Source:  Rich Harvey The volume of fixed rate mortgages expiring is due to peak between June and October of 2023. Many households with highly leveraged mortgages will be facing a critical financial juncture as they come off cheap fixed rates of around 2% and are hit with a new mortgage rate of circa 6%. The key question is… what proportion of households will be able to cope with these higher rates ….and for how long?   With cost of living pressures rising couple...

Source: Realestate.com.au REGIONAL Queensland continues to attract the lion’s share of Australia’s internal movers despite a lack of housing slowing down the great migration from capital cities, a new report has revealed. The latest Regional Movers Index by the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) and the Commonwealth Bank revealed that the Sunshine Coast (17%) and Gold Coast (9%) recorded the biggest share of net internal migration during the 12 months to June, but both recorded ...

Source:  CoreLogic After more than two years of unabated increases in the price to build a new home or renovate, the pressure on construction costs has come off the boil, despite lingering volatility among individual material types. CoreLogic’s Cordell Construction Cost Index (CCCI), which tracks the cost to build a typical new home, returned a quarterly growth rate of 0.7% for the June quarter, the lowest rate since September 2020 and well below the 1.2% decade average. Th...

John Leeson was invited to speak at the IRWA (International Right of Way) Association conference in Denver, Colorado in June 2023.  It was an honour to participate in the international presentation on water with representatives from throughout the world at the IRWA Conference. The conference hosted over 1,200 international attendees.  John was asked to participate in a Plenary Session: "The Ups and Downs of Water: Perspectives from Around the World", where John discussed...

Source: CoreLogic More than 40% of Australian house and unit markets record double-digit rent increase. CoreLogic’s national rental index shows the rate of rental growth has softened slightly, with rents up 0.8% in May compared to the 0.9% and 1% increases in April and March respectively. CoreLogic Economist Kaytlin Ezzy said the slowdown in the monthly growth rate had contributed to a fall in the annual trend, which dipped below double digits for the first time in 10 months, with re...

Source: Corelogic.com.au A surge in overseas migrants and international students coupled with a significant shortfall in rental listings has led to the strongest annual rental increase on record for Australia’s capitals. The mismatch between supply and demand continues to be the driving force pushing capital city rents higher. Over the four weeks to April 30th, the total supply of capital city rental listings was -20.9% below the level recorded this time last year and -39.8% below the...

Source: Australian Property Journal THE persistent decline of housing lending in Australia has accelerated in the 12consecutive month that it has fallen in. According to the ABS, the drop of 5.3% is the largest percentage drop since July 2022with investors (-6.0%) taking a heavier hit than owner occupiers (-4.9%). The latest data which excludes refinancing in lending, demonstrates the effect that inflation and interest rates are ultimately having on the housing market. Decline in house pr...

Source: Australian Property Journal THE share of total properties listed for rent below $400 per week has nearly halved in the past year as the national rental crisis shows no sign easing. PropTrack’s Market Insight Report found that the share of properties listed on realestate.com.au has plunged to just 17.6%. In March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, that share was 42.5%. The share of listings under $400 per week has halved over the past year in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, ...

Source:  REIQ The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) says calls from tenants’ advocates for rent control in Queensland is a short-sighted solution to a complex problem. REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said rent control would not be a panacea for the rental crisis and would likely have the opposite effect and exacerbate challenging rental conditions. “We are acutely aware of the devastating impacts of the rental crisis and against that backdrop, it’s understandabl...

Source: Australian Property Journal Housing finance fell again over December, in the eleventh consecutive decline bringing lending down 31% from its January 2022 peak. According to the latest data from ANZ Research, housing lending excluding refinancing was down 4.3% in December 2022, following a 4.2% decline in the previous month. The drop in lending was similarly felt for both investors and owner occupiers, at 4.4% m/m and 4.2% m/m respectively. Despite these declines, total lending for i...