One of the key elements in maintaining a rental property is the ability to fill vacancies. There are any number of reasons a property can be left unoccupied, but fortunately the latest figures from SQM Research indicate that residential vacancy levels across the country improved in February. The proportion of properties without a tenant dropped 0.1 percentage point over February, … Read more »

With construction soaring to new peaks throughout New South Wales, and Sydney’s population booming, property industry commentators have warned that a lack of supply could undermine the strength of the housing sector. The Property Council of Australia has gone one step further in this regard and forecast that Sydney could potentially see a 190,000 shortfall in houses in the next two decades.

Demand … Read more »

Housing affordability has raised serious questions in past years. As investors have scoured Sydney to find profitable property, there have been some concerns that certain segments of society – like first home buyers – are being pushed out of the market.

Fortunately, local governments are listening. The City of Sydney sought to find answers in a March 12 forum, working with industry … Read more »

Office vacancies seem a benign way to measure economic growth, but results from Property Council of Australia’s Office Market Report show that New South Wales is on the up for commercial office space demand. The survey reveals that while Sydney is leading the way amongst Australia’s capital cities for the level of vacancy, Newcastle CBD has one of the lowest … Read more »

There has been a lot of discussion about the future of the property market over the past few months. While New South Wales continues to prove itself as a serious property player, there are still some challenges on the horizon. Affordability and first home buyers have been the hot topic recently, particularly as the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released … Read more »

While the Australian construction industry marches to yet another year of strong activity, the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) Housing Affordability Report shows that homes have become less affordable across the nation. This could indicate another strong year of capital growth for property investors, as demand for homes drives house prices even higher.

The Adelaide Bank commissions research into housing affordability on … Read more »

The number of property listings can give a good idea of selling sentiment and it looks like Sydney vendors are jumping at the opportunity to sell their property. Data from SQM research shows that the number of Sydney homes placed on the market climbed upwards in February, while listings across the country remained relatively steady from the month before.

Nationwide, the … Read more »

Good rental yields can be an attractive prospect for property investors, but house values can also provide some long-term benefits. As house prices continue to sprout, it could be a case of balancing compressed yields with capital growth opportunities.

Research from the CoreLogic RP Data Home Value Index for February reveals that values across Australia’s capital cities increased 0.3 per cent in February, with … Read more »

The Reserve Bank’s decision to trim the official cash rate down by 25 basis points in February was met with a round of applause in February, but there were some questions surrounding their most recent move. Keeping the cash rate steady at 2.25 per cent was not roundly welcomed, with many industry commentators pointing out that mortgage holders would relish … Read more »

Buying investment property involves taking a wide range of features into account, but perhaps one of the most important is how safe your tenants will feel. After all, they’ll want to feel a sense of security when they start living in a particular area, which could mean that Sydney is in even higher demand than ever.

A recent report from The … Read more »