Episodit
-
🌟 Leading the Way in Property Management: Corinne Bohan from the award winning Image Property 🌟
Join us on the latest episode of the Hotspotting podcast, where we sit down with Corinne Bohan, the trailblazing Managing Director of Image Property—Australia’s #1 Property Management Company for four consecutive years according to the RateMyAgent Awards. Dive deep into the world of elite property management with insights from a leader managing over 5,000 properties.
🏡 What Sets Image Property Apart? Corinne shares the secrets behind Image Property's success, focusing on their process-driven approach that handles everything from proactive maintenance to strategic tenant selection. Discover how their emphasis on exceptional client service, combined with rigorous staff training programs, leads to exceptional customer experiences and high retention rates.
🚀 Insider Insights on Overcoming Industry Challenges From navigating low vacancy rates to maximising returns, Corinne discusses how Image Property's dedication to sustainable rental incomes and a detail-oriented management strategy has carved a unique niche in the market. Learn about their innovative solutions and the critical role of problem-solving and project management in their growth trajectory.
🌐 Expansion and Impact Hear about Image Property's recent expansion into new markets like the Gold Coast, and get a peek into the future with discussions on major commercial projects impacting the real estate landscape.
🔑 Why Listen? Whether you're a landlord looking to optimise your property investment or a property management professional aiming to elevate your operational strategies, this episode offers invaluable perspectives from one of the industry’s best.
You can watch the full episode on Youtube too, and make sure to follow Hotspotting for more expert takes on the real estate market's hottest topics! 🎙️
Watch on YouTube - https://youtu.be/ryYhJEBjx_4
To learn more about Image Property or to connect with Corinne Bohan please visit www.imageproperty.com.au
-
The latest price data from two of the biggest sources of real estate information shows a resurgence in the regional areas, in competition with the capital cities.
The background to this is that the combined regions have outperformed on capital growth since Covid, with regional areas generally out-performing the big cities in the past four years.
But in the past 12 months, the tables have turned somewhat, with the cities overtaking the regions on growth in median prices, led by Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.
Now, we’ve seen another twist, with the latest statistics from both PropTrack and CoreLogic indicating that the combined regions have had a resurgence since the start of 2024.
Let’s look at the PropTrack numbers first.
PropTrack figures indicate that the Combined Regions had 0.3% growth in the home price index in April, compared to 0.21% in the Capital Cities.
The highest growth for April was in Perth, followed by Adelaide, but with the regional areas of NSW, Queensland and WA also exceeding the national average growth figure.
In annual terms, the cities are ahead, up 7.2% compared to 5.1% in the regions.
Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane have all had exceptional growth, but the regional markets in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia have all increased by more than 10% in the past 12 months.
The under-achievers in the past 12 months have been Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra and Darwin, as well as Regional Victoria and Regional Tasmania.
We really do have multi-speed markets, which is the norm in Australia at any point in time.
But since the Covid era started, the regions have been the overall stars, with home prices rising 55% in four years, compared to 36% by the capital cities.
In that four-year period, the biggest increase had been by Regional Queensland, up 68%, with Regional South Australia close behind with a 67% increase.
Next is Adelaide, followed by Brisbane and Perth.
Three other regional markets grew more than 50% in four years – NSW, WA and Tasmania.
CoreLogic has different numbers from PropTrack, which also is normal, but the market patterns are similar.
The CoreLogic figures show that in the past 12 months, the cities are ahead with house prices rising 10.3%, while the combined regions have risen 6.3%.
But more recently, the regions have excelled.
In April, house prices in the regions increased 0.8%, compared to 0.5% in the capital cities – with the regional markets in Queensland, South Australia and WA all rising more than 1%.
But the single biggest increase was Perth, up 2%, while Adelaide increased 1.2%.
In the latest quarter, the regions are up 2.1%, compared to 1.7% in the cities, with the regional markets of WA, South Australia and Queensland again leading the way – but again with Perth recording the biggest individual increase.
In the year to date, the first four months of 2024, the combined regions have grown 2.6% compared to 2.2% by the combined capital cities.
It’s a similar scenario with the unit markets.
In the year to date, the combined regions have growth 2.8% against 1.7% in the capital cities – and in the unit markets, the regions are also ahead in the past 12 months, up 7.2% compared to 6.7% in the cities.
In the cities, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth have all excelled on unit price growth, but Melbourne, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra have been weak and dragged down the capital city average.
In the regions, Queensland is the leader and South Australia, WA and NSW have all performed solidly.
The overall message in the data is that affordability is the key factor.
Whichever way you look at the price data, the outstanding performers have not been expensive cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra - but smaller cities like Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane, and the affordable regional markets.
-
Puuttuva jakso?
-
The silliest people skulking around the edges of the property industry are the shallow attention-seekers who pump out nonsense reports claiming that no one can afford to buy property – not because it’s true or useful, but simply to drum up some free publicity for the business who is the source of the misinformation.
The shallowness and pointlessness of these reports is demonstrated by the results being seen in property markets, which emphatically contradict the notion that most people can’t buy homes because they’re unaffordable to the vast majority.
We are constantly inundated with reports claiming young Australians are priced out of the property market and doomed to a life-time of renting – but the latest official data shows there has been a 13% annual increase in the number of loans to first-home buyers.
The attention-seeking report writers claim no one can afford to buy, but first-timers are out there buying homes in rising numbers.
Beyond the apparently dire plight of young buyers, there are growing instances of reports saying most households are priced out of the market, not just the first-timers, and that our real estate is unaffordable to the vast majority of people.
And yet, in stark contrast to those claims, our markets are extremely busy with buyers in all price ranges - and prices continue to rise steadily.
