Posted by admin on 16 May 2012
Yesterday’s Courier Mail ran the headline “Brisbane unit sales strongest in a decade”. The story focused on new, inner-city apartment projects being sold off-plan (i.e. before or during construction).
RP Data reports Brisbane’s dwelling prices dropped 1.3% in April. That meant a 0.6% drop for the quarter (after positive results previous months). They say our homes are now down 12% on the peak of the market we had in late 2010.
Matusik Insights say there’s good news for sellers with the number of properties on the market declining (South East Queensland down 10% compared to April 2011) and smaller discounts needed from asking price to get a final sale.
Confused yet?
RP Data is one of the nation’s largest property data and research outfits but their calculations ultimately need turnover of property to allow them to tell if it’s going up or down. But for resales of Brisbane residential property this is one of the quietest markets in more than a decade. Less sales means price change data is less reliable. Inner-Brisbane may be slightly insulated compared to the burbs and new apartment projects are being sold with strong investment-based campaigns.
On the ground we are getting stronger buyer enquiry than during 2011 and overall confidence seems better. But buyers are still cautious and price sensitive. Our own stats show our average time on market year to date are 41 days, compared with 67 same time last year. We’re just one inner-city agency but it’s at least some hard data about our sales for you.
The chatter from accountants is that last week’s budget, and its removal of some superannuation incentives, will attract investors back to residential property. Especially when they do their June 30th taxes. Investors have been scouring the market for some time without making a move in any great number. And our new state government has confirmed July 1st as the change to stamp duty – that is, many home buyers will be $7000 better off, or more, if they buy after July 1st than today.
There’s a sense that July might be a telling month for selling and buyers, especially investors, could do well to beat the crowd.
Please tell us what you think. How do you see the market in Brisbane’s inner-city right now?
Tags: Brisbane median home prices, Michael Matusik, RP Data
Posted in Brisbane's sales market | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 12 May 2012
Brisbane is home to plenty of “new” residents. Country Queenslanders, new Australians and of course our southern cousins who see the light and join us in the Sunshine State. And when we moved here all of us have had to find our “patch”, the part of Brisbane to call home. The neighbourhood where we feel like we belong, where our “birds of a feather flock together”. The place that’s handy for our work, near the weekend activities we like. The suburb that’s close to what the demographers call our “Third Place”, the bar or café strip for example where we spend the most time after home and work.
But when you first arrive in town how do you know which suburb to choose?
There’s a lot of online info but it’s almost always written by some vested interest. A café that tells you Bulimba’s Oxford Street is Brisbane’s premium dining strip. A managed apartment building website that says Spring Hill is an easy walk to all the CBD has to offer. But what is it really like to live in Bulimba or Spring Hill? If you love Queenslander homes or a certain style of architecture where do you search? If you need a big yard where do you go? Even if you’ve decided you want an inner-city lifestyle within 5km of the CBD that still gives you 44 suburbs to choose from.
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland has some good suburb profiles on their website and Bees Nees own site might be a good place to start, where we’ve made some short notes of dwelling types etc. If you’re going to rent a home and want a feel for rents in each suburbs try www.WhatRentMyHome.com.au for a quick and easy search of each postcodes’ median rents. Using the dynamic mapping on realestate.com.au you can also choose a suburb (or Brisbane CBD if you need a starting point) and zoom out until you find a home that meets your budget criteria – for renting and buying.
Using a relocation agency can also be a good step. They’ll assess your lifestyle and housing needs and offer solutions to match – and yes Bees Nees has a sister company that specialises in executive relocation to Brisbane!
Are you a property snob and won’t live in certain areas?! Forget political correctness and tell us in the comments box below. We promise to publish all comments and you can remain anonymous! Tell us which Brisbane suburbs are your dream-home favourites and let loose on the places you won’t even drive through.
Posted in real estate marketing | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 11 May 2012
We had a call from our accountant the day after the Federal government’s budget was announced. Get an urgent message to your overseas landlords. The Treasurer is pulling back their tax benefits!
With no warning they’ve introduced changes to our capital gains tax rules and the 50% reduction in assessable gain will no longer apply to non-resident property owners. Importantly you can apply the discount based on the value as at May 8th 2012, so please discuss this with your Australian accountant asap. It might be best to get a registered valuer out to your property now, and lock in your ‘protected’ gains.
