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SQM Research Residential Newsletter - Tuesday 17 September 2019
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Black Dragon's
Words for the Week

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:  If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

Ronald Reagan,
40th President of the USA
Real Estate Realities 

People want and need more housing choice: It’s about time governments stood up to deliver it

Australians need greater housing diversity to meet their current and future housing needs. Yet increasing diversity, and meeting the need for more smaller dwellings in particular, has proved surprisingly difficult to achieve.

Vested interests – both the big end of town and traditionalists seeking to preserve Australians’ suburban way of life – have come together in a rare alliance to argue against policies to deliver more diverse housing.

There are strong demographic drivers of the need for a more diverse range of housing in our cities. Not all current and future households want single standalone houses or multi-storey apartments.

Indeed, three recent surveys showed city dwellers are looking for housing diversity, particularly smaller houses such as terraces and semi-detached dwellings, in inner and middle suburbs. This demand comes from downsizers as well as families. We are seeing a clear recognition of the shortage of this stock.

There is strong community support for providing more housing choice in the areas where people already live. People as they approach retirement overwhelmingly want to stay in the same neighbourhood.

Housing hasn’t kept up with changing needs

From about the 1980s, cities began to respond to the economic, social and environmental consequences of sprawl by promoting more compact urban forms and concentrating high-density housing in selected urban centres. However, new housing in Australian cities has typically been dominated by two categories: freestanding homes and apartments.

Attempts to introduce more diverse housing have met with fierce resistance from home owners in existing low-density suburbs. As a result, cities in Australia have some of the largest houses and lowest densities in the world.

Read More...

VACANCY RATES MARGINALLY DECLINE IN AUGUST

by Louis Christopher, CEO
 
Data released by SQM Research today has revealed the national residential rental vacancy rate marginally declined in August 2019 to 2.2% from July.  The total number of vacancies Australia-wide is now at 75,757 vacant residential properties, a decrease of 589 over the month but up 5,310 dwellings over the past 12 months.
 
Sydney, Perth and Adelaide recorded minor decreases of 0.1% in vacancy rates. Brisbane, Canberra and Hobart increased by 0.1%, with Hobart remaining the lowest in the country at 0.6%.  All other capital cities remained steady over the month.
 
Sydney continues to have the highest vacancy rate in the country at 3.4%, this time last year the rate was lower at 2.8%


Residential property rental vacancy rates remained largely steady for the month of August with perhaps the exception of Perth which continues to record a recovering rental market. While Sydney did record a slight decline our expectation is the Sydney rental market will still fall from here. We believe rental vacancy rates will peak at 4% in Sydney by the end of this year.



Asking Rents

Over the month, Capital city asking rents declined 0.4% for houses but remained steady for units for the week ending 12 September 2019 to record asking rents of $544 per week for houses and $438 per week for units. 

In comparison, over the 12 months, asking rents for houses declined 1.4% and a 0.5% decline for units.
 
Sydney recorded declines in asking rents over the month for both houses and units by 1.3% and 0.2% respectively.  Melbourne also saw declines in both houses and units over the month, dropping 0.2% for houses and 0.7% for units.  Hobart’s unit rental market increased 4.8% over the month but houses declined 0.5%.

Brisbane continues to be the only capital city to record increases in weekly rents over the month for both houses and units at 0.6% for houses and 0.9% for units.

 

 
CHART OF THE WEEK

Perth Rental Market

This week, given our August update on Residential property rental vacancy rates, I thought the chart on the Perth rental market is worth studying further.
 
After an extended housing downturn, it appears that Perth’s rental market is in a strong recovery phase. While rental vacancy rates are elevated at 2.9% the trend has been down since the start of 2017 where they peaked at 5.5% on our numbers. The lowest rental vacancy rate recorded on our numbers for Perth was just 0.5% in March 2012, which was at the peak of the Western Australian mining boom.
 
As a result of the tightening rental vacancy rate, asking rents have been rising again. Perth asking rents bottomed out at $410 a week for a house and  $310 a week for a unit. That occurred in October 2017. Asking rents for houses has since risen and now stands at $440 a week for a house and $337 a week for a unit.


At the peak they were $628 for a house and $476 for a unit (Feb-Mar 2013), so there is still quite a way to go yet before Perth rents hit new highs. And given the peak, it does go to show how much of a rout the market was in.





 
DISTRESSED PROPERTY OF THE WEEK

109 Wanneroo Road, Greenwood WA 6024

cli
ck to enlarge

This 3 bedroom, 1 bath home in the Perth suburb of Greenwood, is situated on a generous block approximately 728 sqm in size, and is selling for $340,000 to $360,000 after an initial asking price of $395,000 in June 2019.  Greenwood is within the City of Joondalup and approx. 17 km north of Perth's CBD.

