Posted by admin on 9 November 2011
Australian home-owning households are 9 to 13 times wealthier than their rental counterparts, according to new data released by the ABS. With a median net wealth of $737,000 for those who’ve paid off their homes and $487,000 for those still repaying the bank, the numbers dwarf rental households’ median net assets of $55,000.
The ABS National Accounts show the huge disparity, but age and household size don’t explain the gap. The average age of a renter is 41 and those paying off a mortgage are 44. The ABS says the average rental home has 1.8 adult occupants while home owners have just 2.1 adults living under the same roof.
A recent Credit Suisse report says Australians are now amongst the world’s wealthiest, with real assets per adult second only to Norway.
The ABS data also shows the growth in the business of renting an investment property. In 1960 just 2.5% of GDP was earned by renting out a dwelling, but by 2010 this had risen to 8%. Last year $99 billion of rent was paid on just under 2 million Australian homes.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane home buyers, Brisbane tenants, household types
Posted in Brisbane landlords | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 17 October 2011
If you’ve noticed more tradies’ trucks in your neighbourhood streets there’s an easy explanation: home renovation is on the up. New ABS stats released today show the value of “alternations and additions to residential building” rose 2.6% in the June quarter. Aussies spent a massive $1.8 billion on major renos like new kitchens, decks and media rooms.
Major alternations in a home are classified as all works over $10,000 although last time we did work on our place that was less than the price of a couple of vanity units and taps…
The Housing Industry Association says renovation works are the source of growth for their industry in 2011. New residential construction dropped 5.3% in the June quarter, the majority of the slump in apartments and other attached buildings.
It’s a regular feature of a quieter sales market. People stop building, move less and renovate like crazy. We last reported on this in December 2006 and no doubt we’ll see it again. In a way it’s great for our streets to see all that housing stock rejuvenated.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane houses, Brisbane inner city residential building, Housing Industry Association
Posted in architecture and renovation, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 16 June 2011
The ABS have released new stats today that show how truly multicultural this nation has actually become. Walking around Brisbane’s inner city you see a good reflection of the findings below and it’s interesting to consider how these trends might change demands on our housing. For example will less Brits coming here and more Chinese mean a bigger appetite for higher density living? (As well as less demand for hot beer and cold pies….)
“Almost 6 million migrants, born in over 200 countries, live in Australia. According to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 27% of Australia’s resident population were born overseas, as at June 2010. People born in the United Kingdom continued to be the largest group of overseas-born residents, accounting for 1.2 million people. The next largest group was born in New Zealand with 544,000 people, followed by China (380,000 people), India (341,000) and Italy (216,000).
Over the last decade, the proportion of those born in the UK declined from 5.9% of Australia’s population in 2000 to 5.3% in 2010. In contrast, the proportions increased for people born in New Zealand (from 1.9% to 2.4%), China (from 0.8% to 1.7%) and India (from 0.5% to 1.5%). The majority (76%) of overseas-born residents were of working age, 15–64 years at June 2010. Migrants born in Asia, America and Africa had proportionally larger young (0–14 years) and working age (15–64 years) populations compared to those from Europe.
In 2009–10, net overseas migration contributed the greatest number of people to the most populous states: New South Wales with a net of 66,000 persons, followed by Victoria (60,400) and Queensland (39,700). The Northern Territory had the lowest contribution with a net of 1,300 persons.”
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane housing supply, population growth Brisbane
Posted in trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 30 May 2011
Plenty of real estate market watchers quote populations stats when “reading the tea leaves” for our industry. It makes sense that more people means greater housing demand. So some have pointed to slowing overseas migration as a warning sign for property prices. Here’s a handy reminder of the facts:
It takes some time for the ABS to release the data so the latest we have is for the year to Sept 30th 2010. And that showed net overseas migration down 40% on that same quarter a year earlier. That’s a sharp drop. But it also shows that our natural increase in population accounted for almost half of our population growth in the year. Australians stand proud, we’re amongst the best reproducers in the western world! And we’re getting pretty good at living longer too. So easing overseas arrivals won’t stop our growth.