Here’s the thing: if you want to achieve cheap and easy publicity for yourself or your business, the fast-track is to publish alleged research on housing affordability – and to guarantee maximum coverage, your so-called report needs to conclude that it’s a dire situation and hardly anyone can afford to buy homes.
Media loves that story line and will publish it every time, despite the fact that they ran the same or a similar story last week, and the week before, and the week before that.
Apparently journalists believe we all have an insatiable appetite for lies about housing affordability.
The sad reality is that it’s really easy to pump out a report with negative findings - because the report writer gets to decide their own definitions of affordable and unaffordable. It’s completely random and arbitrary – but the creators of these shallow documents pretending to be research can rest easy in the knowledge that no journalist will ever challenge them on their definitions and parameters, nor ever question their findings. They’ll go for the easy option of the cheap headline, every single time.
Recently one of the big four banks produced a particularly scurrilous and worthless press release, pretending to be serious research, which found that only 13% of homes in Australia are affordable for buyers.
Now, if that was true, property markets across the nation would be largely dormant. There would be few sales occurring and prices would be falling in most markets.
Of course, the opposite is happening. Current sales levels across Australia are 24% higher than the same time last year and prices are rising in most markets across Australia.
How can these two contradictory things be happening?
It’s because the report in question is shallow nonsense.
And we shouldn’t be surprised that a major bank would produce a dishonest document to generate publicity – we all know from the royal commission and from our own personal experiences that the big banks are very comfortable with being unethical in the pursuit of profits.
So we’re not surprised to see National Australia Bank producing a headline-grabbing report that was based on the principle that you should never let the facts get in the way of a cheap headline. When you’re a big four bank using the media, the truth is always optional – and indeed usually rather inconvenient.
So, here’s what the NAB report claimed – and, to their credit, they managed to keep a straight face while talking about it.
They said that just 13% of the homes that are for sale in Australia are affordable to the average household. Presumably that means that 87% of the homes for sale across the nation won’t sell because they’re beyond the financial reach of most of us.
How did they manage to come up with this implausible scenario, which is contradicted by what’s happening the market every single day?
By deciding, in the interests of a screaming headline, that if you have to spend more than 25% of household income on servicing the mortgage, then it’s unaffordable.
Who says that this is the definition of unaffordable? Well, the National Australia Bank, because if they’d used a realistic benchmark that’s in line with the reality of most households with mortgages, they would NOT have been able to claim that most homes are unaffordable and they wouldn’t have got any publicity.
If NAB was right, of course, and spending more than a quarter of the household income on the mortgage WAS unaffordable, then mortgage delinquency rates in Australia would be sky-high.
But they’re not. The mortgage delinquency rate in Australia, according to S&Ps, is just 1.4%. Yes, slightly more than 1% of people with mortgages are behind on their payments. Which means over 98% of home-owners are paying their mortgage on time, which means they’re finding it affordable, even though some might be finding it difficult.
But according to the NAB report, that cannot be true, because 87% of homes, and the loans needed to buy them, are unaffordable – according to them.
Sadly, this is just another case of economists demanding that property markets behave the way they think they should, rather than observing the way markets are actually behaving, and trying to understand why.
-
It’s remarkable how many politicians think that the solution to every problem that afflicts the housing market is to scrap negative gearing and make other changes to drum investors out of existence.
Want to fix the rental shortage? Scrap negative gearing.
Make housing more affordable? Scrap negative gearing.
Facilitate the construction of a million new homes in Australia? Scrap negative gearing.
The illogic of these attitudes – and the way they run counter to the truth – is quite remarkable.
And, while it’s become quite common for politicians and others to recommend the end to negative gearing tax benefits, none of those advocates have been able to explain how that measure would lift rental supply or improve housing affordability.
When asked for numbers, they don’t have any.
Those who hold to the view that massively punishing property investors will solve all the ills in the housing industry should ask themselves a few basic questions.
Why is it that Australia abolished negative gearing in the 1980s but within two years had reinstated it?
Why is that New Zealand, in similar fashion, banned negative gearing three years ago and is now in the process of bringing it back in?
And why is it Ireland, that ended negative gearing some years ago as well as increasing taxes on investors, now has a rental shortage catastrophe far worse than Australia has now?
History shows that every time a nation decides to scapegoat and punish property investors, rather than implement real solutions to housing problems, they end with a situation far worse than they started with.
NZ did it, partly based on the theory that deterring investors would put a lid on property prices and make homes more affordable. But NZ house prices soared, because it was home buyers pushing up prices, not investors.
Rents also rose sharply in NZ, because many investors dropped out of the market, causing a serious rental shortage.
So it’s alarming to see politicians seeking attention – and I have to say it’s usually minor parties like the Greens or independents who are grandstanding – constantly declaring that anti-investor policies will fix all the housing problems.
The latest “look at me” politician to do this is the loud and bogan independent Jacqui Lambie.
I’ve been observing Jacquie Lambie for a long time – let’s face it, she loves the limelight - and she has always struck me as someone who desperately needs counselling – constantly angry, always bombastically shouting about something or at someone - and desperately unable to articulate a coherent sentence, so it’s always difficult to understand why she’s so worked up.
So it really shouldn’t surprise me that she called a press conference recently to declare that if we wipe out negative gearing it’ll fix the rental shortage. But was unable to explain exactly how that would work. Because it wouldn’t work. It would achieve the opposite.
She also claims it would cause house prices to drop – which perpetuates the myth that somehow negatively-geared investors are the reason prices rise in Australia.
My estimate is that less than 20% of buyers in the market are negatively-geared investors. What we’re being asked to accept is that this small minority of buyers somehow overpowers the 80% plus of buyers who are home buyers or investors not claiming negative-gearing tax benefits, such as myself.
The largest and most powerful cohort in the market at any point in time, including right now, are home buyers other than first-home buyers. They are older, with higher incomes, they have equity in their existing homes, and they have considerable borrowing power – far more so than first-home buyers OR investors.