The home is ideally located close to schools, public transport, local Greenwood shops, Kingsway Shopping Centre and close to Lake Goollelal and the bushland at Yellagonga Regional Park.
 
The property is well maintained and well-priced.  Based on current data,
asking prices for houses in postcode 6024, range from $440,000 to $500,000.  Asking prices for 3-bedroom houses in the postcode suffered a 7.6% decrease over 3 years however in the last month there has been a marginal decrease of 0.4%.  The home last sold for $455,000 in 2013. 
 
The home’s new owner could add their own personal touch to the home and move right in, or rent it out or sub-divide and develop the block into duplex or triplex homes (subject to State Planning/City of Joondalup approvals).
 
You can expect
weekly rents of $360 to $375 for houses in this area.  In June 2019 the home was advertised for rent at $300 per week.  Over the last 12 months there has been a 0.6% increase in rents however, over the month there has been a 0.4% decline.  An implied gross rental yield of 4.2% can be achieved for 3 bedroom houses.  Current vacancy rate is 1.9% after peaking at 4.6% in May 2017.


SQM website features free property data that is now more interactive, easier to navigate and user-friendly, so keep monitoring this market’s growth at SQM Research’s free property data. Also consider the Property Valuation product for more in-depth data and property price estimator.
 

SQM RATINGS NEWSLETTER

Did you know that SQM Research doesn’t only provide residential property data, we also provide research on all asset classes.  We have data and analytics on over 10,000 funds in Australia.  To find out more and to subscribe to our Fund Data tool click here.

If you would like to subscribe to our Ratings Newsletter, click here.  The newsletter provides regular updates on all funds including ratings changes and media releases, and valuable Insights into the point of view of our analysts on a variety of ratings research related topics.  And it’s completely free!
 

SQM RESEARCH HOUSING INDEXES
 
SQM Research Weekly Asking Prices Index
Week ending: 17 Sep 2019 Asking Price   Chg on
  prev wk
 Rolling month
% chg
 12 month
% chg
Sydney All Houses   1,305.0 13.7  2.7%  -0.7% 
All Units 693.3 0.1  -0.3%  -2.6% 
Melbourne All Houses 948.4 5.5  1.0%  -2.2% 
All Units 544.4 3.0  1.0%  -0.6% 
Brisbane All Houses 624.1 2.4  1.0%  1.7% 
All Units 370.5 -0.3  -0.1%  -2.9% 
Perth All Houses 649.5 -0.4  0.3%  -1.7% 
All Units 379.4 -1.1  -0.6%  -2.7% 
Adelaide All Houses 515.2 0.9  0.4%  2.1% 
All Units 298.6 -0.2  0.1%  -1.1% 
Canberra All Houses 823.2 -0.7  1.4%  2.0% 
All Units 436.2 2.2  1.2%  4.4% 
Darwin All Houses 589.4 -3.4  -0.3%  0.8% 
All Units 350.4 -1.8  -0.8%  -4.8% 
Hobart All Houses 523.4 3.8  3.0%  6.5% 
All Units 324.2 4.2  6.0%  4.6% 
National All Houses 575.7 3.0  1.2%  0.1% 
All Units 380.6 -0.2  1.2%  2.0% 
Cap City Average All Houses 942.2 8.2  2.5%  -0.2% 
All Units 564.4 0.7  0.5%  -1.8% 

Next update: 24 Sep 2019

SQM Research Weekly Rents Index
Week ending: 12 Sep 2019     Rent      Chg on
prev wk
  Rolling month
% change
   12 month
% change
Sydney All Houses     676.1 -0.1  -1.3%  -4.5% 
All Units 497.9 0.1  -0.2%  -3.3% 
Melbourne All Houses 524.7 -1.7  -0.2%  -0.4% 
All Units 418.4 -1.4  -0.7%  2.2% 
Brisbane All Houses 466.2 -0.2  0.6%  3.5% 
All Units 378.0 1.0  0.9%  1.9% 
Perth All Houses 440.4 3.6  1.1%  4.1% 
All Units 337.7 -0.7  -0.2%  5.1% 
Adelaide All Houses 399.4 -0.4  0.2%  3.7% 
All Units 312.1 -0.1  -0.1%  4.7% 
Canberra All Houses 603.2 -1.2  -1.2%  -5.2% 
All Units 459.4 0.6  0.1%  4.6% 
Darwin All Houses 513.1 1.9  -0.1%  -0.4% 
All Units 380.3 4.7  1.6%  -6.4% 
Hobart All Houses 442.9 1.1  -0.5%  7.6% 
All Units 412.3 8.7  4.8%  10.3% 
National All Houses 442.0 2.0  0.5%  0.7% 
All Units 366.0 -1.0  -0.5%  1.7% 
Cap City Average All Houses 544.0 0.0 -0.4%  -1.4% 
All Units 438.0 -1.0  0.0% -0.5% 

Next update: 20 Sep 2019

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