And yes in case you missed it, our population grew 1.6% over that year – a jump of almost 350,000 (or twice the size of Townsville’s population) added to our numbers. Queensland’s resident numbers grew by almost 1,600 per week. So slower growth is still very strong growth.
Demographer Bernard Salt, writing in a recent Australian Newspaper column, remarks on the government’s own forecasts for continued growth. He points out that while the pollies talk about numbers dropping their own Federal budget papers show they’re still expecting net overseas migration to return to 180,000 next year.
If Dick Smith and the other ’small Australia’ proponents have any hope they’ll have to convince Australians to stop having babies. Good luck with that.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Bernard Salt, Brisbane house prices, Brisbane housing supply, Brisbane population growth
Posted in trends in Brisbane property | 1 Comment »
Posted by admin on 3 May 2011
Latest info from the RP Data Rismark Home Value report shows Brisbane’s house prices have been the worst performing of any capital city over the past year, with our median down 6.8% in the year to the end of March.
Make no mistake, this is a buyer’s market. And this news is being met by some smiling home buyers, eager to jump into the market.
‘On the ground’ we know there’s pockets of Brisbane where property is cheaper now than it’s been in at least a couple of years, while we’ve also seen some inner-city transactions happen at pretty much 2010 prices. Some of the better properties, especially those with strong locations, are still receiving multiple buyer enquiries. Like they do in any market, the quality properties still generate good interest.
None of us knows with any certainty what drives price changes. But our observation is that small price reductions have only happened in recent months where needed to get buyers to act. Conservatism reigns, the peer networks and bank manager/solicitors/adviser/butcher are all telling would-be buyers there’s bargains to be had. Make an offer, shop around. And with fewer buyers making their move some keen sellers have dropped their price to get a quick result.
So should buyers hold off for prices to drop further? We just don’t see any great pressure on sellers to go any lower. Some have to sell due to growing, shrinking and splitting households. There are no doubt some who have financial pressure – but we really aren’t witnessing much of it at all. (We’re not hearing of any job losses, ABS report savings levels up.) And yes many sellers now realise that if they sell and buy again in the same market it doesn’t really matter where prices are sitting. They’re getting on with their plans. Dropping a couple of percent to get buyers over the line. If the property’s well-promoted it rarely takes much more.
So buyers waiting for gun-at-the-head, high pressure, dump and run property prices, may well be disappointed. None of us can pick bottoms (or peaks) of markets with any accuracy and the danger is it will turn before you know it.
There’s some good buying to be had right now, often with less competition. For home buyers, especially in inner-Brisbane, this might be as good as it gets.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane house prices, buyer enquiry, home buyers Brisbane, RP Data, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's sales market | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 1 December 2010
When we review the Residential Tenancies Authority’s stats each quarter we usually see what we expect: if it’s been quiet at Bees Nees with properties taking longer to rent, then official records usually show flat rents. But over the past few months, the reported data hasn’t been reflecting our on the ground experience. Our vacancy rate has been tiny (other agencies might have been a bit higher – they don’t have the talented team we do!) but the reported median rents haven’t risen.
Researchers BIS Shrapnel say Brisbane should expect annual rent rises of 5 to 7% over the next couple of years as housing supply struggles to keep up. ABS data shows housing approvals at a 15 month low. Any quick glance across Brisbane’s inner-city tells a story: there’s only a couple of cranes working on residential towers, new low-rise and townhouse projects are almost non-existent, and it’s been that way for most of the past 4 years.
There are some reasons to explain the flat rents to date, in spite of the lack of new housing. Population growth has slowed, international student numbers (a huge market for the CBD and immediate surround especially) have cooled a little, some tenants bought their own homes with the First Home Boost, and yes, we are putting more people into the same number of homes with 20-somethings staying at home, group households and sharing increasing etc.
But as incomes grow do you really think parents are going to let those kids freeload much longer? Mums and dads have waited a long time for that quiet home! And share households have a tolerance breaking point when that dishwashing-incapable toilet-seat-leaver-upper, smelly and inconsiderate flatmate just isn’t worth the rarely-paid-on-time rent!
