INTERNATIONAL
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The pandemic has changed what buyers want, and developers are following suit
The pandemic has changed how and where people want to live, and what features they are now looking for in a house.
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Australia hits Top 20 in Global Home Price Index
Australia has ranked 19th in the world for house price growth for the year to June 2020, according to the Knight Frank Global House Price Index Q2 2020. The index tracks the movement in mainstream residential pricesacross more than 50 countries and territories worldwide using official statistics. It showed Australia’s house prices grew 6.1 per cent over the year to…
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Have we just stumbled on the biggest productivity increase of the century?
One of the most striking responses to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the sudden shift of around half the workforce to working at home. In many cases, this was combined with an equally sudden shift to home schooling. Contrary to what might have been expected, working from home was one part of the pandemic response that went remarkably smoothly. Most…
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Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke lists LA beach house
Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke is hoping to net somewhere in the region of $6.8 million (AUD) for her Venice beach house, which was recently put on the market. In terms of Californian pads owned by movie stars, this one is rather modest, sporting only two bedrooms and three bathrooms – a “single family home” according to the listing.…
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Amazon launch new Alexa tool for property managers
Amazon has launched Alexa for Residential in response to a survey that found the majority of renters want smart home amenities. According to US National Apartment Association, 84 per cent of renters want an apartment with smart home amenities; 61 per cent said they would pay a monthly fee for a voice assistant. The new tool allows property managers and…
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Look inside Justin Bieber’s $25.8 million bargain in Beverly Park
Justin Bieber and wife Hailey Baldwin have scored themselves a massive six-bedroom mansion in Beverly Park for a cool $25.8 million. The property was built in 1988, and first went on the market in April, 2018, with an asking price of $42m; enough to make it realtor.com’s most expensive listing of that week. Since that point, the price dropped incrementally,…
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Harvard economist: Australia has most overvalued property prices in world
Leading Harvard economist Harry Dent has warned he believes Australian property prices are set for a huge fall. Dent is a Harvard MBA graduate, a Fortune 100 consultant, a New York Times bestseller, and claims to have correctly predicted “nearly every major economic event in the past three decades including the 90s recession, the decade-long bull market which followed it,…
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Inside Brad Pitt and Jen Aniston’s Beverly Hills love-nest
The house Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt bought in 2000 for US$13.5m has just sold for $32.5m, more than double what they bought it for two decades ago. The Beverly Hills mansion was built in 1934 for old-timey Hollywood actor Fredric March. It was listed last year for $56m, but attracted little interest. The price was lowered a number of…
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Global commercial real estate investment takes a dive
COVID-19, and all the associated economic and geographic headaches it brought to the world, has led to a major slump in commercial real estate investment volumes, which fell across all three global regions during the first half of 2020. Commercial real estate investment fell 29 per cent globally, to $321 billion in the first six months of 2020 compared to…
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NZ updates tenancy rights, as REINZ warn of consequences
New Zealand parliament has passed a bill that will modernise the 1986 Residential Tenancies Act. The Government says most of the reforms won’t come into play for another six months, allowing tenants and landlords time to adapt. Changes include the removal of no-cause termination, limiting rent increases to one a year, and allowing DV victims the ability to end a…
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Queenstown rents take a hit as tourism dries up
As average rent prices climb across New Zealand in spite of the pandemic, tourist town Queenstown has seen its rent prices plummet by 10 per cent since the same time last year. According to MBIE’s data, average rents for NZ rose by 4.8 per cent in the three months to June since the previous year. Surprisingly, rent prices in many…
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Britney’s hideaway back on the market
The Beverly Hills home where Britney Spears went into hiding in 2007, after divorcing her husband and becoming the target of paparazzi, is back on the market, at a cool $6.8 million. Spears lived in the house from 2007 to 2012, when she sold it at a $2m loss. The house was listed for $9 million in 2018, but did…
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Inside model Gigi Hadid’s colourful house
Model Gigi Hadid may be paid millions to wear the latest in fashion, but as the furnishings in her New York apartment show an eclectic taste in home furnishings. The model has posted photos of the interior of her apartment, and it’s colourful, to say the least. “Spent all of last year designing and curating my passion project/dream spot,” she…
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Jon Bon Jovi flips $20m mansion, buys $43m estate a few blocks away
After a four-decade career, 130 million album sales, and tours to over 34 million people worldwide, it’s safe to say that Jon Bon Jovi isn’t living on a prayer anymore. He is also quite the house flipper. In one single day last week, he sold a Palm Beach pad he and his wife had renovated only a few months ago…
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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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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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Why COVID-19 might not change our cities as much as we expect
The coronavirus pandemic has thrust us into a moment of rapid change. Like all change, it is difficult to predict. But lessons from history provide us with two important insights. First, temporary change sometimes has remarkably little lasting effect. Second, what looks like a lasting effect is often the acceleration of existing trends, rather than new, crisis-caused trends. COVID-19 impacts…
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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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US billionaire eyes investment in LJ Hooker
US billionaire Michael Fuchs has his sights on the Australian market, with plans to inject $35 million equity into LJ Hooker. In 1991, New York-based Mr Fuchs and a childhood friend foundered RFR Holdings, a real estate portfolio now worth north of $20 billion. Their assets include the Seagram Building, the Chrysler Building, and Hotel Paramount in Manhattan, Dexter Station…
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Realtor.com names Rachel Morley as Chief Product Officer
Real estate technology platform Realtor.com has promoted Rachel Morley to Chief Product Officer, where she will lead product strategy for the company. For more than two decades, Ms Morley has helped companies conceive, create and evolve products and technology practices that help organisations and their customers succeed. David Doctorow, CEO of Move, Inc, operator of realtor.com, said Ms Morley is passionate about…
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Would you buy a home without stepping foot inside?
