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"What's Happening In New South Wales" Record Sale Price Confirms Sydney Suburb As Hotspot Mount Druitt, a suburb in Sydney’s west, has now affirmed its position as a property hotspot according to Laing+Simmons, after the suburb recorded its first auction sales price of over $1 million recently. 6 November 2013. More. Interest Rate Cut Not Needed For Hot Sydney Market Though the property recovery remains patchy across Australia's capital cities, experts and agents have joined chorus saying that Sydney, at least, doesn't need another jab in the arm. The Reserve Bank decided to leave the official cash rate on hold on Tuesday at 2.5 per cent - the lowest level in 60 years. 5 November 2013. More.

Mortgage Broker AFG Has Biggest Month Ever, But NSW First Home Buyers AWOL Mortgage broker AFG had its biggest month ever in October, processing more than $4 billion in home loans. The figure is 12% greater than the $3.624 billion processed the month before, which was itself a record. The biggest increase in activity was recorded in South Australia, up 19% for the month. 4 November 2013. More.

Australia’s Largest Cities Raise Property Values

Newly released figures* show property values on the march over October, fueled by Australia’s three largest cities; Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. RP Data has revealed an increase in Australia’s capital

city dwelling values of 1.3% in October, with the Sydney housing market the largest driver (a 5.5% increase in property values). 1

November 2013. More. Booming Property Market Saves NSW Budget The New South Wales Government has revealed a surprise surplus of $239 million for 2012-13, despite forecasting a deficit of $374m on June 18. The result was driven, in part, by a big surge in stamp duty receipts on the back of Sydney’s booming housing market, which came in nearly $200 million higher than expected. 30 October 2013. More.

"What's Happening In Queensland" Campaign Launched To Entice People To Buy Rather Than Rent

Renters who wish to embrace property ownership will be relieved to know in some cases, it can be cheaper to buy than rent. Record low interest rates and strong rents in Gladstone have prompted Latitude Development Group to launch the "cheaper to buy

than rent" campaign for Gladstone's $90 million Brookview Estate at Glen Eden. 7 November 2013. More.

Election Spurs Boost In City’s Property Market Ipswich's property market is thriving in the wake of news that business confidence in the wider Brisbane region has jumped 13 percent. A Westpac Group CCIQ Pulse Survey for the September quarter revealed the jump in business confidence to 61.1 percentage points in the wider Brisbane area. Ipswich Chamber of Commerce president Brett Kitching said the increase in confidence was "probably a result of holding the federal election, after it was announced so long before it was held". 5 November 2013. More. Brisbane's House Market Bounces Back, Say Reports Brisbane house prices are continuing to rise but remain about 8 per cent below their last high, new figures show. Despite the level of affordability in the Brisbane, first home buyers are noticeably absent from the market, according to the latest Bankwest First Times Buyer Deposit Report. This makes it an opportune time for southern investors to head north, RP Data analyst Cameron Kusher says. 2 November 2013. More.

Units In Outer Suburbs The Top Performers For Rental Returns

Units are becoming the star performers for real estate investors in the Greater Brisbane region, stealing the show from houses in the latest rental return data. And outlying suburbs are proving to be the best place to invest, showing better returns than their hip inner-city neighbours. Units took out eight of the region's top 10 spots for indicative gross rental yield in the past 12 months, according to RP Data's latest Suburb Scorecard for the 12 months to July. 26 October 2013. More.

Issue # 057 November 8th

2013

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State Of The Nation Continued…

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"What's Happening In Victoria" Is It Too Late To Decide To Sell This year? Looking At The Property Market In Victoria

Following the encouraging results from the biggest week in history in the Victoria property market at the end of October for the Victoria property market some intending vendors may be have asking if it’s too late to sell at auction this year. With only 7

weekends left in the year when an auction can realistically be held, a decision to list for sale would not leave much time for a marketing campaign to make the most of your homes assets. 5 November 2013. More.

Report Suggests Thousands Of Vacant Homes Keeping Melbourne House Prices High A report by a property think tank argues houses prices in Melbourne are being kept high by tens of thousands of homes that appear to be unoccupied. Prosper Australia says its findings challenge the common belief that a shortage of homes is helping to drive the surge in rents and property prices. 5 November 2013. More.

Melbourne Speculative Vacancies Top 4%

Prosper Australia has released the 2013 Speculative Vacancies in Melbourne Report, which shows a residential vacancy rate in Metropolitan Melbourne of 4.4% and a commercial vacancy rate of 22.7%. According to the report, there is an estimated 64,465 vacant homes in Melbourne. Vacancy

hotspots include: Southbank (22.5%), Rosebud (15.4%), Port Melbourne (12.8%), Essendon North (11.3%) and Carlton South (9.6%). 5 November 2013. More.

