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Aug 29, 2018
Australia's Construction Surprise Boom Set to Stick
According to Domain.com, it will be some time until Australia’s construction boom cools, with new figures showing building work valued at a record $29.9 billion. The June-quarter saw an increase of 2.5% over the March-quarter figure and a larger increase of 6.5% over the year to date. These results have been a surprise to many, after several forecasts of softer increases being predicted after a weak result in the previous quarter. This rise has been driven by residential construction, which according to Domain.com, increased by 3.1 per cent in the June-quarter. Detatched-homes building work was worth $9.1 billion and units accounted for $8.1 billion. “It’s a very strong result for the quarter – a lot of forecasters were anticipating construction would fall away quite quickly at the peak in 2016,” Geordan Murray, senior economist at the Housing Industry Association, said. “But we’re seeing the level of activity maintained, and it’s proving to be a resilient cycle for residential building,” Mr Murray said. Mr Murray said that the total residential construction work was valued at $19.3 billion, was a preliminary figure that underestimated the true value of contribution to GDP. Total construction work, including residential, non-residential and engineering, in Victoria and NSW were the main drivers of that growth. Mr Murray said home renovations were weaker than other residential construction, down to $2.1 billion. Which is a decrease of 3.1% in the past quarter and 4.6% in the year to date. “That’s probably indicative of the fact that we’re continuing to see the slow growth of household income,” he said. “There’s a lot of residential development happening in the last few years and that involved people purchasing off the plan and that’s due to the delays of when an estate releases free sales through to when construction begins.” Mr Murray expects that construction activity will continue to filter through sales from 18 months to two years ago. Therefore, the value of construction work will remain high for the next 12 months. The strong results follow a strong rebound in building approvals in June. AMP Capital chief economist, Shane Oliver said the surprisingly strong results will not last. “It’s certainly a lot more than I was expecting but that’s probably not going to be sustained because approvals might start to fall down again and you’re seeing a reduction in the crane count,” Dr Oliver said. While he didn’t expect the rate of growth to last, Dr Oliver said it would help the economy for the time being. “The bottom line is it will help the economy [keep] going … there was a lot of concern the economy will deteriorate.”
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.”
Aug 14, 2018
Home Office Styling Tips
In the 2016 ABS, 61.5% of West End were said to work full-time with 47% working over 40 hours a week. Within families, 31.5% were made up of two working parents. With that said, the increasing trend of Australian employees working from home is just as important as ever. So to help our busy locals out we’ve created a list of home office styling tips. 1. Write a list of must haves. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by choices and create a list of what you really need for your office area. In creating this list, think of your space, items you already own, along with costs. This way when you’re looking for luxury items later on, you still have the space and dough to treat yo’ self. 2. Keep it light. The mood of a room can really make or break a day in the office. An important part of the mood is made up of the lighting. If the space isn’t blessed with bountiful natural lighting, invest in some nice lighting for the room. Another way to keep your working mind in a good mind is to decorate the room with feel-good bits and pieces. What you choose depends on your unique style but plants, motivational quotes and art are all fool-proof ways to keep the mood up. 3. Organisers Don’t allow future you to be overwhelmed by inevitable clutter. Stop by your local stationary shop and pick up some organisers to help future you out. 4. Re-use old furniture. This tip is for the Thrift store lovers out there! Small second hand dining table can make for a great desk while adding some unique character to the space that may not have some from a new generic desk. Back to the organiser’s comment earlier, empty candles and vintage glasses make for handy and pretty substitute for holding pencils. 5. Feel free to move things around. Once you have it all together, move the room around until it feels right. To maintain the space’s usefulness for the long-term- think of your own lifestyle, preferences and the convenience of places.
Aug 7, 2018
Retail Stores are Getting Smaller in Order Grow
Coles has announced that it will follow the lead of other large retailers such as Woolworths and Target, by opening smaller-sized supermarkets in more locations. As Australia’s population density increases, many retailers are shrinking to grow as a result of increased pressure on available real estate for retailers. High rents, lack of prime real estate and rising inventory and wage costs have all contributed to need to restructure. Retailers have responded to the increased competition and costs in two ways. The first being ‘rightsizing’; the term used to describe the closure of underperforming and unprofitable locations. Myer is an example of this occurring. The second being ‘downsizing’, which many stores are partaking in by shrinking their store footprints. Established firms, along with retail start-ups are taking this small store a step further by opening ‘micro’ stores. While others are adapting this concept by using their smaller shopfronts as a ‘click and collect’ point for their online customers. Smaller stores appeal to shoppers looking for convenience as limited product offering in the smaller space allows shoppers to make decisions more easily. The stores appeal more directly to affluent baby boomers and millennials who shop more frequently with smaller basket sizes. These shoppers demand personalisation, special services and quality products.