And for all investors we think it’s worth a reminder that the depreciation allowances on your property can add up to a substantial tax deduction. So if you haven’t got a professionally prepared schedule you may be underclaiming – and apartment owners often forget that as a part-owner of all their common property such as lifts, pools, gyms etc etc, you are entitled to depreciate this in your claims. Annual deductions over $10,000 are common.
We understand there can be options to adjust previous years’ tax returns too, so the fee to have a depreciation schedule prepared might be a good investment.
And as always, please talk to your accountant for up to the minute advice.
Posted in Brisbane landlords, property taxes and rates etc | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 28 April 2012
Leading the way for much of inner-Brisbane’s property market, our CBD is currently busy, with buyers sensing opportunity and investors returning (albeit cautiously). The graphs tell the story fairly clearly: prices have not moved much in the past few years, but they have held their ground where other areas have floundered.
Sales volumes are well down on their peaks but 2011 ended as a stronger year than many expected and the start of 2012 has seen higher levels of buyer enquiry. This remains a buyer’s market, but one where properties are meeting ready demand when they’re fairly priced. There’s just a small handful of houses traded each year (in the Petrie Terrace precinct) so the median price data needs to be read with caution.
If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our sales team on 07 3214 6800
Tags: Brisbane CBD real estate agent
Posted in Brisbane CBD | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 24 April 2012
It still seems incredible that Brisbane real estate agents continue to advertise properties without an asking price. There’s lots of tactics in real estate marketing that have ongoing discussion within the industry – where should we advertise, should we stage or furnish a vacant home, or even debate on the merits of auction.
But the one item that’s crystal clear from buyer feedback is that leaving the price off a home is a sure-fire way to kill your enquiries.
If there’s no price on the ad the phones simply do not ring. Using “P.O.A.” or “submit all offers” doesn’t help and this sort of tactic regularly tops buyers’ gripes lists. Buyers do understand if it’s going through an auction campaign. But a big survey conducted by realestate.com.au showed 92% of buyers were unlikely to enquire about a property with no price. PRD Research recently surveyed another small sample and 75% were “greatly deterred” from those properties.
So in the face of the blindingly obvious why would Brisbane real estate agents continue to run ads without prices?
Often it’s the need for agents to be seen as active in their market. The ones with lots of listings. They almost always have a seller client who wants too much for the property so they’re listing and hoping that the lack of activity will lead to a change in the client’s price expectation. Or at worst they get another, saleable listing as a result. It’s a big negative feature of the real estate portals that agents can load as many listings as they like and leave them up for as long as they like.
Is there a price you’d be prepared to sell your place for? Would you agree to be on the market if someone has a lazy $1.2million for your $800,000 home? Some agents might see you as an opportunity to list, get their name and logo on the web, and no-one’s harmed in the process. But it does makes it all that much harder for home buyers and investors trying to sort through the rubbish these websites are full of.
Tags: Brisbane house prices, Brisbane real estate agents, real estate advertising
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, real estate marketing | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 24 April 2012
When it turned up in the mail over the past couple of weeks you probably didn’t pay much attention to your Annual Land Valuation Notice. Most of us know the Council uses this number to calculate our rates bill but it’s such a random amount we rarely know how it translates to actual expenses. So few of us bother to check whether it’s fair, let alone go through the steps to appeal it.
The government’s recently reviewed how they set the valuations but doing these for every property across the state means the process inevitably remains flawed. So it’s worth a reminder that Council rates aren’t your only cost. If you’re not already paying land tax, a small increase in your property’s site valuation could easily tip you over the minimum. It’s just $350,000 for companies/trusts or $600,000 if owned in personal names. The government have grouping rules too so you only need to own one decent inner-Brisbane house or an average house plus one apartment and you can easily exceed the limits.
Step 1: Check your latest Site Valuation at the govt website. Many are showing big increases on last year, despite the market having mostly gone backwards.
Step 2: If you feel the amount is unreasonably high download a valuation objection form – most of the info you need to complete it is at the webpage in step 1.
Step 3: Do your homework on what you feel the valuation should be. There’s now plenty of sales data available on sites like www.myrp.com.au and www.pricefinder.com.au If you’re a Bees Nees landlord we’d be happy to assist with a sales report at no charge.
You have time limits on submitting your objection and the steps really aren’t as difficult or time-consuming as you’d think. And the result could be a saving of thousands.