Private Sales An Important Indicator: RP Data's Melbourne Weekend Auction Analysis

A preliminary clearance rate of 71.2% was reached from 146 auction results so far this week. Due to the low volume of auctions this week it is more important to look at the private sale market. RP Data has recorded a further tightening of the private sale market with the time on market for houses dropping again, this time from 36 days to 34. Conditions in the private sale market have been improving for sellers for the last year with time on market dropping 12 days. 4 November 2013. More.

"What's Happening In South Australia" Bank Announces Rate Reduction On Broker-Exclusive Range

Adelaide Bank has announced a reduction in new fixed and variable loan rates on its broker-exclusive Smartsuite Commercial range by 75bp - and has halved the application fee on its Low Doc and Simple Doc products from 1% to 0.5% of the loan amount. 7 November 2013. More.

Home Loan Demand Surges In October

The country’s largest mortgage brokerage recorded its best month ever in October, processing more than $4 billion worth of home loans. In the latest sign of a strongly rebounding housing market, Australian Finance Group (AFG) today reports the company’s 1900 brokers had a bumper month. Across Australia, $4.057 billion worth of mortgages were processed, which is 12 per cent higher than the $3.62 billion recorded in September. 4 November 2013. More.

Dwelling Values Rise in Adelaide Capital city dwelling values increased across Australia in October, including a 0.3 per cent growth for property in Burnside and other suburbs of Adelaide. A rise of 1.3 per cent was confirmed across the combined capital cities housing market, according to figures released by RP Data and Rismark International on November 1. The results show Australia's capital city dwelling values increased by 7.9 per cent over the past 12 months, which is the fastest rate of growth in three years. 4 November 2013. More.

New House Sales Lift Low interest rates have kicked in with some positive signs of recovery in the new house sales market. Private detached house sales in South Australia increased in the month of September 2013, reaching their highest level in over two years, the Housing Industry Association New Home Sales report showed. 31 October 2013. More.

Tips On Adelaide's Property Market From Award Winning Agents

Want to know what's going on hyper locally in Adelaide's north, east, southern and western real estate markets? Real Estate Writer KASIA OZOG quizzed the regional winners of the of the News Australia

realestate.com.au Awards for Excellence about their local areas. Here is what the winning regional re al estate agents had to say. 30 October 2013. More.

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State Of The Nation Continued…

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"What's Happening In Western Australia" Perth Sales Drop But First Home Buyers Active At Affordable End

The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia released its property results from the September quarter last week and there were three clear trends to be found among the data. The most noticeable trends are the drop in sales turnover, strong but declining first home buyer activity and the narrowing of most sales into a particular price range. 7 November 2013. More.

Modest Rise In National Residential Listings, With Perth And Hobart Going Against The Trend: SQM The level of residential property listings around the nation rose minimally during the month of October, with national stock levels increasing by 1.5% and coming to a total of 347,056 according to recent figures released by SQM Research. 5 November 2013. More.

Stock On Market Rose In October

SQM Research has released its stock on market figures for October, which registered a 1.5% monthly increase in residential listings across Australia, although listings were 3.5% lower over the year: All capital cities, except Perth and Hobart, recorded an increase in listings in October, with Canberra (+5.9%), Sydney (+4.7%), and Melbourne (+3.9%) the stand outs. 5 November 2013. More.

Perth Sales Weaken

Sales turnover has dropped in Perth and the median house price declined, new data from the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) shows. The number of metropolitan home sales dropped away by around six per cent in the September quarter, with 10 of its 13 weeks recording below average turnover. “The sales of units and apartments remained steady across the board, but house sales dropped away,” REIWA president David Airey said. 4 November 2013. More. More First Home Buyers Entering WA Property Market

The number of first home buyers in Western Australia has soared 31 per cent in the past year, research from Bankwest shows. The Bankwest first time buyer deposit report, released on

Thursday, showed 19,949 people entered WA's housing market during 2012/13, compared to 15,205 in the previous financial year. There were more first home buyers in WA in the past year than in any other state in Australia, the report found. 31 October 2013. More.

"What's Happening In The Northern Territory" Modest Rise In Property Listings

The latest figures from SQM Research reveal a slight rise in the level of residential property listings during October. SQM Research reported that national stock levels rose by 1.5 per cent, with a total of 347,056. While it is only a modest rise, when compared to the same period last year, stock is being absorbed at a much faster rate during 2013. Darwin has recorded a 13.4 per cent yearly increase, which is in line with SQM Research’s forecast that the city will experience a slowdown in property prices in 2014. 6 November 2013. More.

Inner-City Living Doesn't Come Cheap

Territory housing has shown mixed returns in the three months to September, according to a preview of the Real Estate Local Market report, due out this week. The comprehensive snapshot of the Territory market is compiled each quarter by the Real Estate Institute NT (REINT) on all available sales and rental data. House prices rose hugely in some areas like inner Darwin and Tennant Creek but were flat in other places such as Palmerston and Katherine. 6 November 2013. More.

