NEWS ARCHIVE
Rental Market Report - August
Leasing activity so far in August has remained strong with inquiry rates high and rental levels consistently better than at the start of the year. Within our own management portfolio, the vacancy rate is just 1.3%, which is considered to be a ‘tight’ rental market. Conditions such as these, at this time of the year, bode well for still more improvement in the rental market leading into the New Year. Land Tax The recent NSW State Budget announced by the NSW Treasurer contained some changes to...
August in Review
With plenty of property conversation revolving around the year’s second interest rate increase in July, it’s a difficult task to digest the impact for the property market. The Australian reported on the 14th August that ‘the latest interest rate rise has hit the housing market harder than first thought … with Sydney sales volumes plummeting by almost a third’. This may well be true as sales volumes locally have been lower than for the same period last year. However, given this lower volume o...
Rental Market Report – July 06
Just in the last month, there has been quite a lot of media attention focused on the Sydney rental market, in particular the low vacancy rates and rising rents. Select images of hordes of people turning up at inspections, talk of “rental auctions” and people being knocked back “dozens of times” for accommodation, makes good news but does not truly represent the market as we see it. By all accounts in the media, if you believe it, landlords can ask what they want and are making fortunes! Yes, ...
July in Review
I was fortunate enough to attend Macquarie Bank’s Real Estate Market Outlook seminar last month which provided a detailed view of market trends across the country. Macquarie has produced the Real Estate Market Outlook Report for the past seven years and has achieved remarkable accuracy in predicting trends in the property market. Macquarie reports that the residential property market has been in a downturn phase for the past 2.5 years across the Eastern seaboard, with the exception of Far Nor...
Pete’s Pulpit
Your Property, their Home? Gaining access to a tenanted property can seem a problem for some Landlords. The simple fact is that your decision to lease the property automatically gives the tenant a right to privacy and in particular adequate notice should a landlord or Agent wish to make an inspection. This is based on the premise that whilst it is your property, it is their home. Many Tenants take the Landlord’s obligation to give adequate notice quite seriously. This is perhaps reasonable ...
June in Review
June – it’s been and gone! The hump in the middle of the year has continued to show steady sales results throughout the local area and private treaty sales have continued to perform strongly – in fact, as at June 15th they represented almost 75% of local sales. Local auction properties are achieving an impressive clearance rate of approximately 67%, which is significantly higher than the Sydney average of 55%. The Inner West has recently been reported by market commentators as an area that wi...
Rental Market Report – June 06
Rental inquiry rates dropped significantly with the colder, wetter weather we’ve been experiencing since the beginning of June. This slowdown is typical of the winter market and we don’t believe it’s a sign of a weaker overall market. In fact, we remain extremely positive about the strength of the rental market based on results so far this year. Prospects for the immediate future remain strong as the vacancy rates across Sydney remain relatively low at around 2%. Here in Balmain we believe the r...
Pete's Pulpit
As the internet is one of the most useful tools in marketing rental property, we maintain a comprehensive, up-to-the-minute site containing innovative features and tools which make the search process so straightforward for prospective tenants. We have developed what I believe to be Balmain’s top website for this purpose, www.chre.com.au. Some of the useful features developed include an easy to follow property listing summary, detailed descriptions, where possible a series of quality photographs,...
Pete's Pulpit
Smoke Detectors – Legislation introduced 1st May 2006. From May 1 2006, all Residential Tenancy Agreements will have the following clauses included. 19A. The landlord agrees: 19A.1 to install any smoke alarms that are required by law to be installed on the residential premises, and 19A.2 not to remove or interfere with the operation of any such smoke alarm except with reasonable excuse, and 19A.3 if any such smoke alarm has a replaceable battery (other than a back up battery), to ensur...
Market Report – May 2006
Leasing conditions remained strong through the end of April and into early May, suggesting the upswing in rental demand will continue for the remainder of the year. We are currently experiencing a vacancy rate of less than 1% and receiving multiple applications on most properties allowing owners to select the best tenant available. This higher demand is slightly unusual for this time of year which traditionally is less transient leading into the winter months. Interestingly, if we are experienci...