Latest property News

FIRB data shows Chinese buyers are back for Australian real estate market - Juwai IQI

Monday 11 May 2020

Australia's relationship with China may have come under scrutiny across the past couple of weeks in relation to COVID-19 but new data from the Foreign Investment Review Board indicates real estate investment from the Asian country is on the rise. According to the FIRB annual report for 2018/19, mainland Chinese real estate investment into Australia in 2018-19 dropped to $6.1 billion, down more than 50 per cent from 2017-18 and its lowest level since 2012-13. But figures for the second ....

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NSW estate agents get go-ahead to hold onsite auctions and open houses amid COVID-19 shutdown relaxation

Thursday 07 May 2020

The NSW property market will roll out the welcome mat from next weekend with agents and vendors able to hold traditional property inspections and on-site auctions after a six-week limited shutdown due to COVID-19. Neighbours have been told not to stickybeak! It starts from next weekend, May 9. Coming into the last of autumn's listings, there were 269 auctions scheduled in Sydney this week, up slightly on last week's 192 homes, according to CoreLogic. There were 539 on the same weekend last year, ....

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NSW could abolish stamp duty, payroll tax

Monday 04 May 2020

The NSW opposition have given their cautious support to the Berejiklian government's push to abolish stamp duty and payroll tax in a bid to revive the state's economy following coronavirus. With unemployment forecast to hit 10 per cent by the end of the year, NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet on Saturday laid out a plan to scrap what he described as inefficient taxes. While the outbreak of the deadly disease has punched a hole in the economy, Mr Perrottet told Nine that: "We are not going to tax o ....

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ANZ defers $36bn in mortgages, prepares for loss

Friday 01 May 2020

The major bank has set aside over $1 billion in new credit impairment charges, as it braces for a rise in delinquencies following the expiry of loan deferral periods. ANZ has released its half-year results for the 2020 financial year (1H20), reporting a 60 per cent plunge in its cash earnings after tax, from $3.5 billion in 1H19 to $1.4 billion. The earnings slide was triggered by a 76 per cent spike in credit impairment charges, up from $890 million in 1H19 to just under $1.7 billion in 1H20. A ....

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51% of real estate professionals see workload reduction

Wednesday 29 Apr 2020

The majority of real estate professionals have seen their workload impacted since the pandemic was declared, putting the industry above the national average. The COVID-19 Business Confidence Survey, commissioned by REB sister brand My Business, encouraged participants across a range of industries (accounting, aviation, defence, financial services, law, mortgage and finance broking, and real estate) to take part in an online questionnaire between 2 and 22 April. The survey serves as a barome ....

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Banks’ ‘generosity’ called into question

Wednesday 29 Apr 2020

REINSW CEO Tim McKibbin has issued a statement in response to debate over the past few weeks around who should foot the bill for tenants suffering COVID-19-related hardship. “Little concern has existed in the public narrative regarding the difficulties COVID-19 is causing the landlord,” he said, noting that the NSW government “has made it very clear that landlords are expected and required to ‘waive’ all, or a significant portion, of the rent due by the tenant” ....

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Government backflip achieves equitable outcome for landlords and tenants

Wednesday 29 Apr 2020

The Queensland government has backflipped on its six-month freeze of evictions, a waiver on rental payments and a ban on non-essential maintenance following over 400,000 petitioning the new laws designed to protect tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic. A statement by the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) confirmed the government’s backflip after just 72 hours of launching its Everyone Matters in Real Estate campaign due to the volume of landlords who petitioned 93 member ....

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Investors run over by Hungry Jack's rent cuts

Monday 27 Apr 2020

Standing outside the Hungry Jack's at the highway stop on the road to Geelong, retirees Peter and Robyn Radford feel like they've been run over by 'Big Retail'. Along with about 100 other investors, the Radfords, both in their early 70s, are unit holders in an unlisted property fund that owns service centres on both sides of the Princes Freeway at Little River. Distributions for the fund, totalling 8¢ per unit annually and paid monthly, have been cut in half for April after Hungry Jack ....

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Singapore builds beds as COVID-19 cases surge

Monday 27 Apr 2020

Singapore is rapidly building bed space for coronavirus patients in cavernous exhibition halls and other temporary facilities as it faces a surge in cases, mainly among its large community of low-paid migrant workers. The tiny city-state of 5.7 million people has over 12,000 confirmed infections of the virus, one of the most in Asia, due to outbreaks in cramped dormitories where over 300,000 mainly south Asian workers live. One such facility at Changi Exhibition Centre - home to the Singapo ....

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Workers urged to download app to kick-start post-COVID-19 economy

Monday 27 Apr 2020

Big employers will urge their staff to download a new contact tracing phone application to help the nation safely return to work as the federal government on Sunday evening launched the critical next phase of the pandemic lockdown. Health authorities are expecting more than half of all Australians to download the voluntary COVIDSafe contact tracing app, which logs every user who has been within 1.5 metres of a person for 15 minutes or more by using Bluetooth technology to record digital “h ....

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