The politicians who are most vocal about squashing investors are the Greens, who would, if they had the chance, cap rents, scrap negative gearing, increase capital gains tax and impose other taxes on investors.
To get an impression of the impact that would have on the Australian rental market, if it ever happened, we can observe the situation in Ireland, which implemented very similar policies some years ago.
Today Ireland has a rental shortage catastrophe, far worse that the crisis in Australia.
Among the various reports and analysis I found on the Ireland market situation, were these comments:
“Ireland has been grappling with a severe housing crisis for over a decade, characterized by a shortage of affordable and suitable homes, rising housing costs and rents, and increasing homelessness. This crisis has had a profound impact on individuals, families, and the country's economy as a whole.”
And here’s another comment on the situation in that country:
“Ireland's rental market is a daunting place for households in 2024 and with demand far outweighing supply, finding somewhere to live has become increasingly difficult if not impossible. One of the biggest reasons why Ireland is facing a housing crisis is due to lower investment by developers and landlords.”
Well, if you’re going to impose policies that squash the people who supply the product that’s in short supply, what do you expect?!
In Australia, an open house for a vacant rental home will commonly attract 15 or 20 people wanting to rent it. In Ireland, the queue at a rental open house stretches out the door and down the street, literally for hundreds of metres.
Those are the consequences Australia faces if it ever implements the policies advocated by Jacqui Lambie – or the even more extreme ideas advocated by the Greens.
Let’s face it, this is nothing more than the politics of envy. Rantings from people with no vision or intelligence or expertise, just a nagging feeling that someone is better off than they are, so they need to be stopped.
And to hell with the consequences.
-
Tune in to the latest episode of the Hotspotting Podcast with your host Tim Graham who sits down with special guest Scott Parry, founder of Crown Money.
In this informative and eye-opening webinar, Scott shares his journey from starting out as a young mortgage broker to founding Crown Money, a company focused on helping people achieve their financial goals and becoming debt-free.
Crown Money clients on on average pay off their mortgages within 12 years, and Scott is calling a client every 23 days to congratulate them on being debt free!
The episode dives deep into the topic of mortgages and how it can either be a tool for achieving financial freedom or a trap that keeps people in debt. Scott discusses the common mistakes people make when taking out a mortgage and shares valuable tips on how to master your mortgage for a debt-free future.
With his years of experience and a passion for helping people achieve their financial goals, Scott shares valuable insights on how to pay off your home faster and become financially free.
Don't miss this insightful conversation that will change the way you think about mortgages and take a step towards achieving true financial freedom.
To catch the full webinar, you can watch it on YouTube here.
To learn more about Crown Money Management, please visit https://crownmoneymanagement.com.au/
1300 882 981
Finance Tracking software: https://myprosperity.com.au/accounts/account/register?cobrand=crownmoney
Book a meeting with Scott https://meetings.hubspot.com/scottparry/video-meeting?uuid=d3a46d42-93bd-461a-a9aa-c857222678cb
-
One of the fundamentals of understanding real estate dynamics is remembering that real estate markets are local in nature – and they are influenced by the local economy in which they sit, far more than by national factors.
Although economists and journalists often refer to “the Australian property market” and predict what will happen with “Australian property prices”, the reality is that there is no such entity as the Australian property market.
Take a look at the price growth results among the eight capital cities for last year and you will note that some had boom growth, some had moderate growth, some stagnated and a few had falling prices.
All those different scenarios occurred within just the eight cities. There were similar variations occurring throughout all the regional markets.
All those places sat within the same national economy, all had the same situation with interest rates and all were operating under the one Federal Government.
Why, then, did we have all those different outcomes? Because real estate markets are very LOCAL in nature. The greatest influence on them is the local economy.
For that reason, at Hotspotting we are always keenly interested in a quarterly report published by CommSec, called the State of the States report.
This report uses a series of different metrics to rank the eight state and territory economies.
And I have found, over many years, that there is a correlation between the strength of the state or territory economies and the performance of the capital city property markets.
The past two quarterly editions of the State of The States report have ranked South Australia as the No.1 ranked economy in the nation, a finding that would surprise many people.
In the latest edition, South Australia was ranked No.1 on four different indicators.
But it doesn’t surprise the team at Hotspotting because we are very aware that the economy of Adelaide and South Australia is pumping strongly, helped by its status as the high tech innovation capital of the nation and the leading state for alternative energy developments.
Coinciding with the rise and rise of the South Australian economy has been the rise and rise of the Adelaide property market.
In 2023, Adelaide was the No.1 or the No.2 market in Australia for house price growth (depending on whose statistics you believe), in competition with Perth.
PropTrack’s data showing the leading suburbs and towns in Australia for price growth in the four years since Covid arrived, finds that the top 5 suburbs in the nation for price growth performance were ALL affordable suburbs in affordable Adelaide.
In the latest edition of The State of the States, the No.2 ranked economy was Perth - and again, there’s a clear correlation between that reality and the performance of Perth as one of the leading boom property markets in the nation.
Melbourne and Victoria rank No.3 on economic performance and this is one of several reasons why we believe that this market is poised for price growth in 2024, coupled also with very strong population data and a recent uplift in sales activity.
Consistently at the bottom of the CommSec report rankings is the Northern Territory, with its biggest weakness in the latest quarterly edition being housing finance – and it does not surprise us that Darwin has the weakest house price performance of all the capital cities in the past 12 months.
Other economies with lukewarm economic performance are Tasmania and the ACT – and this corresponds with the poor price performance of the Hobart and Canberra housing markets in the past year.
So this report, freely able to anyone who is interested, is one that’s worth following – because, read in conjunction with other data, it can provide clues about where prices are likely to rise in the near future.
