The Blog
- Show all categories
- Uncategorized
- Property Market Update
- Buying
- Renting
- Selling
Dec 11, 2018
National Rental Yields
The national rental yield was at its lowest in 2017 when property values were well ahead of rent values. This was more significantly compressed in Sydney and Melbourne where they were reaching record low readings of 3% and 3.1% respectively in 2017. These cities are still recording the lowest yield profiles at the end of October 2018. At the end of October, Brisbane achieved a 4.4% rental yield.
Oct 25, 2018
Tips for Renting your Property
Being a landlord comes with many advantages, but its still not a decision which can be taken lightly. The great financial benefits can help you to reach more of your property investment goals, however you should consider a few things before taking the leap to landlord. 1. Understand and prepare for the responsibility Renting a property comes with a range of legal and financial responsibility, so it is important that you are clear from the beginning how much work you want to put into being a landlord and what elements your property might be better outsourced. Before the property can be rented, you will need to ensure that it is habitable for tenants and equipped to stand rigours of strangers living in it. It needs to be prepared to attract the ideal tenant along with damage such as scratching floorboards, marking walls and other damage. While most tenants do the right thing, no-one will take care of your home as well as you would. On top of this, the more value added to your property – the more monthly rent you can realistically charge. 2. Prepare your property for tenants Your first priority should be to make a checklist of the basic things which could be updated. Being able to list features such as ‘freshly painted’, ‘new dishwasher’ or ‘split system included’, could help you differentiate your listing from the rest in the market. Once you have your list of repairs and upgrades, your next task is to make your property is ‘tenant friendly’. You can achieve this by making choices about the kinds of heavy-duty materials you want to include in your property. This might be paint which washes easily, inexpensive and high tolerant low pile carpet, and appliances with low energy consumption. Landlords are also obligated to install and maintain smoke alarms. If you have high ceilings, consider the most efficient and practical lighting solutions, so that tenants can easily clean and replace globes. 3. Decide if you will recruit an agent or DIY Once the property is ready to be rented out, its time to get started. You can contact a real estate agent to get an idea of what costs would be involved in their caring of the property, or you can simply ask them for advice about the current rental market. They will be well informed about what kind of monthly income properties similar to your generate, and whether there are any things you can change or add to get a competitive edge within the market. This conversation will likely teach you a few things and help you decide how realistic it is to manage the property yourself. Once an ad is placed in the paper or online, various people will be interested. From here the preferred tenants are selected and all relevant paperwork including the tenancy agreements, bond lodgement forms and insurance to protect the specifics of your investment. Having a professional involved in your insurance is important to ensure you are completely covered. In most cases, landlords discover the costs involved with having a property manager are more than worth the investment. Not only can they navigate the complexity of establishing the right price for your rental, they also ensure boundaries are established between you and the tenant, as well as take care of the important legal and financial details that are much better taken care of by someone who knows that they’re doing.
Aug 28, 2018
Brisbane's House and Unit Market - August 2018
Brisbane’s steady and sustainable growth over the past five years suggests that unlike other capital cities, there is no boost to come - but rather, there is still room for growth. Annual rate of capital gains has weakened as Brisbane has seen a decrease in the annual capital gains from 2.9% a year ago to 1.2% over the past 12 months. Therefore, while Brisbane is the best performing in capital growth, the results are mild and this is only the case as other capital cities have slowed down. Within the unit market, construction peaked almost two years ago. Since then, unit supply is winding down and population growth in the capital city is ramping upwards, we may see local unit market staging a gradual improvement. However, unit values need to rise by 11% before it returns to the previous nominal high which we saw almost a decade ago. According to Corelogic, 23 Brisbane suburbs median house price is $1 million. Below is a summary of West End and surrounding areas’ markets. Median Value of Current House Market: West End: $1,045,682. Highgate Hill: $1,076,921. South Brisbane: $1,157,228. Median Value of Current Unit Market: West End: $479,611. Highgate Hill: $453,643. South Brisbane: $439,973. Brisbane City: $479,457.
Aug 16, 2018
Southern Renters Migrate to Brisbane for More Affordable Rent
While Sydney’s market vacancy rate rises and desperate landlords slash rent in an attempt to hold on to tenants, Brisbane is seeing its own vacancy rate shrink as demand rises and absorbing the surplus stock, easing the concerns about the inner city’s oversupply. While in Queensland, the power may currently reside with the renters for the next year and a half, Research managing director, Louis Christopher predicts the market to favour landlords in two years. An estimated 9886 residential rentals are sitting vacant in Brisbane in comparison to nearly 20,000 in Sydney, news.com.au reports. Sydney’s vacancy rate is now the highest in 13 years as 2.8 per cent of the city’s units and houses are unoccupied. Despite this, the asking rent for a three bedroom house in the city remains the highest in the country at $707 a week. While for a house in Queensland rose 0.1 per cent in July to $452 a week and unit rents remained steady at $370 a week. “For southerners, there’s definitely a standard of living benefit through doing the move — provided they can find a job in Brisbane or thereabouts,” said Mr Christopher. “Up until two years ago that was the problem, but the Brisbane economy has been rebounding thanks to the end of the mining downturn and so job creation has increased and it’s become a little bit easier to do that move and find a job that goes with it,” Mr Christopher said. Mr Christopher said he expected the surplus rental supply in Brisbane to continue to be absorbed in the next 12 to 18 months. However added, two years from now the market will significantly favour landlords. Realestate.com.au chief economists Nerida Conisbee said that over the past year, the online portal had recorded a 12 per cent rise in demand for rental properties in Brisbane. Meanwhile in Sydney, demand for units and houses had fallen 25 per cent over the same period. “We track rental demand on views per listing and Brisbane is well up, so it’s not surprising we’re seeing this drop in the vacancy rate,” Ms Conisbee said. “There just seems to be this recovery occurring in the Queensland economy and renters are often a better indicator of what’s happening than buyers, because they can be driven by speculation.”