It’s starting to look like there’s no more room at the Inn for Brisbane’s inner city tenant market, and BIS Shrapnel’s forecast would be a welcome reward for patient property investors in 2011.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, BIS Shrapnel property research, Brisbane apartments, Brisbane housing supply, Brisbane rents, Brisbane tenants, Brisbane vacancy rates, international students Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane landlords, Brisbane's rental market | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 28 May 2010
Amongst the mile of changes to our tax system recommended by the Henry Review, there’s one that many in the property industry have dismissed out of hand. Mr Henry and Co. proposed that land tax should be paid by all property owners.
It’s controversial because it’d be a massive increase on the current land taxes that only apply once you own a minimum value of property (unimproved or UCV – see your rates notice for yours). In Queensland it’s currently $350,000 for company-owned or $600,000 for individuals (approx 2 good Brisbane houses).
But maybe the critics have been too hasty – and hear us out here! Henry suggests a simultaneous scrapping of stamp duties on the transfer of property, arguing this tax leads to inefficient use of our housing stock. A typical inner Brisbane house purchase costs the buyer $22,000 in stamp duty ($15,000 if they’re owner-occupying) and this high cost penalises the changeover of housing. Empty-nesters for example are staying in the 4 bedder long after the kids have left home and the spare bedrooms aren’t been used.
An ABS survey suggests one in six Queenslanders have been in their home for longer than 20 years. They also found 14% of us move to get a bigger place, compared to less than 3% who downsize. Addressing the housing affordability issue, Henry says less hurdles to moving will encourage us to a smaller place. Why not swap the spare bedrooms for a more modern place with other features we want?
The States will rightly be nervous of scrapping stamp duties, with more than 40% of their income coming from property transactions. But a broad land tax would be more predictable and allow better govt budgeting. Of course as real estate agents we love the idea – we’d vote for a mandatory 5 years maximum in your home!
But what do you think? Would you prefer to pay land tax or stamp duty? Please post your comments.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane housing supply, Henry Review of tax, land tax, stamp duty Queensland, Unimproved Capital Valuation Brisbane
Posted in property taxes and rates etc | 4 Comments »
Posted by admin on 5 May 2010
Don’t you love statistics?! Brisbane property researcher Michael Matusik has released some ABS data on Australia’s population growth in 2008-2009 and depending on your preferred interpretation the nation’s fastest growing city is Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth!
Brisbane City is the fastest growing municipality with a 21,161 jump in population for the year. (Now 1.05 million happy Brisbanites who all drive the same way as me at 5.30pm on a Friday!)
Melbourne (the big city not the little council area) grew by 93,478, making it the fastest growing capital city by numbers, with greater Brisbane 4th with 52,104 new residents.
Greater Perth can claim the title of fastest capital city by percentage, with a 3.2% jump!
So there it is – clearly Brisbane IS still the fastest growing city in Australia!
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane population growth, Michael Matusik
Posted in trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 25 March 2010
The ABS released their latest population data today with growth numbers to the year ending Sept 30th. Queensland’s population jumped 2.7%, with another 115,200 maroon-wearing canetoads now calling this state home.
This was a big leap faster than the national average of 2.1% and second only to WA at 2.9%. Nationally around 2-thirds of our population growth is coming through overseas migration and that’s easy to see on the streets of Brisbane. Today this is very much an international city.
As we write it’d be safe to say Queensland is passing our 4.5m mark. With almost 10,000 extra people added to our state’s population every month that’s 116 new homes needed each and every day. And we’re not keeping up.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane housing supply, migration to Brisbane, population growth Brisbane
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Posted by admin on 29 April 2009
The ABS has just produced their latest population numbers and confirmed Brisbane’s long running spot as the nation’s fastest growing capital. In the year to June 2008 we added 17,400 residents, with 1.03million of us now calling the city home. (That’s the Brisbane City area – the broader ’statistical’ city is closer to 2million). Assuming our usual 2.6 people per household that meant we needed to build another 6,692 dwellings in the year just to cope with the increased population.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, population growth Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's future & new infrastructure, Brisbane's sales market | No Comments »
Australian home-owning households are 9 to 13 times wealthier than their rental counterparts, according to new data released by the ABS. With a median net wealth of $737,000 for those who’ve paid off their homes and $487,000 for those still repaying the bank, the numbers dwarf rental households’ median net assets of $55,000.