-
Are you ready to take your investment journey to the next level?
Look no further, because we have exciting news to share with you! We are thrilled to announce our new Hotspotting pre-recorded interviews with some of the top 1% of Australian investors who own 5 or more properties.
As you may know, in the 2020-2021 financial year, only 0.87% of investors in Australia owned 5 or more investment properties. But what do these successful investors know that the majority don't? We have sat down with a number of them to get exclusive insights into their strategies, tips, and personal journeys.
Our pre-recorded interviews bring you valuable knowledge and advice from Australian property experts who walk the walk and practice what they preach. Learn from their mistakes, successes, and unique perspectives on property investment. These interviews are a must-watch for anyone looking to build a successful investment portfolio and achieve financial freedom.
With over 71% of investors owning only one investment property, we understand the challenges and uncertainties that come with growing your portfolio. That's why we have curated a series of interviews that exclusively feature investors with multiple properties. They represent the top 1% of Australian investors and have achieved remarkable success in their investment journey.
Our pre-recorded interviews are available for you to watch at your convenience, so you can take in all the knowledge and insights at your own pace. Hear firsthand how they navigate the ever-changing property market and make profitable investment decisions. You'll be able to walk away with practical tips and strategies that you can implement in your own investment journey.
About Kate Hill
Kate is an avid property investor with many years of firsthand experience buying and researching real estate. She founded Adviseable after many years as a Property Coach and Mentor. An accomplished Property Investment Adviser, Kate has facilitated hundreds of successful property investment purchases and has been named among the top 2 Your Investment Property magazine’s Advisers of the Year in Australia. She has also featured prolifically in the national media, commenting on TV, the press, radio and podcasts.
Kate is the co-author of the book The Female Investor: Building Wealth Security and Freedom Through Property Kate’s success as an adviser can be attributed to her keen sense of matching property with buyers, her knack for identifying outstanding property investment opportunities, and her tenacious negotiation skills. It’s these qualities that enable our clients to feel comfortable throughout the purchase process knowing that she’s in their corner.
Kate has a significant and growing property investment portfolio herself, and her personal philosophy is simple; “focus on results, and always buy property with maximum growth potential”. When she’s not immersed in research material in an effort to uncover the latest property investment hot-spots, Kate enjoys competing in ocean swim events, long-distance running, cinema or relaxing with a good book.
www.adviseable.com.au
-
Join us on this enlightening episode of the Hotspotting podcast, where host Tim Graham welcomes Sallyanne Hartnell from Reflect Coaching. An award-nominated Relationship and Divorce Coach and podcast host of "Reflect, Reclaim & Liberate," Sallyanne is on a mission to transform the divorce experience, helping couples reorganise their lives and family dynamics post-separation with dignity and less drama.
In this episode, Sallyanne sheds light on why she might be the professional "no one wants, but many need." We explore the intriguing intersection of divorce and real estate, discussing how the division of significant assets like property can be navigated smoothly during these challenging times. Sallyanne shares her insights on the trends in divorce rates, including a spike observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and offers expert advice on managing property settlements distinctively from the divorce proceedings.
Moreover, Sallyanne provides invaluable guidance on co-parenting and maintaining healthy family relationships post-divorce. Whether you're facing the possibility of a separation or seeking to understand the complexities surrounding divorce and asset division, this episode offers crucial perspectives that touch both the heart and the pocket.
Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of how to approach one of life's most difficult transitions with clarity and confidence, ensuring you protect both your emotional well-being and financial security.
If you would like to connect with Sallyanne, you can reach her at www.reflectcoaching.com.au
-
There are numerous reasons why we think Melbourne and Victoria is worthy of consideration by property investors, notwithstanding the concerted efforts by the state government and some local councils to force investors to sell up and get as far away from Victoria as possible.
Melbourne and Victoria are underpinned by one of the nation’s strongest state economies, according to CommSec’s State of the States report, and there has been a notable uplift in sales activity since the start of 2024, pointing to elevated price growth as the year unfolds.
But perhaps the most compelling evidence, pointing to growing strength in the Melbourne market in particular, is the latest population data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The ABS figures describing population growth in 2023 are largely dominated by Melbourne.
While the annual growth rate for Australia was 2.4%, Melbourne rose 3.3% - which was the highest in the nation except for Perth.
The National Top 10 list for the fastest growing local government areas in Australia – that’s the percentage growth rate for the year - included three Melbourne LGAs, with the City of Melbourne the No.1 fastest growing municipality in the nation.
The Nearby City of Yarra and the City of Melton in the western suburbs also made the top 10 national list.
In terms of LGAs with the largest growth, the actual number of new people added to the population, four of the national Top 10 were in Melbourne – the City of Melbourne and three outer-ring growth areas, the municipalities of Wyndham, Casey and Melton.
At a suburb level, most of Australia’s fastest growing suburbs are in the Greater Melbourne area.
That includes the nation’s fastest growing suburb, Rockbank in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
Of the top 12 fastest growing suburbs in Australia, 9 are in Greater Melbourne.
And of the nation’s top 30 fastest growing suburbs, 16 are in Greater Melbourne.
Now, to be clear, we’re not suggesting that population growth is the over-riding factor in choosing where to buy real estate. It’s one of many factors to take into account.
But, considered alongside all the other factors, it’s a pretty strong endorsement of Melbourne’s prospects – it’s a tale of growth and the remarkable thing is, Melbourne hasn’t delivered any major price growth recently.
That, I believe, will emerge later in 2024 and beyond.
-
Media loves the storyline that first-home buyers are competing with wealthy investors for properties – and losing because investors apparently have a huge advantage.
Like so much that’s written and spoken in news media about the housing market, it’s a work of fiction. The polar opposite is, in fact, the truth.
The biggest competition for first-home buyers in the market is not investors, but home buyers other than first-time buyers.