74% Of Aussies Say Now Is A Good Time To Buy: RP Data

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of Australians feel now is a good time to buy property, according to RP Data’s Nine Rewards Survey of housing market sentiment. While the results show the vast majority of those surveyed think the timing to purchase a home is good, there was a reduction from the survey’s May 2013 results, where 80% of respondents thought it was a good time to purchase a home. 29 October 2013. More.

"What's Happening In Tasmania" Outer Hobart Defies Tasmania Market Plateau

Outer Hobart defied the trend of falling sales in Tasmania in the September quarter according to the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania. After the 10.% increase in house sales in the June quarter for Tasmania, sales fell 1.6% in the September quarter as sales in outer Hobart increased 21% over the quarter and 62.8% over the year. 6 November 2013. More.

Tasmania Doubles First-Home Grant

Tasmania will today unveil the nation's most generous ever first-home-builder grant -- $30,000 -- to kick-start the state's economy and to lure young homemakers from interstate to boost the population. The measure, to be announced by Premier Lara Giddings, effectively pays the cost of a home deposit and is hailed by the housing industry as potentially a transformative moment in the state's history. 7 November 2013. More.

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State Of The Nation Continued…

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If you would like to voice your opinion on any article you have read in the State Of The Nation Newsletters or elsewhere that has concerned you, please send the article and your opinion on it to us and we will include it in a future issue of the State Of The Nation. Send your opinion to kevin@smartpropertyadviser.com.au

"Market Update" 2014’S Top Housing Markets To Avoid Select seaside housing markets dependant on tourism and the holiday homebuyer market are likely to be among 2014’s worst performing property markets, according to DSRscore.com.au figures. DSRScore’s September data revealed which Australian suburbs were facing an undersupply of property and, conversely, an oversupply. 5 November 2013. More.

Demand On Rental Market Easing With investors enjoying a tight rental market for a number of years, it looks as if this trend might be slowing. Recent research from the HIA and RP Data indicate that more rental properties are now vacant, trending up over the past three years, and rental yields are beginning to decline. 5 November 2013. More.

Home Prices After going nowhere for about two years, house prices have lifted for five consecutive months. The lift is also widespread with most major markets showing annual gains. According to RPData, home values across our capital cities are up 8% on a year ago – with detached house values rising by 8.2% (yes a decimal place) & attached property up 5.9% (and oh, what fun a single dot can be!). 4 November 2013. More.

RP Data-Rismark Index Shows Australian House Prices Climbed By 1.3 Per Cent In October Another spike in Sydney property prices contributed to a 1.3 per cent rise in the value of homes in Australia's eight capital cities last month. The latest RP Data-Rismark home value index shows Sydney house prices jumped by 2.4 per cent in October. The median house price in Australia's most populous city is now $610,000. 3 November 2013. More.

Housing Bubble Talk At Decade Highs Talk of the housing bubble has hit levels not seen since 2003, when house price growth was running at more than 15 per cent a year in the heady days before the global financial crisis. That’s according to a new index compiled by CommSec, which tracks mentions of the phrase “housing bubble” in articles in Australian newspapers, wire services and ABC radio transcripts, using the Dow Jones Factiva service. 1 November 2013. More.

What 300k Buys You Around Australia It’s becoming harder to find Australian properties around the $300,000 mark, and they’re often snapped up quickly. But there are still affordable buys out there, in a diverse range of areas. We’ve gathered our latest data to see what each state has to offer the market under $300,000. 31 October 2013. More.

"What's Happening Internationally" US Home Price Gains Lag In Sept A measure of United States home prices rose only slightly in September from August, a sign that prices are levelling off after big gains earlier this year. Real estate provider CoreLogic says home prices increased 0.2 per cent in September from the previous month. That's sharply lower than the 0.9 per cent month-over-month gain in August and the 1.8 per cent increase in July. 6 November 2013. More.

Are Off-The-Plan Properties Good Investments? The rate of apartments being offered off-the-plan is increasing, with developers of high density residential needing a certain amount of pre-sales before the development can kick off. These apartments are generally offered at a cheaper rate with incentives sometimes pinned on, but are these properties a good investment? Property Observer has asked industry professionals from buyers agents to developers to weigh in with their thoughts. They were each asked: Can off-the-plan properties be good investment? Why or why not? 1 November 2013. More.

Controversy Corner

Regulate Property Investment Advice, Says AMP Amid concerns that property spruikers are becoming prevalent in the SMSF sector, AMP SMSF’s Paul Sainsbury has said property investment advice should be regulated. AMP shares the concerns of the regulators that property spruiking has the potential to create “disrepute” in the SMSF space, Mr Sainsbury told SMSF Adviser. 5 November 2013. More.

Some Parting Advice

“A good investment property is one that's well located and will always be in strong demand by owner-occupiers and tenants alike.”

Until Next Time… Kevin Lee

www.smartpropertyadviser.com.au