Elite Agent
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Stacie Sheldrick: No such thing as Sunday-itis
Years in the industry?I started in 1998 as a receptionist who couldn’t turn on a computer. The role evolved into marketing coordinator and property manager very quickly. I spent a few years in commercial real…
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Kimberly Nugent: The bare minimum won’t cut it
Years in the industry?Three-and-a-half years. I had previously worked in the building industry, so it felt like a really good fit when I started working in property management. Prior to coming on board with Independent, I worked as a Project Manager for the Australasian Railway Association and prior to this I was editing television commercials at Southern Cross Austereo, so…
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Canberra tenants given a break on break fees
Changes made to Canberra’s Residential Tenancies Act this week mean that residential tenants who have been financially impacted by the pandemic will not have to pay the usual ‘break fees’ for terminating a fixed-term lease. In addition, tenants across the territory can now give three weeks notice when breaking a fixed-term lease without needing to file an official application through…
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Mixed results for Q2: all unit prices fall, houses rise in select capitals
Results are in for the second quarter of the year and, according to Domain, all major capital cities saw unit prices fall across the June quarter, with house prices rising in Adelaide, Canberra, and Hobart. It appears the…
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REIQ survey finds only 6% of renters qualified as “COVID-19 impacted”
A recent survey conducted by REIQ shows how Queensland propety managers have gone above and beyond when it comes to rent negotiations, often acting outside the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation (COVID-19 Emergency Response) Regulation 2020. A survey of over 1200 REIQ property management agencies revealed that only 6.05 per cent of rental tenants in the residential sphere qualified as…
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Five ways to build trust
Last time, we covered defining and delivering your value proposition. Once you have your value proposition down pat, you can start to leverage it, and with that comes the need for your current and prospective clients to believe in what you are telling them. The good news is, building trust is relatively easy because so much of it is underpinned…
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Mall in Melbourne CBD to sell for half its 2016 price
In 2016, it was billed as “Melbourne’s newest premier fashion destination”, a re-branded inner-city mall that had just undergone a major $30m facelift, but now St Collins Lane is being sold for less than half of what JP Morgan paid for it just four years earlier. The Australian Financial Review reports that a “local fund manager backed by offshore capital”…
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Commercial real estate investment down 32% in Asia Pacific
JLL have delivered some not-so-surprising news: Commercial real estate investment across Asia Pacific fell by 32 per cent in the first half of 2020. Investments were down 26 per cent during the first quarter, rising to 39 per cent in the second quarter, as travel bans, economic hardship, and lockdowns impacted the real estate market. Singapore was the hardest hit…
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Eview Group partners with RiTA to expand on their tech stack
In line with Eview Group’s innovative edge and tech-driven strategies, the brand has partnered exclusively with RiTA, as they look to expand their eco-system of technology. Welcoming an artificial intelligence arm of their digital portfolio, Eview Group said it would cement their position as an industry-leading agency when it comes to innovation implementation. After months of detailed analysis and investigation…
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Shopping mall windfall kicks against COVID trends
Two Sydney shopping centres have been bundled up and sold for $91.5 million, a price in step with valuations made in a pre-COVID market. This is despite shopping mall vacancies hitting a 20-year high in May. The Pemulwuy Marketplace and West Ryde Marketplace were taken to market by the Charter Hall Retail Partnership No.1 Trust. “Both centres represented an opportunity…
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Practical ways to supercharge your creativity
In early January, just as the world first learned about Covid-19, LinkedIn released data from over 20 million job listings posted during the previous year, that revealed the five most in-demand skills for 2020. For…
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JobKeeper extension applauded as “right move”
The Property Council and Master Builders Australia are among the many industries to applaud the government’s extension of the JobKeeper program. “Today’s announcement by the Prime Minister and Treasurer provides businesses and their employees with the certainty they need for the coming months as we continue to grapple with the public health and economic impact of COVID-19,” said Ken Morrison,…
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Pets, provisions, periodic leases: the proposed changes to WA Residential Tenancies Act
Ahead of an upcoming review of the WA Residential Tenancies Act, REIWA has released a list of policy options they hope will “help reinvigorate the rental market”. While they state that few aspects of the current rental legislation require “a complete overhaul” and that it is “generally working well,” they have outlined the below seven key policy options: Maintain the…
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JobSeeker cuts likely to cause real estate crisis
The removal of the current JobSeeker supplement will result in 242,000 renters and 246,000 mortgage holders suddenly living in poverty. Those are some of the grim findings from The Australia Institute’s new report, which tips that Thursday’s announcement could place untenable pressure on the housing market. The report, led by TAI’s senior economist Matt Grudnoff, estimates 650,000 Australians, including 120,000…
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Key-free locks are the new real estate must-have
Earlier this month, we wrote about the first office block in Australia to incorporate completely hands-free entry. While the developers on that high-rise had the somewhat prescient technology in the pipeline well before COVID-19 caused us all to think differently about public space, a start-up in Los Angeles is finding their hands-free offering is suddenly a hot commodity. Openpath just…
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Return to print is a sign of confidence in the real estate sector
News Corp Australia will resume printing of three community papers in lucrative Sydney real estate markets this week. The Wentworth Courier, The Mosman Daily and North Shore Times will return. Not coincidentally, these papers were among the few community print titles to be spared from News Corp recent cull, where 76 papers moved to digital-only. These three papers reach 85…
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Environmental reform for building codes “sensible and long overdue”
Reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act that aim to streamline regulatory legislation for both housing and commercial property projects have been welcomed by The Property Council of Australia as “sensible and long overdue.” “There has never been a more critical time to ensure that our regulatory regime is free of unnecessary process and strikes the right balance…
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‘Adjusted’ clearance rate paints an interesting picture
