, which begs the question… who is helping or advising the buyer? While there are great buyer agents, it can be hard to justify the additional cost, plus it’s often difficult to explain to someone exactly…Read More→
VCAT is drowning in Covid times
If you have ever had a residential leasing dispute resolved at VCAT I hope you found it easy and fair. Some find it frustrating and even disappointing. If your experience was in pre-covid times you would almost certainly have a very different experience today. This week The Age released a story about the challenges owners and renters are…Read More→
Median Unit price in lockdown
During Covid lockdowns the number of apartment sales in Melbourne and Sydney has ground to a halt which makes me wonder… what will this do to the monthly median unit price? I don’t mean what will it do to apartment values as this is a slightly different question. The median unit price is the middle price…Read More→