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 Rob Honeycombe on 15 February 2010
Did you know one quarter of Brisbane’s residents live in our inner city and these suburbs have 350,000 jobs, one half of the city’s total workforce?
We often read about Brisbane’s inner city and how it’s a unique lifestyle compared to the ‘burbs, but it’s rare to see this defined in any way. Where is our “inner city” and how are its residents any different, if at all?
In a current BCC and government planning process called “River City Blueprint” we’ve got a rare snapshot of the area they define as the 5km radius of our CBD. From Taringa to Morningside, Lutwyche to Annerley, this plan is being overlaid on the more than 30 separate planning documents in the area. It’s an attempt to give these suburbs a cohesive master plan.
So here’s the facts:
Brisbane’s inner city is just 78 square kilometres or 6% of our geography. With approx 250,000 residents that’s 28 people per hectare. Around 51% of us live in medium and high density dwellings compared to a quarter to all Brisbanites. We have less kids than the ‘burbs but more 18-34 year olds. There’s fewer families, more lone person households and more of us choose to work.
No big surprises there.
This is a multicultural area with a quarter of us born overseas. After Poms and New Zealanders those born in China are highest in number so Mandarin is our 2nd most spoken language, (assuming you call Kiwi “English”!). Some 22% say they don’t have a religion and Buddhism (2%) is still a distant second to Christian denominations (56%) for those who do nominate a faith.
Compared to Brisbane’s ‘burbs-dwellers we have higher incomes, more Bachelor and higher degrees and there’s more professionals and managers. We also own less cars and 10% of us walk to work.
The Blueprint taskforce collated this data from the last Census so it’ll be interesting to see how it’s changing. Go to their website if you want to read more or submit your own views on our inner city’s future.
One thing’s for sure: if the government’s projections for 200,000 new inner city jobs comes true we’d better build some more housing.
Love to hear your comments. How is inner Brisbane different to the city’s outer suburbs?
Tags: Annerley Brisbane, Brisbane City Council, household types, Lutwyche, Morningside, River City Blueprint, Taringa
Posted in Brisbane's future & new infrastructure, trends in Brisbane property | 1 Comment »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 10 October 2007
Many apartment buyers insist on finding a place with an ensuite, convinced that it’s a key to both “liveability” and that holy grail of real estate, maximum capital gain. There are plenty of advantages in having a second bathroom and in a 3 bedroom apartment we’d suggest it’s pretty much a requirement. In shared 2 bedroom households the idea of a bedroom and adjacent bathroom for each occupant is popular, and makes living with a cookie-thieving, loud music playing flatmate that bit more tolerable. But with so many couple and lone person households we wonder whether the extra cost of that second bathroom really ever pays for itself?
In rental returns the answer is – probably not. As examples we’ve looked at two inner city apartment buildings, one in the CBD and one in Spring Hill, where there are 2 bedroom apartments of very similar size, view and design. In each case one has an ensuite and the other doesn’t. And the rents? In Spring Hill it’s $420 with one bathroom and $450 right next door with a second bathroom. The CBD tower achieves $560 for a 2 bed, 1 bath apartment and $600 for its ensuited neighbour.
Any new apartment in Brisbane’s inner city now needs to be priced at around $7000 per square metre to be viable for development, and more of course in prime locations. So for an 8m2 ensuite (which is one of the most expensive areas to build) there needs to be a price premium of at least $60,000 to justify inclusion in the apartment. To earn a 5% gross return to an investor that’s $57 per week extra rent. Possible but not likely.
And how about price? In one CBD building we’ve seen two apartments, side by side, sell over the past month – one for $490,000, the other for $620,000. The difference? Around 15m2 extra space including an ensuite! In the same way buyers still flock to big backyards in the ‘burbs, many inner city apartment purchasers remain determined to buy with an ensuite, regardless of whether they actually need it. There’s a premium priced into the market that we believe mightn’t be retained in the future as affordability – for both buyers and tenants – causes a re-think on surplus bathrooms.
And with future water restrictions we probably won’t be able to use the shower anyway!
Do apartments need a 2nd bathroom? Tell us what you think!
Tags: Brisbane home design, Brisbane rents, household types, Spring Hill Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane CBD, Brisbane's rental market, Brisbane's sales market, Spring Hill, architecture and renovation, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 4 July 2007
An apartment-dwelling tenant in a multicultural and childless small household. That could well be inner Brisbane’s typical resident, according to the latest Census stats for the 17 suburbs immediately surrounding the CBD. This area has just 2 people per household (compared to 2.6 for Brisbane and Australia) so it’s no surprise more than 2-thirds of all dwellings are apartments and similar.
A whopping 50% of homes are rented and if you aren’t the type to say hi to your neighbour maybe it’s time you did – 30% of households have just the one resident. Couples without kids are double the number of those with children. And while our inner-city has plenty of English and Kiwis we do have less than our fair share, and there’s far more Korean and Chinese born residents than you’d expect to find across Brisbane. Just 70% of households say they only speak English at home compared to 84% across the whole city, and Mandarin (2% of households) and Greek (1.7%) speakers are amongst the cultures adding colour and life to our inner suburbs.
We’re now updating Bees Nees’ short suburb profiles using the latest ABS stats so if you’d like to receive a copy just click here to send us an email.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, household types, multiculturalism
Posted in trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 2 May 2007
Many apartment investors set a 2 bedroom minimum for their home hunt and in doing so bypass a large part of the inner city’s market. With our household size still shrinking due to divorce and lower fertility and death rates, we need to keep an eye on what demand there is for each type of home. Prominent researcher Michael Matusik this week claimed that people living alone would soon (probably within 15 years) represent Australia’s largest household type. In New Farm, Bowen Hills and the Valley lone person households already occupy more than 40% of dwellings.
So which is the better investment apartment – 1 bedroom or 2? There’s no question 1 bedrooms are cheaper for tenants. In the 1st quarter of this year median rent for a 2 bedroom in the inner city was $350, while a 1 bedder was just $250. Unless tenants intend to share or somehow make permanent use of the 2nd bedroom it’s an expensive accessory. Any good property manager will tell you right now the smaller (read “cheaper”) apartments are definitely quicker off the mark, but much of the supply available is still skewed to 2 bedrooms. In the 1st three months of 2007 there were 2480 new bonds for rented 2 bedders and 1,704 for 1 bedrooms.
What about yield/returns and capital gain? If we could find reliable stats to measure this we’d be pretty smart cookies! As an example only, our two most recent sales were in the same Spring Hill building – a 2 bedroom sold with a gross return of 5.7% and a 1 bed with 5.5%. So we did the maths on capital gains in that same building. There’s been 12 re-sales of 1 bedroom apartments since completion in late 2005, at an average 23% gain. The 10 re-sales of 2 bedders have reaped their owners an average 16% increase in value. These apartments all had very similar outlooks and the same level of finish and amenity.
Like any marketplace there’ll be trends and shifts, but affordability and shrinking households suggest that while 2 bedrooms will continue to appeal to a broad market, 1 bedroom apartments might be a worthwhile investment for the inner city. And with the money you save you can always buy two properties (we are real estate agents after all!)
Tags: Bowen Hills Brisbane, capital gains, household types, Michael Matusik, New Farm Brisbane, Spring Hill Brisbane, the Valley Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's rental market, Brisbane's sales market, Spring Hill, trends in Brisbane property | 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.