Jul 31, 2018
E-commerce Encourages Change to Retail Industry
If you’ve noticed that retail stores are looking a little more on the miniature side these days, you’re not wrong. Shopping centres across the sunshine state are responding to e-commerce competition by undertaking major refurbishments, changing their tenancy mixes and embracing ‘Omni-channel retailing’ with increased use of a mixture of websites and brick-and-mortar outlets to sell stock. Online spending may currently hold nine per cent of the Australian retail market but it is tipped to grow to 12 per cent by 2022 according to CBRE. In comparison, CBRE predict that brick-and-mortar retail is expected to grow at only about 3.2 per cent. This has caused for Traditional retailers to find new ways to grow sales to stay competitive. Research shows that despite growth in the online shopping; traditional sales volume has increased over the years. According to a 2015 DHL report, Omni-channel shoppers spend up to 30 per cent more than traditional shoppers. This is giving incentive for retailers to invest in Omni-channel technology and transform the traditional retail store. E-commerce is increasingly seen as an opportunity for retailers, rather than a threat due to its opportunity to increase reach and provide a more convenient service.
Jul 24, 2018
Office Designs Show the Value of Social Workplaces
Employees are increasingly expecting more from their work environment, leading to companies seeking for office spaces which offer more than the standard layout. As convenience and enjoyable workplaces are on the list of what employees are looking for, we see changes in new office fit outs are reflecting the trend in Human Resources. Worker’s lunchbreak are also changing as they prefer to eat with colleagues rather than alone. They also prefer to spend time in outdoor lounges and cafes instead of their desks. It is important for the industry to recognise and embrace the fact that offices are becoming centre for social activity. These trends have caused for employees to be drawn to major or central CBD locations. Renewal precincts such as Brisbane are being well sought after. Aesthetics isn’t the only focus in deciding on an office space with special attention being place on reactivating workplaces to promote productivity. Studies have found that vibrant designs encourage collaboration, with better work-life balance in turn delivering better output and efficiencies. The evolution of open plan offices allows for flexibility within the office plan, promoting creativity, productivity and teamwork at its core. The flexible layout allows for Activity Based Working (ABW) as employees don’t have their own designated desk, but rather have access to several different working spaces which they can move around to depending on the task they are completing at that time. Mr Prosser told Commercial Real Estate “Landlords are often increasing their budgets for spec fit outs in order to improve the overall finish to give their tenancies the point of difference they need.”
Jul 17, 2018
Eco-friendly Tips To Warm-up This Winter
There's one thing that Queenslanders can't seem to tolerate, the cold. We can deal with heat, rain and humidity, but give us winter and you won't hear the end of it. While heaters can warm up a space easily, they can be costly and bad for the environment. So how can we warm up ourselves without warming the planet? Buy area rugs One thing Queenslanders can’t deal with is cold floor in the morning. Not only will this keep your toes warm, but you can really style up a home with rugs. Check out how rugs can add to indoor bohemian aesthetic here. Seal up your home Have you got cold spots in particular areas of your home? It might cool winter air getting in through the crasks. So fill these up to prevent the cold air from getting inside your home by blocking that airflow. Some spots can be filled in with gap filler and others can be fixed up with temporary plugs. Door gaps can be filled in with affordable door stoppers from the store or make shift ones made from towels. Cosy on up! Winter is one time of the year we have a reasonable excuse to really live the home-body life so make the most of it! In no time the summer heat will hit us again and you’ll have to be your usual social self again. But for now, grab the doona, a big cuppa tea and watch your favourite show. Move it Don’t take the indoor life too far and allow yourself to get the SADS. There are many affordable exercise options which can fit in small spaces which will do wonders keeping you warm. Also be sure to be on the lookout of all the great events your local area has to offer, you’ll be warm in no time! Cook warm food Not only will this warm up your belly, but cooking a hot dish in your own kitchen will likely help warm up surrounding rooms. This solution also results in a big bowl of tasty soup to cuddle with, so I think that's a win-win.