US-based website realtor.com has released the results of a new consumer survey highlighting COVID-19’s impact on home buying, selling and moving in the age of social distancing. The survey found that American consumers, especially younger demographics, want virtual tours and are warming to the idea of buying a home without visiting it in person. Realtor.com and Toluna Insights surveyed 1,300 consumers during the…
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UK Government provides protection for renters affected by coronavirus
The Ministry of Housing in the UK has announced a radical package of measures to protect renters and landlords affected by coronavirus. As a result, no renter in either social or private accommodation will be forced out of their home during this difficult time. The government department, in a press release, said that emergency legislation will be taken forward as…
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RE/MAX recognise leaders at R4, Las Vegas
Twenty-eight Australian and New Zealand RE/MAX members last month travelled to Las Vegas for the 47th annual R4 Convention. Offering the opportunity to rub shoulders with thousands of the network’s agents, owners and affiliates the agents, the convention also saw numerous Australian and New Zealand teams recognised with awards. RE/MAX Australia’s Daniel Burrett from Toowoomba was named as the 2019 RE/MAX…
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Realtor.com’s introduces noise indicator
There are many things you can determine from a property listing – a home’s size, location, aesthetics, school districts and much more. However, there are some things you simply can’t see – such as how noisy or quiet a property may be. That’s why US real estate listings website, realtor.com has introduced a new noise indicator feature that provides reliable…
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The novel coronavirus outbreak and Chinese cross-border real estate buying
Chinese Consumers at Home To understand the impact of the epidemic on Chinese cross-border real estate buying in overseas markets, it helps to first understand the situation for these buyers at home, in China. In much of the country, people are working at home or taking an enforced holiday until they can return to their…
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Berlin’s radical rent freeze to tackle housing affordability
NSW might have new rental reforms, but nowhere is the gaping chasm between landlord and tenant interests more obvious than in Germany’s Berlin. In the city once divided by the wall, the government is set to deliver new legislation that is fiercely polarising tenants and landlords. From this month, Berlin’s property market will be subject…
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Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices introduces QuickBuy
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Starck Real Estate has introduced QuickBuy – an alternative home sale option made available through a partnership with Moving Station, LLC. The relationship allows Starck Real Estate to present Midwest home sellers with a reliable “instant” offer for their home as an alternative to a traditional home sale. Consumers who request a QuickBuy offer from Starck will…
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RESAAS teams up with BoxBrownie.com
RESAAS Services Inc, a technology platform for the real estate industry, is pleased to announce a partnership with BoxBrownie.com. BoxBrownie.com is an award-winning real estate image enhancement company. It provides ondemand professional photo editing services to real estate agents worldwide. Under the terms of the agreement, signed on January 16, 2020, RESAAS will sell photo…
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“Aussie” Harcourts Auctions to launch in San Francisco
Harcourts International has announced the launch of Harcourts Auctions in the San Francisco Bay area. Previously only available to Harcourts, this move will mean the Harcourts Auctions platform will now be a service model available to all brokerages and brands within the Northern California region. Known for changing mindsets when it comes to the concept of sale by auction of…
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Ray White’s 2019 Elite Conference looks to the future
This year more than 130 Ray White Chairman’s Elite and Elites jetted to Bali for their annual retreat, but this year, the agenda was developed by the group’s high performing members. Ray White Head of Performance Management Adam Downes surveyed the elite sales people before the conference to determine which topics of discussions were prioritised.…
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Real Estate of Origin drives almost 7500 new appraisals
In less than four hours, Ray White agents this week drummed up 7401 extra appraisals across Australia and New Zealand, actively demonstrating how the leading group knows how to both harness its scale and have some fun along the way. Ray White’s inhouse tech team created a purpose built media room in the NSW Corporate…
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New tech set to simplify photo listings
Realtor.com®, today announced the release of its Photo First℠ feature, to help home buyers find their must-have rooms and finishes without the headache of scrolling through dozens of listing photos. They claim that this first-of-its-kind feature is designed to deliver the best browsing experience by making photos more personal and relevant than ever before. The…
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