Have you appealed a valuation in the past? We’d love to hear your comments
Tags: Brisbane property manager, Brisbane property valuation, Brisbane real estate agents, land tax
Posted in Brisbane landlords, property taxes and rates etc | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 23 April 2012
The headlines are frequent: “Vacancy rates tight”, “rental home shortage puts pressure on tenants”. Plenty of property commentators have announced the return of a stronger rental market and skyrocketing weekly rents. Over recent months there’s been huge expectations created amongst landlords, with property developers and other vested interest groups latching onto vacancy data and the limited supply of new rental homes to arrive at incredible forecasts.
One report we saw last week gave a written forecast for a new project’s rents to be 29% higher than we’re currently achieving for comparable apartments. How? Well settlement’s not due til next year and rents are rising quickly. Apparently.
So it comes as something of a surprise to many that rents in most of Brisbane’s inner city are not actually going up.
The Residential Tenancies Authority has just released their March quarter stats and some of these agents and their market commentating/tea-leaf watching/crystal ball gazers should have a good read. Across Brisbane’s inner-city rents in most postcodes have now been flat since June 2011. The reports are correct that supply is constrained – in these same suburbs the rental pool has grown by just 1100 homes in the past year. Hardly the numbers we’d expect to keep up with population growth and a long-term trend to city living.
So how has the supply/demand argument faltered? We’d suggest it’s caution. Caution from landlords who keep reading we’re in tough times and don’t press for rent increases for fear of having a vacant property. Caution from tenants who aren’t upgrading their homes, who are staying put and checking comparable rents carefully anytime their lease is up for renewal.
We’re not economists and can’t offer a more complex reason. But on the ground we see overconfident landlords who over-shoot the market suffering long vacancies – all while reading about this apparent shortage of homes.
We’d argue rents are trending upwards and most tenants do accept this. But when developers and Brisbane real estate agents who have properties to sell are spruiking double-digit growth in rents we’d suggest more caution is needed – from anyone reading their predictions.
Tags: Brisbane real estate agents, Brisbane rents, median rents Brisbane, property management Brisbane, Rent negotiation Brisbane, rental prices Brisbane, rental supply Brisbane, Residential Tenancies Authority
Posted in Brisbane landlords, Brisbane's rental market | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 4 April 2012
Before you get the wrong idea this is a family blog and NORCS are “Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities”. Real estate commentators love a good acronym. Our markets are often driven by changing demographics in a neighbourhood so it’s not surprising that the mix of ages, family types and incomes in local households are closely watched.
We pinched the NORC term from an American Realtor but it’s a good summary of what’s happening in a lot of Brisbane’s inner suburbs. These are the residents whose families have long ago moved on, their houses are too big for them with lots of spare bedrooms, their yards hard work to maintain. But they know their patch, their shops, neighbours, doctors, cafes, and they’re not going anywhere in a hurry. Analysts say they’re ‘aging in place’ and Brisbane’s Michael Matusik has written consistently about the overestimating governments make when they just assume these residents will chuff off to a village or townhouse somewhere.
In some inner-Brisbane streets there’s a big percentage of residents over 70 years of age. Norcs are very common. When we ask people “what do you like about your neighbourhood?” we often hear that it’s the mix of ages and backgrounds and the diversity. I grew up in a street with elderly neighbours. They used to babysit me while I ate their home-baked goodies. I caught their chooks for them so they could lop off the heads and roast us dinner!
But the challenges created by residents aging in place, in homes that aren’t designed for the needs of elderly residents, aren’t just limited to the residents themselves. It can create plenty of stress for their families and those who provide services to them.
As real estate agents we encourage everyone to move home regularly! But the truth is that many of us will buy a family home, raise, love then kick out the kids, and still be there many, many years later. How we provide our senior residents with support and services in these Norcs is a topic that needs more discussion.
And if you need a hand with chook-catching I’m your man!
Tags: household types, selling a house Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's future & new infrastructure, trends in Brisbane property | 1 Comment »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 4 April 2012
Increasing concern about rising body corp fees has added fuel to a new discussion (and in some cases a verbal “punch-up”) about Management Rights. The government’s calling for submissions by May 8th for a detailed review, and change may be in the wind.