Withdrawn properties in Victoria continued to weight down the clearance rate this week, but as CoreLogic and others reflect, it’s important to keep things in perspective. This week 1167 properties went to auction across the…
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REIV says Victorian property market holding firm
REIV President Leah Calnan says the Victorian property market has displayed true strength in holding firm against all predictions regarding the impact of Covid-19. The latest Quarterly median prices released by the Real Estate Institute…
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Crown looking to build billion dollar retail portfolio
Since launching in Sydney in 1996, Crown Group has built a $5 billion development pipeline across Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Los Angeles, that includes residential communities, luxury apartments, hotels, a fund management platform, and shopping centres. It’s the latter of those interests they are looking to further develop, announcing a long-term plan to develop a $1 billion portfolio of retail…
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$116m land package to benefit regional WA
A new package aimed at stimulating real estate investment in regional Western Australia will be rolled out over the next few weeks. The McGowan government announced the $116 million Regional Land Booster package with the goal of “boosting the economy, creating regional jobs and assisting regional businesses to recover from the impacts of COVID-19”. “The Regional Land Booster package will…
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Brian Devereux: Educational opportunities are everywhere
Years in the industry? 32, and I’m the Director of Gateway Residential Did you choose real estate or did real estate choose you?I chose real estate by accident really. I had arrived from the UK where I was a tradesman by profession in the woodworking industry. At that time I just wanted to enjoy the weather and wanted a job with…
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Confidence within the property industry is on the rise
The easing of COVID restrictions over the last few months has resulted in a surge of confidence in the property industry since April. The latest ANZ/Property Council survey took place between June 15 and July 1, surveying 955 industry folk. Not surprisingly, the states and territories with the biggest shift in sentiment were those least impacted by COVID-19: South Australia,…
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New homes under construction dipped well before COVID-19
New research from HIA shows that the low numbers of new houses under construction was a major issue well before the fiscal and physical pressures associated with COVID-19. At the end of March, as the first restrictions started to come into play, there were around 188,000 new homes under construction. This was the lowest number since 2015. While the figures…
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$83m ‘Planning Reform’ will cut a lot of red tape
The NSW Government’s newly-announced $83m plan to remove swathes of red tape currently wrapped around the planning system is being celebrated as a huge win by Property Council NSW. They predict the NSW Planning Reform Action Plan will “speed up the planning system, create jobs and support the economic recovery” of the state. The Action Plan will streamline many processes…
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Miranda Kerr bought a historical Hunter Valley vineyard
Miranda Kerr has been revealed as the mystery buyer of QT Hotels’ $7.5m Loggerheads Estate in the NSW Hunter Valley. The 215-acre property sold for the full asking price, having last sold in 2016 to QT Hotels for $6m. The property boasts the vineyard, which spans for 10 acres, a fully-licensed cellar door wine sales outlet, a seven-bedroom residence, plus…
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How to pick the right tech mix
What do the pick ‘n’ mix lolly section at the local milk bar, technology, conferences and real estate agencies have in common? The answer should be nothing, but generally that’s not the case. Over the past 10 years, many real estate agents have mistaken the technology aisle’ of the conference they are attending for the lolly pick ‘n’ mix. They…
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Next Friday is National Property Manager’s Day
Property managers around Australia: you have little over a week to start heavily hinting to your boss about next Friday’s breakfast cake, banquet luncheon, and a mid-afternoon knock-off. That’s because the inaugural National Property Manager’s Day is happening on Friday, July 24. The initiative was dreamed up by the REINSW, with all other state and territory Real Estate Institutes eagerly…
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Consistent communication: Tara Bradbury
Customer service across property management has come a long way in terms of available technology, but people still want service from humans. Here are a few of my recommendations to help boost or reboot your service approach in 2020. Social media. If you build the profile they will connect – and at the times when…
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Auction action drops in June quarter
The June quarter saw both auction volumes and the clearance rate drop as many sectors of Australian business were severely impacted by COVID-19, the latest CoreLogic data reveals. Social distancing measures were increased immediately prior to the June quarter, including a ban on all on-site auctions and inspections. Coupled with the economic crisis, many property owners withdrew their homes from…
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More of Sydney’s CBD to go pedestrian-only from next week
The City of Sydney has fast-tracked plans to turn more of George Street into a pedestrian-only boulevard, a move that will substantially change the heart of Australia’s largest city. From Monday, the following changes will be made to the city. The extension of the existing southbound lane closure of George Street between Bathurst and Campbell streets to Rawson PlaceClosure of…
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Record number of home loans refinanced in May
Both the total number and total value of refinanced home loans hit a new high in May. Finder analysis of recent ABS data reveals 33,712 Aussies refinanced their home loan in May, to the tune of $15.1 billion. These figures were up $12 billion from April – the previous record. Almost two third (64 per cent) of May’s refinanced loans…
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LeBron James treats himself to a $56m Beverly Hills mansion
Since signing a four-year, A$221m deal with the L.A. Lakers in mid-2018, NBA superstar LeBron James has splashed out on three mansions in the city. His latest purchase is his most lavish yet, – a $56 million Beverly Hills pile, formerly owned by Lee Phillip Bell, creator of The Young and the Restless, and The Bold and the Beautiful, among…
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Bridging the gap
Richard Branson made an excellent point when he declared employees, not clients, should come first in business. “If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients,” he said. The book, The Mind of the Leader, backs this up with its extensive research,involving 35,000 leaders, showing leaders are failing to meet employees’ need to find purpose,…
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Shopping mall vacancies hit 20-year high
It’s not looking good for the future of the humble shopping mall, as coronavirus hastens the closure of stores inside centres around the country. New figures from JLL show the national vacancy rate in shopping malls rose to an average of 5.1 per cent in June, after sitting at 3.8 per cent just six months earlier. In CBD shopping malls,…
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