A Bright & Busy Start to 2016

The 2016 residential property market has shown no signs of slowing, despite pundits suggesting otherwise. Director, David Thomson identifies low stock levels are contributing to many exciting results for private and off market sales, as well as auctions. Our sales listings have sold on average around 32 days from hitting the internet, against the industry average of 43 days.

Our property management department have also been very busy this first quarter leasing 185 properties to new tenants. Our average lease time is 28 days against the industry average of 38 days.

Auctions have been competitive with our highlights being 113 Oakleigh Road, Carnegie achieving $1.225 million (5 bidders), 24 Bute Street, Murrumbeena $1.395 million (5 bidders) and 1/17 Toolambool Road, Carnegie $711,000 (6 bidders).

We have also had great success at the other end of the market with smaller one bedroom apartments. These properties struggled to sell through 2015 and as the median price table below shows, unit prices have declined in Murrumbeena and Carnegie since this time last year. We have sold 12 single bedroom apartments already this year with pleasing results. Entry level remains under $250,000 for un-renovated apartments providing investors and young home buyers with great opportunities.

Amongst the interesting topics to watch over winter is the new legislation on price quoting due to commence 1^st July 2016. At Thomson, we have always shown transparency on price quoting on all our listings, and our fact sheets are detailed and easy for buyers to absorb as they move from one property to the next.

Locally, the State Government’s proposed Skyrail project is proceeding with preliminary works already commencing. The project, which will remove nine level crossings between Caulfield and Dandenong, has raised much discussion amongst the community. The Carnegie, Murrumbeena and Hughesdale stations are included in the works project. More information is available at www.levelcrossings.vic.gov.au.

Rent report

If you reside in or own one of Victoria’s 500,000 rental properties, then it’s likely you’ll be impacted by any changes to the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA). The State Government is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of Victoria’s residential tenancy laws, which govern the rights and responsibilities of both tenants and landlords in relation
to rent, bonds, dispute resolution and security of tenure.

At present, metropolitan Melbourne has a weekly median rent of $400 and a vacancy rate – that is, the amount of available properties that are currently unoccupied – of 3.1 per cent.

The Government’s Plan for Fairer, Safer Housing is considering a range of measures to ensure median rents and availability of rental properties remains affordable and appropriate for our growing population. These measures include mandating longterm
leases, pets in rental properties, rent reviews and maximum bonds.

In order to ensure our views reflect those of the broader community, the REIV is carrying out independent surveys of both landlords and tenants. These surveys are available now
on their website reiv.com.au and this allows respondents to provide anonymous input on
key areas of the review.

Individuals can also provide their feedback on the review directly to Consumer Affairs
Victoria (CAV) via the website fairersaferhousing.vic.gov.au. Separate to these proposed changes to legislation, the State Government is also considering taxing property owners
who choose to lock up and leave their investment properties vacant to focus only on capital gain. It is estimated that up to 55,000 properties throughout Victoria are sitting vacant and are not part of the rental market. By applying a tax to such properties the State Government hopes to ease the pressure on rent levels and vacancy rates. A similar levy is used in Britain and Canada.