The largest cohort in the market, at any point in time, is home buyers who already own a home, have equity in that home and are upgrading – or, in some cases, down-sizing.
These are buyers who are older, with equity, higher incomes and borrowing power – and they can easily over-power a young novice in the market.
The biggest problem for first-home buyers is not investors, it’s the incredibly high costs of getting into the market because of the policies, decisions and actions by politicians and bureaucrats.
Just take a look at the cost of a house-and-land package anywhere in Australia. Given that the cost of constructing the average brick-and-tile house is now close to half a million dollars, not including the land cost, it’s hard to find a new home in a housing estate for under $700,000. It’s considerably more in the biggest cities.
The greatest lie of all is that investors have a big advantage over first-home buyers in the market. Presumably media says that because of their persistent misunderstanding about negative gearing.
The reality is quite the opposite. If it comes down to a competition between a first-home buyer and an investor, the first-home buyer has several big factors in their favour.
First-home buyers have high levels of government assistance, whereas investors do not. Quite the opposite, investors increasingly face major impediments from government.
First-home buyers are granted stamp duty concessions, so they have to pay little or nothing compared to the massive tax imposed on investor buyers.
Investors are slugged with much higher interest rates by lenders, so that if you have a first-home buyer and an investor of similar ages and incomes, the first-home buyer has considerably greater borrowing power and therefore has a competitive advantage over the investor who earns the same income.
Keep in mind that, according to the latest research data, most investors are young, on average incomes and need to buy as affordably as possible, which means they cannot pay high prices for properties in competition with other buyers.
Investors have several other disadvantages compared to home buyers.
As well as paying higher interest rates, they pay higher council rates and they pay higher rates of insurance. And they have to pay taxes that home buyers do NOT have to pay, including land tax and capital gains tax.
The only potential positive on the investor side of the equation is negative gearing, which in some cases, but certainly NOT ALL, may reduce the amount of tax the investor pays – but that does nothing to increase the investor’s borrowing capacity or ability to pay a high price for a property.
The whole narrative around first-home buyers being priced out of the market by so-called wealthy investors is a lie.
And indeed, the latest official data on lending to buy property shows that there has been a 13% increase in first-home buyer activity this year, compared to the same time last year.
-
If you want to sell real estate, very often the greatest selling point is the location.
If the location has …
a strong diverse economy creating jobs,
a steadily growing population with strong increases projected well into the future,
good existing amenities and a significant spend on new infrastructure
… then it has many of the credentials for capital growth.
The problem for many real estate professionals - in taking advantage of growth factors like that in their location- is accessing all the key information, analysing it and then presenting it in a way that’s easily accessible to potential customers.
Many people in the industry just don’t have the time or the resources to do all that.
That’s where Hotspotting’s unique custom reports service comes in. It saves you time and it projects your business as professional, informed and successful.
The Hotspotting team can create location reports on individual suburbs, clusters of suburbs, local government areas, towns and regional cities, and on major capital cities.
The reports are provided with the client’s branding and location details, as well as (if you choose) the Hotspotting brand to provide the assurance and credibility of an independent third-party research source.
This is a custom report service you cannot get anywhere else.
Our customers love it. One of them says ...
“Hotspotting was a pleasure to deal with when arranging my Custom Report. As a buyer’s agent for many years, I was astounded by how much effort and research goes into their reports. Their communication was great and I am extremely happy with the final result.”
And another of our regular customers commented …
"The research provided by hotspotting.com.au has been an integral part of our success and the growth of our business. The ability to access independent research reports on the locations we believe are best for our clients, with our branding, has made it easier to show our customers the merits of the places we think have the strongest growth credentials."
We love to get feedback like that, because we regard our custom reports as one of our most important product services.If you would to find out more our Hotspotting’s exclusive custom reports service, contact me on [email protected] or go to the hotspotting.com.au website and select “products” on the menu at the top and then “custom reports”.
-
Want to get into a key market BEFORE prices start to take off?
Feel that you may have missed the boat with media favourite Perth? In many ways, the answers to these questions are the essence of smart investing.
Most property investors are herd animals, diving into markets when they read that prices have risen 15% or 20% in the past year – or 50% in the past three years.
Buying in such a market means you are likely buying at – or after – the peak of the market. The smart money would have been there 2-3 years ago – and is now focused on places that are early in the growth cycle. That’s why Melbourne makes more sense than Perth for property investors seeking to buy strategically for capital growth.
The Melbourne market, in simple terms, is situated where Perth was three years ago, before prices started to rise and rise. The Melbourne market is underpinned by one of the nation’s strongest state economies and boosted by population growth amongst the highest in the country. It hasn’t had the price growth of other cities in the past year but has had a big uplift in buyer activity recently – often a precursor to elevated prices. And vacancies are ultra-low, putting upward pressure on rents.
To find out more about why Melbourne and Regional Victoria should be strongly considered by property investors, join leading national buyers’ agent Kate Hill of Adviseable in this webinar recording hosted by Hotspotting founder Terry Ryder.
In this webinar, you will learn ….
**Why now is a good time to consider Melbourne and Regional Victoria
**Which metrics point to capital growth in Victorian markets
**Why recent rental reforms should not deter investors
**Which price points are attracting the greatest buyer demand
*Why attached dwellings need to be considered
*Which Melbourne suburbs and regional centres deserve the most attention
To connect with Kate Hill, you can reach here at [email protected] or www.adviseable.com.au
-
Are you ready to take your investment journey to the next level?
Look no further, because we have exciting news to share with you!
We are thrilled to announce our new Hotspotting pre-recorded interviews with some of the top 1% of Australian investors who own 5 or more properties.
As you may know, in the 2020-2021 financial year, only 0.87% of investors in Australia owned 5 or more investment properties. But what do these successful investors know that the majority don't?