We’ve always liked to do things differently in Queensland. Across our 40,000 community title schemes (apartment buildings, townhouse complexes etc) we have more than 2500 Management Rights operators. Often called Caretakers or Onsite Managers they’ve usually bought their business with the contract for maintaining common property and the opportunity to run a rental business from the building.
Other states have very few Management Rights operators: NSW has approx 200 of them, Victoria 25 and the others states even less. This one-time cottage industry grew in the Sunshine State through offering individually-owned apartments for short-stay accommodation. Legislation set up to provide a structure for this is used across all types of residential buildings and may have inadvertently created a dangerous friction point, with apartment owners feeling they’ve lost control of their buildings, running costs higher than may be needed, and Managers pressured to find a return on their investment.
Lot owners have become second class citizens, according to The Unit Owners Association of Queensland. They argue the limited options for a body corp to sack their Manager, even when they’re not doing a good job, has taken control of buildings out of the hands of their rightful owners. They say the 25 year contracts are unfair and Managers have a natural conflict to prevent owner-residents moving into the building as it reduces their rental pool (and value of their business). The UOAQ have lobbied hard for change and government may be listening. While apartments have been largely investor-owned the pressure on Managers has been limited. But with increasing numbers of owner-residents the scrutiny and expectations on Managers is rising quickly.
As agents we meet and deal with a lot of body corp Managers and there are some fantastic operators. Some who treat their lot owners with heaps of respect, take real pride in their buildings and have a genuine interest in improving the lifestyle for all residents. And of course we’ve met some who seem to believe they own the entire building and their purchase of the business gave them a right to run rough-shod over owners’ interests.
But rather than focus on the personalities the current review will hopefully resolve whether the structure is wrong. Should a developer be able to sell the Management Rights at the outset, often for a price that’s 5 times annual earnings? Managers make a huge financial commitment and this can put them at odds with lot owners. In NSW developers can only bind the body corp for one year, then the lot owners make their own decisions. The UOAQ says contracts should be a maximum of 3 years. If developers sell the Rights for less (shorter terms = lower price) then all apartments will be a little more expensive. If a change is made how do current Management Rights operators (and their financiers) have some protection of the value of their business?
It’s a complex issue and there’s strong views on all sides. But it’s a discussion we have to have and we’d encourage you to give your opinion by emailing before May 8th: managementrightsreview@justice.qld.gov.au
Tags: body corp fees Queensland, Body Corporate and Community Management Act Queensland, body corporate issues Queensland, body corporate managers, Brisbane apartments, Brisbane resident manager, new apartments Brisbane, resident apartment managers
Posted in Brisbane landlords, property taxes and rates etc, real estate marketing, trends in Brisbane property | 4 Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 2 April 2012
They look good on all those TV shows don’t they? Open homes with the stupendous bunches of fresh flowers, impossibly sparkling floors, kitchen appliances that are blindingly clean, the tidiest kids’ bedrooms you’ve ever seen. And out of camera-shot is some poor house-owner who’s just spent 32 hours straight slaving to have it all look that way. The TV presenter and suit-wearing agent just rocked up in time for the cameras to roll. And even in the real world an open house can be a lot of work. So are they worth having?
Yes. Because that buyer who didn’t want to make a private appointment will come along. The buyer who didn’t want a one-on-one with real estate agents (sometimes known to be pushy), the couple who hadn’t considered this area but thought they’d get a quick review by “doing the opens”, the investor who lives nearby who just wanted a sticky-beak. All these people have bought from me after coming to an open home.
The test of course is would they have bought that property anyway? And in a number of cases I can confidently say no.
There are Brisbane real estate agents that declare open homes to be the work of Satan himself. Playing on fears of security concerns (for the record I’ve had no problem with this in 20 years), and the hassles of preparing for an open home, they argue that serious buyers will call. And they’re right, serious buyers do call and the conversion rate at private appointments is naturally much higher.
But their argument is a bit like a car yard having a whopping gate around it with a boom gate and security guard. Why do their salespeople keep cars unlocked, doors wide open, and whisk you off for a test-drive? They want you to experience what life would be like if you just make the purchase. And so do I.
Please tell us what you think?
Tags: Brisbane real estate agents, open houses Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, real estate marketing | No Comments »
Yesterday’s Courier Mail ran the headline “Brisbane unit sales strongest in a decade”. The story focused on new, inner-city apartment projects being sold off-plan (i.e. before or during construction).
