The market continued to be sluggish with a low clearance rate of 47 per cent this week. Auction numbers were also well below what they were the same time last year, with 963 reported, scheduled auctions last Saturday compared with 1452 this time last year. The statistics listed below give… Read More

Adding to the confusion that many are experiencing regarding the current state of the housing market and the reporting of it by the media, one of Australia’s largest credit unions, Peoples Choice, has weighed in. The have announced tighter lending criteria to home loans with tougher scrutiny on household expenses… Read More

There is still apparent confidence in Melbourne’s commercial market even as the residential sector is seeing the effects of a protracted downturn. Despite restrictions on the outflow of capital from China, investors are still targeting established commercial holdings in central Melbourne. Some recent, high end examples have been Burwood One… Read More

The much publicised changes to current negative gearing arrangements, proposed by federal Labor, have resulted in a chorus of concerned warnings from financial commentators and research institutions.  SQM research has forecasted that peak-to-trough declines in the Melbourne housing market would worsen to 20-30 percent, exacerbating current predictions of peak-to-trough declines… Read More

Despite a four-week run of clearance rates below 50 per cent, some stellar auction results are still emerging across Melbourne. Homes in need of a renovation were the leading lights last week, when a preliminary clearance rate of just 48.3 per cent across 1141 auctions was recorded by CoreLogic. This… Read More

Changes to the Owners Corporations Act 2006 are being introduced to help prevent short-term accommodation apartment buildings being used to host unruly parties. Under the reforms – to come into effect from Friday 1 February 2019 – owners corporations and residents will be able to take action against owners and guests, who will be… Read More

A worrying prediction has been given for lending growth due to investors increasingly pulling out of the market contributing to the recent market downturn. Westpac’s CEO Brian Hartzer stated that he “expected house prices to cool further, and investor demand to remain weak” which will contribute to further decline in… Read More

Strong economic growth averaging 3.5 percent is what the Australian economy can look forward to over the next two years, according to the Reserve Bank, bringing the jobless rate to 4.75 per cent by 2020. This is despite the current doom and gloom surrounding forecasts for the real-estate market. The… Read More