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Real Estate News
Fewer new homes and apartments in the pipeline in May: HIA
Data released by the ABS shows there has been a decline in housing and apartment approvals over May 2017, raising questions on growing demands for housing by first-home buyers. The number of dwellings approved fell 1.9 percent in May 2017. In seasonally adjusted terms, approvals for construction of new homes fell by 5.6 percent in May, driven by a fall…
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Real Estate News
‘No female quotas on boards’ – Kylie Walsh
Women can have it all, just not all at once. This is at the core of what Kylie Walsh’s experiences have taught her, being a highly ambitious and successful woman who has overcome adversity and still maintain a work-life balance. She is the General Manager of Di Jones Real Estate and sits on the board of REINSW. With chatter in…
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Real Estate News
Unique business model attracts experienced franchise manager Luke Cameron
20 offices within three years for a new brand might sound ambitious, but for Stone Real Estate franchise manager Luke Cameron, this is the reality for the young brand. The unique Stone Real Estate business model is what Mr Cameron credits for its rapid growth and success. The business, started by CEO Peter Mumford, is based on a centralised database…
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Real Estate News
Industry responds to RBA’s July interest rate decision
The Reserve Bank of Australia kept interest rates on hold at 1.50 per cent at its July 2017 board meeting yesterday. Here’s what some industry players had to say following the RBA’s decision: John Cunningham, REINSW President “It comes at little surprise that the RBA has decided to keep a neutral position for the 10th meeting in a row. We believe…
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Real Estate News
Andrew de Bomford of Harcourts Burnie wins Tassie auctioneering competition
Andrew de Bomford of Harcourts Burnie, Tasmania, beat out state-wide competition to win the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania 2017 Senior Auctioneering Competition. “It’s a real honour to win the competition and be recognised as No.1 in Tassie,” said Andrew, who entered the competition last year and was thrilled to take out the title for the first time. Andrew has…
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SA Real Estate News
Ouwens Casserly ‘orange stars’ shine bright in sales and customer service
Girl power seemed to be the name of the game in the Ouwens Casserly Real Estate EOFY Awards held recently, with Cynthia Sajkunovic taking out the coveted number one agent spot. Director Alexander Ouwens said the awards reflect the customer-service focus of Ouwens Casserly rather than focusing simply on numbers and dollar figures. “As directors, the awards we hold most…
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INDUSTRY NEWS
Fairfax confirms no binding offer from TPG, Hellman Friedman
Fairfax is set to spin off Domain as a separate entity on the ASX, confirming that they had not received binding offers from either TPG Capital or Hellman & Friedman. TPG originally made a bid for Fairfax in May, initially offering 95 cents a share and increasing it to $1.20. Hellman & Friedman soon followed with an offer valued at…
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Real Estate News
Houseandland.com.au launch new technology creating ideal house and land match
Houseandland.com.au (House and Land) has announced a new innovation that uses the company’s HAPI technology to create the ideal house and land match for consumers. The technology allows customers to match specific home designs with land and estates that suit the design and size. The technology can showcase their house and building designs on blocks of land, allowing the buyer…
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INDUSTRY NEWS
Core Logic Home Value Index June 2017
Capital city dwelling values rise 0.8% over June quarter, the slowest quarterly growth rate since dwelling values fell over December 2015 quarter. Despite a seasonally strong result over the month of June, the CoreLogic Hedonic Home Value series shows that momentum of capital gains over the second quarter of 2017 is losing steam. Highlights over the three months to June…
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INDUSTRY NEWS
CoreLogic weekly wrap up – NSW and Victoria remain most popular states for migration
Demographic data released this week from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows a rapid rate of population growth driven by migration. Overseas and interstate migration remained the key drivers for population growth, in turn driving housing demand, according to CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher. “Whereas natural increase removes older people and adds younger people, interstate migration and overseas immigration…
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Real Estate News
HIA: Back-to-Back Increases for New Home Sales
Large increases in Queensland and New South Wales drove new home sales higher for the second consecutive month during May 2017 according to the latest edition of the Housing Industry Association’s New Homes Sales Report. During the month of May 2017, total new home sales increased by 1.1 per cent. This was helped by a 2.2 per cent increase in…
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Real Estate News
Ray White Broadbeach agents sell $22m of Gold Coast property in 23 days
Ray White Broadbeach agents Sam Guo and Julia Kuo have done it again, selling more than $22 million of Gold Coast property in 23 days across eight properties. So far this year Mr Guo and Ms Kuo have sold more than $110 million in the current financial year. Of the eight properties that were just sold, half sold to local…
