Tag Archives: australian
Stamp duty levels to continue to affect prime central London property market
The prime central London property market has seen a year of two halves but uncertainty over stamp duty levels is set to continue to affect the upper part of the sector in 2016, new research suggests. Just over a year the prime market was hit by increased stamp duty on properties worth more than £1.1 million and now this year extra duty of 3% is to be levied on buy to let investors and second home owners. The latest report from real estate firm Knight Frank explains that while the new measure is an attempt to address concerns surrounding affordability and house price inflation, it raises fresh questions over the dampening effect on tax revenues just as buyers and sellers in prime London were showing tentative signs of absorbing the previous increase. ‘Transactions and revenue have declined across London in the period following the December 2014 increase. It highlights concerns over the financially viability of the stamp duty reform, which had the welcome aim of increasing liquidity and affordability below £1 million but runs the risk of becoming a counterproductive deterrent above that level,’ said Tom Bill, head of London residential research. Meanwhile, the sub-£2 million market outperformed the rest of prime London in the second half of 2015, continuing a trend of recent years. In particular, properties worth less than £1 million have grown by more than any other price bracket. Bill explained that the highest growth has largely been outside the higher price brackets of prime areas of central London over the last 20 years. The Knight Frank analysis report highlights the markets where price growth was strongest during each year since the first quarter of 1995 and on a journey that began in Lambeth Walk and ends in Turnpike Lane, £50,000 would have become £1.18 million after stamp duty and moving fees are taken into account, representing a rise of 2,264%. The theoretical journey began in south London before moving further east to areas like Barking and Dagenham in the early 2000s as east London matured as a residential market. It then moved to prime central London in the run-up to and immediate aftermath of the financial crisis, including Marylebone, Belgravia and Fulham. Finally, as price growth pushed outwards from central London as the UK economic recovery consolidated after 2013 the strongest growth was found in the north London markets of Walthamstow and Turnpike Lane. Continue reading
Home values in Australian capital cities flat, latest index data shows
Residential property values were flat in capital cities in Australia last month with Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide seeing price falls. The downturn in these cities were offset by values rising across the remaining five capital cities, according to the latest CoreLogic RP Data home value index. The Sydney housing market was the main drag on the December results, with dwelling values down 1.2%, while values were down 1.5% in Adelaide and 1.1% in Canberra. The remaining capitals saw a rise in dwelling values, led by a 2.3% rise in Perth values and a 1% rise in Melbourne over the month. After dwelling values had been broadly rising since June 2012, the December quarter results revealed a 1.4% fall in dwelling values across the combined capitals, the largest quarter on quarter fall since December 2011. Six of the eight capital cities recorded a negative result over the December quarter, with weaker conditions in Sydney and Melbourne acting as the greatest drag on capital city performance, according to CoreLogic RP Data head of research Tim Lawless. The largest quarterly fall was recorded in Sydney, where dwelling values were down 2.3% over the final three months of the year, followed by Melbourne, where dwelling values were 1.9% lower. The only capital cities to show a rise in dwelling values over the December quarter were Brisbane with growth of 1.3% and Adelaide up 0.6%. This was in contrast to the first three quarters of 2015, where capital city dwelling values rose by 9.3%, largely driven by a 14.1% surge in Sydney values and a 13.3% increase in Melbourne. In stark contrast, the final quarter of 2015 showed Sydney as the weakest performer of any capital city, with dwelling values down by 2.3% while Melbourne recorded the second weakest result with a fall of 1.9%. The complete 2015 calendar year results reveal a 7.8% increase in capital city dwelling values which is the lowest rate of capital gain over a calendar year since 2012 when values slipped 0.4% lower over the full year. Highlighting the diversity in the capital city housing markets, dwelling values fell across four of the eight capitals in the 2015 calendar year. The largest of these falls were recorded in Perth, down by 3.7%, and Darwin down by 3.6%. Hobart and Adelaide also showed subtle falls of 0.7% and 0.1%. Despite the recent weakening of housing market conditions in Sydney and Melbourne, the two largest capital city housing markets still recorded much stronger annual gains than all other capital cities, 11.5% in Sydney and 11.2% in Melbourne. Dwelling values in Brisbane and Canberra were up a more sustainable 4.1% over the year. ‘The wealth created from housing in Sydney and Melbourne has been exceptional over the past 12 months. In dollar terms, Sydney home owners have seen approximately $82,000 added to their wealth thanks to the strong capital gains over the year while home owners in Melbourne have seen the value of… Continue reading
Auckland sees residential construction work double in four years
The value of construction in most regions in New Zealand increased in the third quarter of 2015 with Auckland seeing a new high of $943 million worth of residential work, up $107 million from a year ago. Overall building work worth $4.2 billion was put in place in the September 2015 quarter, up 4% on the September 2014 quarter, according to official figures from Statistics New Zealand. ‘The value of building work increased in most regions. Similar to last quarter, residential work grew most in Auckland, while non-residential work grew most in Canterbury,’ said Statistics New Zealand business indicators manager Neil Kelly. In Auckland, a new series high of $943 million worth of residential building work was recorded in the September 2015 quarter, up $107 million from a year ago. The current quarter's value is double what it was four years ago in the September 2011 quarter. After removing price changes and seasonal variations, the national volume of all building activity increased 0.5%, following a 1.6% increase in the June 2015 quarter. Within this, the volume of residential work increased 2.9% while non-residential work fell 2.6%. The volume trend for non-residential building activity grew 0.4% in the September 2015 quarter, a similar level as the previous series high in the March 2006 quarter. Meanwhile, the residential building activity volume trend grew 1.4% in the latest quarter, but the level was still 6.3% lower than the June 2004 quarter peak. The overall building activity volume trend grew to a level last seen 10 years ago in the June 2005 quarter, the previous series peak. Meanwhile, official data also shows that all 16 regions of New Zealand are projected to have more households in 2038 than in 2013 and most territory authority areas (TAs) will also have more households. The Auckland region is projected to account for about half of the national growth in the number of households between 2013 and 2038, increasing from 500,000 to 750,000. Over the same period, the region is projected to account for roughly 60% of New Zealand's population growth. By 2038, some 35% of all households in New Zealand will be in the Auckland region, up from 30% in 2013. Continue reading
