Australian Property

From Mr Joye: Much-maligned auction markets also remain in rude health.

From national treasure Tim Toohey: Compared to government projections of 1.80%pa (ABS Series B), population growth has slowed to 1.35%yoy in 1Q15, and is well on track to meet our forecast of 1.2%yoy by the end of 2015.

From Peter Hartcher: “There’s a really big regulation modernisation agenda for the housing sector and that can really improve competitiveness and efficiency,” he said in an interview with Fairfax Media.

From the Old Dog today: Be careful what you wish for.

Undoubtedly the biggest asset that Australians aspire to and acquire is property, either owning your home and/or investing in residential property.

From the AFR: ABN Group managing director Dale Alcock.

Keep saying it and it may come true.

Lick your lips, from the AFR: McGrath Estate Agents is understood to be working on an acquisition that would boost the size of the company’s planned initial public offering to around $300 million.

Good advice from Callam Pickering, one of the few other voices of sanity in the Australian press using a very familiar argument: When the [property’] market turns we won’t have the luxury of a mining boom or the benefits of fiscal or monetary policy to keep the market afloat.

From Callam Pickering: Wasn’t it supposed to be a permanently high plateau?

They’re piling in now, though to be fair, MS has been better than most, from Fairfax: Morgan Stanley analysts are calling the peak of the housing cycle, with a tighter regulatory environment set to blunt the powerful growth momentum for the sector from here on.

It’s a mad scramble at Domainfax to explain that Sydney property isn’t going to crash, from Dr Hawtrey of BIS Shrapnel: “We are at a turning point.

From Bloomberg: “There is a tsunami of home supply coming,” said Nigel Stapledon, head of real estate research at the University of New South Wales Business School and former chief economist at Westpac.

RP Data’s leading mortgage index is showing more signs of struggling: In rising market this seasonal period is usually characterised by strong growth.

From Domain: First timers…now make up 11.7 per cent of the market, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

From RP Data: This week’s preliminary clearance rate of 70.7 per cent across a total of 2,064 reported auctions represents the third lowest clearance rate so far this year across the combined capital cities, down further from last week when the final clearance rate was recorded at 71.2 per cent.

From the AFR: A furious Scott Morrison has confirmed Tony Abbott offered to make him Treasurer and “throw Joe Hockey under a bus” so Mr Abbott could save his leadership.

The AFR has a nice spruik piece today on where to buy property this Spring which, for anyone with an eye on the cycle, should be to sell.

Laurence Murphy is a top property economist at the University of Auckland.

From the AFR: Australian banks have a funding problem and will need to work on shifting their deposit bases and lengthening their maturity profiles, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has warned.

From The West Australian: WA’s peak body of developers claims the State Government’s planning blueprint will dramatically boost house prices, create a catastrophic land shortage and drag the economy down.

From the AFR: Banks are offering mortgage brokers lucrative cash incentives and improved terms to encourage home buyers to apply for their loans or switch lenders.