We have sat down with a number of them to get exclusive insights into their strategies, tips, and personal journeys. Our pre-recorded interviews bring you valuable knowledge and advice from Australian property experts who walk the walk and practice what they preach. Learn from their mistakes, successes, and unique perspectives on property investment.
These interviews are a must-watch for anyone looking to build a successful investment portfolio and achieve financial freedom. With over 71% of investors owning only one investment property, we understand the challenges and uncertainties that come with growing your portfolio. That's why we have curated a series of interviews that exclusively feature investors with multiple properties. They represent the top 1% of Australian investors and have achieved remarkable success in their investment journey.
Our pre-recorded interviews are available for you to watch at your convenience, so you can take in all the knowledge and insights at your own pace. Hear firsthand how they navigate the ever-changing property market and make profitable investment decisions. You'll be able to walk away with practical tips and strategies that you can implement in your own investment journey.
About Arjun Paliwal
Having begun the 2010s with lofty ambitions of becoming the top dog at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, a decision to maximise his “worst case” has led Arjun Paliwal to the man he is today.
Almost six years ago, Mr Paliwal decided to pour all his eggs into the InvestorKit basket – and he hasn’t looked back since.
Recently, InvestorKit was named the Buyer’s Agency of the Year for the second year in a row at the REB Awards, a proud moment for the business and a ratification that their modus operandi to become “the most trusted data-driven buyer’s agency for successful business owners and professionals looking to scale their business” is coming to fruition.
www.investorkit.com.au
-
Part of the obsession by economists with interest rates as the only thing that matters in the housing market is the notion that the Reserve Bank spends a large amount of time discussing the housing market before deciding what to do about interest rates.
As with so many things, economists are wrong about that.
One of the most popular definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result.
My own definition of insanity is the average Australian economist discussing real estate.
In essence, those two definitions are essentially the same thing.
Economists, especially those working for the big four banks, tend to believe that everything that happens in residential real estate is dictated by trends with interest rates.
In their simplistic view of things, rising interest rates means falling prices and falling interest rates means a property boom.
They’re utterly wrong about that, because there are always forces more powerful than interest rate movements dictating what happens in real estate – including, right now, the serious imbalance between supply and demand.
The other thing economists and other commentators get wrong is their belief that the property market is the over-riding influence in RBA decisions about interest rates.
In reality, the property market has little or no impact on RBA decisions. There have been repeated RBA statements over the years telling us that the board does not consider its role to include control or influence the property market.
We have seen it in their decision making in the past couple of years, when the prime consideration was trying to bring down the rate of inflation.
So now we have a string of mistaken assumptions from economists leading to the forecast that real estate will struggle late this year because the expected cut in interest rates won’t happen.
The first mistaken assumption is that the board will decide NOT to cut interest rates later this year because property prices are rising. As I said, they have made it clear they’re fundamentally not the regulators of the real estate market.
The second mistaken assumption is that cutting interest rates would cause a property boom - or that keeping interest rates at their current levels will suppress the market.
Economists are clearly not students of history.
In the late 1980s we had interest rates rising and rising to levels far higher than today and ultimately as high as 17%, if you can believe that – and despite those obscenely high and rising interest rates, property prices kept rising and rising.
It was one of the most spectacular property booms in the nation’s history.
In the early years of this century, we had several years of interest rates high and rising, and property prices kept on increasing.
And then again last year, 2023 had repeated increases in interest rates and – notwithstanding the doomsday forecasts of economists – house prices rose strongly in most locations, including well above 10% in a number of our capital cities.
Meanwhile, the years before Covid had extremely low interest rates but property prices were falling and in 2020, the year of the lockdowns, interest rates went to record lows but there was no property boom (although prices did show moderate growth).
When markets boomed in 2021, it was driven by a host of factors, including a high level of government incentives and spending to generate economic recovery.
So, in summary – whether or not the Reserve Bank decides to cut interest rates later in the year will depend on their view of inflation and the state of the national economy. Events in the real estate markets will NOT dominate the conversation.
If they do decide to cut interest rates, it will NOT generate a property boom.
The big factor will continue to be the shortage of dwellings, regardless of any decisions about interest rates.
-
If you tune into news media regularly, it’s easy to form the view that the prospect of young Australians buying real estate is remote, if not impossible.
There are daily headlines telling us that it takes 10 or 15 years to save a deposit, or that most young Australians have given up on home ownership and that young adults are doomed to a life-time of renting.
As is so often the case with mainstream media and their love of negative sensation, the reality is quite different. First home buyers are highly active in markets across Australia.
But first, let’s look at some of headlines with which we are afflicted every day in Australian news media:
“Housing crisis escalates as affordability worsens”.
“It’s insane how much you need to save to buy in Queensland”
“Melbourne home seekers need to save $250,000-plus to buy a home”
“Cost of living crisis holding back first home buyers”
And the most spectacular of them all …
“The Australian Dream crashes into the affordability brick wall”.
One article in the Fairfax media declared: “Aussie home seekers are being made to come up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in upfront funds to buy a home.”
How did they come up with such a finding?
By focusing on a 20% deposit (which you don’t need), the median house price (which is ridiculous because FHBs don’t buy at the median price) and always houses, never units which are the dwelling of choice for more and more people and are often half the price of houses in the same suburb.
In other words, the objective of those media outlets was not to be informative or helpful – it was simply to create a screaming headline (and the truth is optional).
And that article with the headline “The Australian Dream crashes into the affordability brick wall” ?
The intro to the article immediately contradicted the headline. It said:
Westpac’s Home Ownership Report shows an increase in the share of Australians aspiring to own a home.
The survey found 44% of Australians plan to buy a new home in the next five years, up 9 percentage points since July 2023.