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FRANCHISE NEWS
Barry Plant Boronia takes out first place in Australian Business Achiever awards
Barry Plant Boronia has taken out first place in the Real Estate Services category of the 2017 Australian Achiever Awards, with a score of 99.68%. It won the accolade over more than 80 other businesses in the category and received the highest score nationally. Now in their 20th year, the Australian Achiever Awards are independent awards based on assessment ratings…
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Real Estate News
REA Group appoints Tomas Varsavsky as company’s first Chief Engineer
REA Group has appointed Tomas Varsavsky to the role of Chief Engineer. Mr Varsavsky will report to the REA Group Chief Executive Officer, Tracey Fellows. Varsavsky will be responsible for setting the strategic technology direction for the group and leads centralised teams around data, security, enterprise technology, infrastructure and architecture. Mr Varsavsky has been with REA Group for seven years where he was…
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Real Estate News
Everyone has a next level: RE/MAX top performers unite at industry forum in New Zealand
“Mission possible” was the theme of the RE/MAX high performers forum this year which was held in Queenstown, New Zealand. Seventy RE/MAX members from Australia and New Zealand gathered for three days of networking and learning at the invitation-only event for top performers. Michael Davoren, RE/MAX Australia and New Zealand Managing Director, said technology was a recurring theme at the…
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Real Estate News
Urbane Property streaming auctions live
Dealing with crowds and sticky beaks is a thing of the past for buyers, who can now bid on Sydney property with ease from the comfort of their own home. Boutique inner west agency Urbane Property is offering buyers a technology platform to live stream auctions and participate in the bidding remotely. George Nikos, owner of Urbane Property, said the…
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Real Estate News
Census overview 2016: home ownership declining and renting on the rise
Census data released yesterday revealed Sydneysiders spend the most on rent and mortgages in the country and, unsurprisingly, Sydney is the most expensive city to live in. The data shows that homeownership rates continue to decline, with a big shift in the proportion of people renting: 31 per cent of Australians owned their own home outright in 2016, compared to…
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Real Estate News
Houzz raises $400m at funding round
Home renovation and design platform Houzz has raised $400 million in their funding round, taking the valuation of the company to $4 billion. The company, one of the highest-valued consumer startups, was founded in 2009 in California by a couple looking to renovate their home. Since then, it has launched in 14 countries outside the US and the Houzz marketplace…
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Real Estate News
Rebecca Osenton to open Ray White Pelican Waters
Rebecca Osenton, the new owner of Ray White Pelican Waters, moved from the bush three years ago – but there’s no turning back now after she opted for a sea change. Ms Osenton relocated from her family’s cattle stud in the Maranoa region in south-western Queensland to Caloundra to work for Ray White. Now she’s in partnership with Ray White Caloundra…
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FRANCHISE NEWS
Mitch Palmer joins new Ray White Mermaid Waters
You can take the boy out of Queensland, but you can’t take Queensland out of the boy. The sunshine and lifestyle attractions of the Gold Coast have lured back Mitch Palmer, who is heading up the new Ray White Mermaid Waters after spending six years as an agent and auctioneer in Melbourne. Mr Palmer has joined forces with Ray White…
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Real Estate News
REA makes Forbes list of most innovative growth companies
Forbes has released its annual list of the most innovative growth companies with market values between $2 billion and $10 billion. REA Group, parent company of realestate.com.au made the list among other high-profile business from around the globe. REA Group ranked 35th on the list and was only one of four media companies that made the cut. It is valued at…
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Real Estate News
REA new property platform linking developers with agents to sell off-the-plan properties
REA Group is launching a new feature as part of its Property Platform software that allows residential agents, project marketers and financial planners to connect with developers and builders and request access to sell off-the-plan properties. The new feature launches in July and gives developers the ability to expand beyond their own sales networks to access a bigger range of…
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Real Estate News
First home buyers are big winners of NSW budget at expense of foreign investors
First-home buyers are the big winners in NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet’s first state budget, which was delivered on Tuesday. In a budget that the Treasurer labelled the “envy of the Western world”, housing affordability was a key issue along with health and schools. The Treasurer said in his speech that part of the $4.3 billion housing affordability package includes strategies…
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Real Estate News
Submissions closing soon for AREAs
