Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]


Reply
Ray White Group rides crest of housing boom; last three years pundits have been saying the housing crash is coming
Topic Started: 25 Jul 2017, 12:32 PM (453 Views)
Bardon
Default APF Avatar


Ray White Group rides crest of housing boom

For the last three years pundits have been saying the housing crash is coming, says Brian White, but while the resilient markets in Sydney and Melbourne might moderate, continued low interest rates would dampen talk of housing bubbles.

The chairman of real estate agency Ray White Group said it was “too early to bring out a crystal ball” on the balance of the year. The timing of the Reserve Bank’s next move on rates would determine the direction of housing markets.

“If you want the market to falter, they just have to start jaw­boning,” Mr White told The Australian. “Even this morning, the RBA was hosing down talk of rising interest rates.”

Sydney and Melbourne’s seemingly unstoppable markets helped drive the family-owned real estate group to record revenue for the 2017 financial year, with gross sales reaching $44.7 billion, a 4 per cent increase on the previous financial year.

“We would hope to do another 4 per cent this year,” Mr White said. “If rates stay low, those markets (Sydney and Melbourne) will continue to be powerful.”

Mr White, who last month ­attended a World Economic Forum offshoot for the world’s 120 most influential family business owners in Gstaad, Switzerland, said the performance of the market over the past year highlighted the critical role that property played to the wealth of the Australian community.

“One of the features of 2016-17 was the improved stability of many markets that had been so damaged in the post-mining boom, particularly in some parts of regional Australia,” he said. But while the cash rate remained at a record low, tightened banking regulations had seen the big banks push up investor mortgage rates, Mr White noted.

Investors were finding other sources of funding through smaller financier and offshore banks that previously held little market share.

“They are targeting investors as the big banks step back. They need to elbow their way in,” Mr White said of smaller lenders.

He expected investors to return to long-term trend levels of about 28 per cent of the market.

Group director and Mr White’s son, Dan, said the buoyant conditions in Sydney and Melbourne had started to spread with regional NSW and parts of regional Queensland “feeling like the level of activity and prices will go higher from here”. The Gold Coast and Auckland had been particularly strong.

Western Australia was the only market that continued to suffer. “The bottom of the WA market is too early to call,” Dan White said.

“WA keeps your feet on the ground in terms of what can happen in the property markets.”

Dan White said results for most regions — the group has 1000 domestic and international offices — lifted with the exception of WA.

“In terms of the big movement of the needle (for the group’s result), it was definitely Sydney and no less in Melbourne,” he said. “Metro Melbourne had a year to remember. The vibrant market is pretty remarkable.”

Their comments come after Malcolm Turnbull last week joined the chorus of warnings on the housing market advising people to be prudent, and after a handful of commentators predicted the pace of surging housing price growth in Sydney and Melbourne would halve by the end of the year.

Dan White said the group was taking a shorter-term view and “not taking anything for granted”. He also expected the pace of price growth in Sydney and Melbourne to halve by the end of the year to a still healthy 6-7 per cent in Sydney and 7-8 per cent in Melbourne. “The clearances and auctions are still quite strong, but deals are a bit harder to pull together,” he said.

More homes had been listed for sale over the past month, he said. “We are hoping for OK volumes. What prices do is the big question,” he said.

Elsewhere, Ray White expects Brisbane’s housing prices to rise 3-4 per cent, an improvement on the 2 per cent annual pace of growth at June. Perth would remain difficult. The city recorded a fall in housing prices of 1.7 per cent for the year to June, according to researcher Core Logic.

About 10 per cent of Ray White Group’s gross sales came from the group’s commercial activities. It was an agent on the $380m sale of Bakehouse Quarter in Sydney’s inner west earlier this month.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/property/ray-white-group-rides-crest-of-housing-boom/news-story/de51f1f89d5cac4e7b603e1c75c49b24
Profile "REPLY WITH QUOTE" Go to top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
ZetaBoards gives you all the tools to create a successful discussion community.
« Previous Topic · Australian Property Forum · Next Topic »
Reply



Australian Property Forum is an economics and finance forum dedicated to discussion of Australian and global real estate markets and macroeconomics, including house prices, housing affordability, and the likelihood of a property crash. Is there an Australian housing bubble? Will house prices crash, boom or stagnate? Is the Australian property market a pyramid scheme or Ponzi scheme? Can house prices really rise forever? These are the questions we address on Australian Property Forum, the premier real estate site for property bears, bulls, investors, and speculators. Members may also discuss matters related to finance, modern monetary theory (MMT), debt deflation, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin Ethereum and Ripple, property investing, landlords, tenants, debt consolidation, reverse home equity loans, the housing shortage, negative gearing, capital gains tax, land tax and macro prudential regulation.

Forum Rules: The main forum may be used to discuss property, politics, economics and finance, precious metals, crypto currency, debt management, generational divides, climate change, sustainability, alternative energy, environmental topics, human rights or social justice issues, and other topics on a case by case basis. Topics unsuitable for the main forum may be discussed in the lounge. You agree you won't use this forum to post material that is illegal, private, defamatory, pornographic, excessively abusive or profane, threatening, or invasive of another forum member's privacy. Don't post NSFW content. Racist or ethnic slurs and homophobic comments aren't tolerated. Accusing forum members of serious crimes is not permitted. Accusations, attacks, abuse or threats, litigious or otherwise, directed against the forum or forum administrators aren't tolerated and will result in immediate suspension of your account for a number of days depending on the severity of the attack. No spamming or advertising in the main forum. Spamming includes repeating the same message over and over again within a short period of time. Don't post ALL CAPS thread titles. The Advertising and Promotion Subforum may be used to promote your Australian property related business or service. Active members of the forum who contribute regularly to main forum discussions may also include a link to their product or service in their signature block. Members are limited to one actively posting account each. A secondary account may be used solely for the purpose of maintaining a blog as long as that account no longer posts in threads. Any member who believes another member has violated these rules may report the offending post using the report button.

Australian Property Forum complies with ASIC Regulatory Guide 162 regarding Internet Discussion Sites. Australian Property Forum is not a provider of financial advice. Australian Property Forum does not in any way endorse the views and opinions of its members, nor does it vouch for for the accuracy or authenticity of their posts. It is not permitted for any Australian Property Forum member to post in the role of a licensed financial advisor or to post as the representative of a financial advisor. It is not permitted for Australian Property Forum members to ask for or offer specific buy, sell or hold recommendations on particular stocks, as a response to a request of this nature may be considered the provision of financial advice.

Views expressed on this forum are not representative of the forum owners. The forum owners are not liable or responsible for comments posted. Information posted does not constitute financial or legal advice. The forum owners accept no liability for information posted, nor for consequences of actions taken on the basis of that information. By visiting or using this forum, members and guests agree to be bound by the Zetaboards Terms of Use.

This site may contain copyright material (i.e. attributed snippets from online news reports), the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such content is posted to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues. This constitutes 'fair use' of such copyright material as provided for in section 107 of US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed for research and educational purposes only. If you wish to use this material for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Such material is credited to the true owner or licensee. We will remove from the forum any such material upon the request of the owners of the copyright of said material, as we claim no credit for such material.

For more information go to Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use

Privacy Policy: Australian Property Forum uses third party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our site. These third party advertising companies may collect and use information about your visits to Australian Property Forum as well as other web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here: Google Advertising Privacy FAQ

Australian Property Forum is hosted by Zetaboards. Please refer also to the Zetaboards Privacy Policy