So what’s really happening out there in first-home buyer land?
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that, far from being priced out of the market, buying activity by first-home buyers has increased recently.
The figures on loans to buy a home show that the number of loans to FHBs rose 4.3% in February, compared to January, and were up 13.2% compared to a year earlier.
The figures showed that the number of FHBs buying homes was broadly in line with pre-pandemic levels.
National Australia Bank senior markets economist Taylor Nugent said first-home buyers were proving resilient.
He said higher mortgage rates were not proving much of a hurdle for first-time buyers.
In addition to that, research by the Commonwealth Bank finds young Australians are also a dominant force among those buying investment properties.
It found that the most active age group among those buying investment properties is the cohort aged between 27 and 42, the one know as Millennials. That group accounted for almost half of investor property purchases in 2023.
CBA said investors are getting younger, overall, because of the growing incidence of people getting into the property markets as rentvestors – i.e. people who choose to rent their homes and buy an investment property.
So, is home ownership a fading dream for young Australians?
According to the data, rather than the media rhetoric, the answer is emphatically NO.
The dream is very much alive.
-
Want to know why housing affordability is so poor in this country?
The answer, in simple terms, is because the cost of building new houses is so high – ridiculously, obscenely high.
The cost of building the typical house in Australia has risen 53% in the past three years – and it now costs close to half a million dollars to build that home.
And that’s just the cost of the house. It doesn’t include the price of the land.
Who’s to blame for this situation?
Primarily, overwhelmingly, it’s government. Politicians and bureaucrats.
They keep making decisions that add to the cost of creating new homes.
Just three years ago, the average cost of building a new house was $320,000.
Now, early in 2024, its $490,000.
Government meddling with the housing industry, and their obsession with using the housing industry as their go-to cash cow when they need to raise money, has caused the average cost of a new house to blow out to almost $500,000.
It’s not the usual suspects that journalists and economists and politicians like to blame for poor housing affordability.
This has got nothing to do with negative gearing, or foreign investors, or mum-and-dad Australian investors, or government grants to first-home buyers pushing up prices.
It’s purely and simply the constant addition to the cost of creating new homes by politicians and bureaucrats.
A couple of years ago, a research study revealed that between 35% and 50% of the cost of a new house-and-land package – depending on where you are in Australia – was taxes, fees and charges by the three levels of government.
Imagine that reality. That every time someone builds a new home in Sydney, half of the cost they’re paying is taxes and fees to government.
Stamp duty, land tax, GST, capital gains tax, application fees, infrastructure charges – and many, many more.
And then there’s the cost of red tape – delays and additional costs caused by bureaucrats.
But that’s just the background. Every year the cost of building a new house grows larger because governments keep changing the rules and regulations – always in ways that add to the costs of construction.
New regulations to make houses safer. New rules to make houses more accessible. New laws to make houses more environmentally friendly. New guidelines to make houses more aesthetically appealing.
Now you might think that those measures are all good things. If houses are (allegedly) safer, more accessible, new energy efficient and better looking, that’s all very positive.
But if you feel that way, you cannot then complain about poor affordability, because you’ve just declared your support for measures that have added massively to the cost of creating new homes for young Australians – thereby causing a further deterioration in housing affordability.
The problem of government taxes, legislation and red tape pushing up the cost of housing has been exacerbated in recent times by the shortages of tradespeople and materials.
Why are there shortages of tradespeople? Mostly it’s because governments around Australia have been trying to spend their way out of the problems of the Covid era with major, new, headline-grabbing infrastructure, which is pulling skilled people out of the home-building industry.
The infrastructure projects that are scheduled to happen in the next five years total $230 billion – at current cost estimates and we can be sure they will blow out to a lot more – and that means the workforce needs to grow 127% to provide the workers and tradesperson required to build all that.
And this will make matters worse for the home building industry.
Master Builders Australia says that the main reasons the cost of building houses has increased so much are ...
Increased building approval times
High taxes, particularly land tax
The shortage of workers
The high cost of materials
Most of the blame for that sits at the feet of government – politicians and bureaucrats.
-
We’re constantly asked at Hotspotting whether it’s better to invest in the regions or the capital cities – and whether you get higher capital growth in the outer-ring suburbs of our cities or the so-called prime inner-city locations.
Now, there’s no definitive answer to questions like that, because there are so many different scenarios to consider – and, at the end of the day, it comes down to the performance of individual local markets and you simply cannot generalise.
But, based on the evidence of where the highest capital growth has occurred in the past four years, I would have to say the best performers have been found in regional areas and the outer-ring precincts of capital cities – NOT including Sydney or Melbourne.
PropTrack, which is Hotspotting’s preferred source of property data, has analysed capital growth since March 2020 – which is when the Covid lockdowns started to happen.It shows that home prices have increased 40% in the four years since.
But the growth in the combined regional areas has been 54%, compared with 35% in the combined capital cities.
So there’s your first answer: based on this evidence, the regions have out-performed the cities overall.
When you divide Australia into the 15 major jurisdictions (eight capital cities and seven state or territory regional areas), the top two areas are regional and six of the top nine are regional precincts.
Regional Queensland ranks No.1, with home values up 66.5%, followed by Regional South Australia, up 66.2%.
The next on the list are Adelaide in third place, Brisbane fourth and Perth fifth.
Then, in order, come Regional WA, Regional Tasmania, Regional NSW, Regional Victoria and, in 10th place, the ACT.
You’ll note that those are the top 10 on the list of 15 jurisdictions, and Sydney and Melbourne haven’t featured yet.
Sydney ranks 12th out of the 15 and Melbourne ranks 14th – or second last.
So there’s a fairly emphatic answer: the regions have undoubtedly out-performed the cities – and the best performers among the cities don’t include the two biggest ones.