Submissions are closing soon for the Annual REA Excellence Awards (AREAs), which recognise property industry players who go above and beyond. Now in their second year, the AREAs honour innovative, community-minded high achievers across the entire property industry – from residential and commercial agents, property developers and home builders to those providing home loans or working in the media. Residential…
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Real Estate News
Shire agents unite against domestic violence
Real estate agents are in the business of selling the dream of a happy home. But, for some families, home is not a happy or safe place. The demand for support services in domestic violence cases has prompted business owners in the Sutherland Shire to join together and commit to the fight. One of these businesses has been Highland Property…
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INDUSTRY NEWS
ABS: Residential property prices rise 2.2 pc in March 2017 quarter
Residential property prices rose 2.2 per cent in the March quarter 2017 according to figures released on Tuesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This was the fourth consecutive quarter of growth. Even though residential property prices increased in most capital cities, Sydney and Melbourne were the main drivers of the result. The price rises in Sydney (3 per…
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Real Estate News
Millenials investing in stock market to build wealth
It appears that an increasing number of young Australians are stashing their cash in the stock market in a bid to build wealth and get a foot on the property ladder. AAP reports that millennials now make up almost 30 per cent of active CommSec accounts, representing 70,000 trades per month. ‘As we all know it is becoming more and…
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Real Estate News
New HIA national president
Pino Monaco has been elected National President of the Housing Industry Association (HIA), the official body of Australia’s home-building industry. Mr Monaco’s involvement with the HIA started over 30 years ago. He has served on various HIA committees and task forces at a state and national level as a committeeman, Vice Chair and Chair. Mr Monaco has been a long-serving…
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Real Estate News
The Weekly Wrap: Auctions up but investor activity is dropping
Investor interest in the housing market has started to drop off, according to CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher. Housing finance and credit data released earlier this month by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Reserve Bank (RBA) show there has been a decline in investor activity, with mortgage lenders rationing credit to the investor segment and the lifting of mortgage…
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London Grenfell Tower fire: What does it mean for buildings in Australia?
The recent and devastating fire at the Grenfell Tower in London that has claimed 17 lives with likely more to come has led to speculation about the potential for it to happen in Australia. There are growing concerns that the aluminium cladding on the outside of the Grenfell building helped spread the massive blaze which has led to questions as…
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Real Estate News
ARPM 2017 – Are you ready to reconstruct?
The Australasian Residential Property Management Conference (ARPM) is back this year with a revamped program, exciting speakers, new location and a new focus. This year’s theme is ‘reconstruct’, which focuses on pivoting and adapting the way property management is conducted to keep the customer at the forefront. The conference is organised by real estate coach and consultant Fiona Blayney, founder…
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Real Estate News
Matt Lancashire: a merger with a mate and bold ambition to open 10 offices in 10 years
BRISBANE real estate identities Matt Lancashire and Haesley Cush have joined forces once again to grow the Ray White brand in Brisbane. The dynamic duo have been friends for 30 years and are now on a mission to create multiple offices under the Ray White banner. While originally the owner of Ray White New Farm Cush sold the Ray White…
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Real Estate News
APRA’s crackdown hits interest-only investors hardest
APRA’s crackdown on risky lending practices has made an initial impact on the market, new research shows. New research released today by RateCity.com.au has revealed the majority of banks are now penalising investors and interest-only borrowers by as much as 0.56 percentage points. Rate City’s analysis of over 100 lenders comes after ABS figures showed there was a there was a…
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Real Estate News
How do Australian Home Sizes Really Compare?
How many times have you heard “it’s a bit small, isn’t it?” during an open for inspection? But our view of small in Australia is completely different to some places in the UK right now with developers taking advantage of the government’s relaxation of planning regulations, the tiny house trend, and ability to converting commercial office space into small apartments.…
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FRANCHISE NEWS
RE/MAX Australia continues to expand it’s presence
RE/MAX Australia continues to expand its national footprint with the addition of nine offices in the first half of 2017. This year, the network added Kingston in ACT, Lidcombe in NSW and three offices in Queensland: Wamuran, Indooroopilly and Sunnybank Hills. By the end of June, RE/MAX will also have added offices in Oxenford, Monterey Keys and Hendra in Queensland,…
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