Adelaide home prices increased 64% and Brisbane 63%, to be the strongest capital cities on capital growth over four years, compared with 35% in Sydney and just 17% in Melbourne.
When PropTrack looked at the individual locations within the regions and the cities, the Top 10 list of locations for capital growth in the past four years comprised regional centres and the outer ring areas of capital cities.
The Wide Bay region of Queensland was the top individual area on price performance, with values up 80% in four years.
This notable growth region includes regional centres like Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Gympie and Kingaroy – all places which have featured in recent years in our Hotspots reports.
Next was Ipswich City, in the outer south-west of Greater Brisbane, followed by the Outer North of Greater Adelaide – both up by more than 75%.
At Hotspotting, we have strongly advocated Ipswich and northern Adelaide LGAs like Salisbury, Playford and Gawler in the past several years.
Fourth on the list was the Gold Coast, which rose 74% in the four years.
It’s notable that 9 of the 10 locations on the national top 10 list are in Queensland and South Australia.
And here’s a final thought.
What I’ve just described is what’s happened in the past four years.
Thre’s no guarantee the same will happen in the next four years.
As we often tell people, the past does NOT inform the future.
But it’s worth noting that, based on the metrics we use at Hotspotting, we do expect Brisbane, Regional Queensland and Adelaide to be among the best performers on price in the next year or so.
-
The smart money in real estate buys in key markets BEFORE prices start to take off.
The essence of smart investing is NOT buying in over-heated markets like Perth but targeting locations that have the credentials for long-term growth but are currently at a low point in the cycle.
And right now, the location that meets those criteria better than most is Victoria, particularly Melbourne.
Most property investors are herd animals, diving into markets when they read that prices have risen 15% or 20% in the past year – or 50% in the past three years.
Buying in such a market means you are likely buying at – or after – the peak of the market.
The smart money would have been there 2-3 years ago – and is now focused on places that are early in the growth cycle.
That’s why Melbourne makes more sense than Perth for property investors seeking to buy strategically for capital growth.
The Melbourne market, in simple terms, is situated where Perth was three years ago, before prices started to rise and rise.
The Melbourne market is underpinned by one of the nation’s strongest state economies and boosted by population growth amongst the highest in the country, enhanced by overseas migrants and students.
It hasn’t had the price growth of other cities in the past year but has had a big uplift in buyer activity recently – often a precursor to elevated prices.
And vacancies are ultra low, putting further upward pressure on rents.
To find out more about why Melbourne and Regional Victoria should be strongly considered by property investors, there are two keys actions you can take …
Tune into my April 17 webinar featuring leading national buyers’ agent Kate Hill of Adviseable – and get our Victoria Hotspots bundle, featuring our reports on Melbourne and on Regional Victoria.
These two great sources of key information will explain ….
Why now is a good time to consider Melbourne and Regional Victoria
Which metrics point to capital growth in Victorian markets
Why recent rental reforms should not deter investors
Which price points are attracting the greatest buyer demand
Why attached dwellings need to be considered
Which Melbourne suburbs and regional centres deserve the most attention
-
Are you ready to take your investment journey to the next level?
Look no further, because we have exciting news to share with you!
We are thrilled to announce our new Hotspotting pre-recorded interviews with some of the top 1% of Australian investors who own 5 or more properties.
As you may know, in the 2020-2021 financial year, only 0.87% of investors in Australia owned 5 or more investment properties. But what do these successful investors know that the majority don't? We have sat down with a number of them to get exclusive insights into their strategies, tips, and personal journeys.
Our pre-recorded interviews bring you valuable knowledge and advice from Australian property experts who walk the walk and practice what they preach. Learn from their mistakes, successes, and unique perspectives on property investment. These interviews are a must-watch for anyone looking to build a successful investment portfolio and achieve financial freedom.
With over 71% of investors owning only one investment property, we understand the challenges and uncertainties that come with growing your portfolio. That's why we have curated a series of interviews that exclusively feature investors with multiple properties. They represent the top 1% of Australian investors and have achieved remarkable success in their investment journey.
Our pre-recorded interviews are available for you to watch at your convenience, so you can take in all the knowledge and insights at your own pace. Hear firsthand how they navigate the ever-changing property market and make profitable investment decisions. You'll be able to walk away with practical tips and strategies that you can implement in your own investment journey.
About Matt Wilson
Matt is the founder of WT Capital & the chief storyteller. He started his career not in property but in the 3 Michelin starred kitchens of Paris, after returning to Sydney he brought an unseen level of service to the emerging buyers advocacy space.
WT Capital was founded with one goal in mind, to deliver the highest quality service throughout each property transaction.
www.wtcapital.com.au
-
Many Australians grow their wealth through passive investment in real estate: buy a property, install a tenant and wait for growth.
There’s a better, and faster, way – without high risk.
More and more investors are using development strategies to accelerate the wealth-creation process, with small subdivisions one of the most accessible and successful.
Wealth mentor Brad Cassidy of The Kaizen Way teaches these strategies to investors across Australia, with notable results.
Recently, our Hotspotting founder Terry Ryder hosted Brad on a webinar to discuss how to profit from small subdivisions.
The webinar demonstrates how to …
** undertake a subdivision as a “hands-off” investment
** find the right team of specialists to facilitate the process
** avoid common mistakes and pitfalls
** identify the costs involved, including council fees and charges
** understand the procedures with case studies of successful projects
** find opportunities for this type of investment, using an exclusive tool developed by Brad and his team
If you would like to find out more about how Brad can help you, please follow the link below and add your details so that you can take advantage of a huge bonus woth $3,995 for the first 5 people.
Plus a special price on his membership offering. https://propertymasterythekaizenway.com/terry-special
You can watch the replay of this webinar on youtube here: https://youtu.be/t5WdKo-75l4
- Näytä enemmän
