The Real Estate Conversation

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Queensland (Qld)Brisbane

Construction

$18 billion worth of infrastructure investment for Brisbane

Infrastructure investment in the Queensland capital is becoming an increasingly key focus for international buyers.

Tasmania (Tas.)

Featured Property

Appin Hall: French provincial style in the spectacular Tasmanian wilderness

Appin Hall lies in Tasmania's pristine Cradle Mountain wilderness region, and is for sale by Dominic Romeo of Unique Estates Australia.

National New South Wales (NSW)Sydney Queensland (Qld)Brisbane Victoria (Vic.)Melbourne

The Economy

Melbourne family homes have the fastest growing prices in the country

New data from the REIV shows three and four-bedroom homes in middle-ring suburbs are the fastest growing property type in Melbourne, which itself is the fastest growing market in the country.

New South Wales (NSW)Sydney

People

Rose Bay waterfront trophy home hits the market

With views spanning Vaucluse bushland to the Harbour Bridge, impeccable design, the finest fixtures and fittings, a gym, parking for eight cars, and immaculate gardens, this home holds huge appeal for the growing numbers of high-net-worth buyers - both local and from overseas - who are looking to invest in Australia.

International

Design

Ray White chosen to be agents for The Block NZ

Four elite agents will appear in the latest series of The Block NZ: Winnie Leung (Ray White Forrest Hill), Richard Kang (Ray White Pinehill), Glenn Carpenter (Ray White Beach Haven/Glenfield), and Lewis Guy (Ray White Takapuna).

Victoria (Vic.)Melbourne

Featured Property

French doors, parquetry floors, soaring ceilings: inner-city Melbourne meets Paris in this 2br apartment

A two-bedroom apartment in the classic George's building with parquetry floors, a gas fireplace, French doors, and a stone kitchen is for sale by expression of interest through Gina Donazzan and Sam Fenna of hockingstuart Melbourne.

National New South Wales (NSW)Sydney Queensland (Qld)Brisbane Victoria (Vic.)Melbourne

The Economy

Cannon Hill Queenslander smashes suburb record on the weekend

The five-bedroom, 2003-built Queenslander sold through Meagan Muir of Place Bulimba for a Cannon Hill record of $1.32 million on the weekend.

New South Wales (NSW)Sydney

Politics

Sydney Council to sell underutilised property for affordable housing

The City of Sydney council is considering recommendations to sell some property for affordable housing, and to lease other property on Oxford Street with the aim of invigorating the area.

Western Australia (WA)Perth

Politics

Bring back FHB grant for established homes: REIWA

The REIWA is proposing the WA state government reintroduce a $3,000 first-home owners grant for purchases of established homes, says Hayden Groves, president of the REIWA.

Victoria (Vic.)Melbourne

Featured Property

Timeless renovated 1930s home near Toorak village for sale

An elegant 1930s Toorak home, renovated by architect Michael Munckton and with garden by Robert Boden, has dual-street access and a heated pool. The property is to be auctioned by Jock Langley and Hugh Hardy of Abercromby's Armadale.

Pages

News Roundup

http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2015/03/australia-one-worst-housing-bubbles-ever/

Does Australia have a nasty housing bubble?

By all accounts, Australia is experiencing what is one of the greatest credit-fuelled real estate bubbles in modern times. On the back of a collapsing mining sector, we can thank the RBA, APRA, ASIC and the political elite in Canberra for creating a flawed household wealth-creation strategy that shares all the hallmarks of a predictable economic disaster.

macrobusiness

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/26/australia-rmbs-idUSL3N0WS08520150326

Australian lenders may seek relief from US rules for mortgage securitisation

Australia's non-bank residential lenders may soon be unable to raise funds in the United States by securitising their mortgage assets unless U.S. regulators give them special relief from tough regulatory requirements - potentially denying them access to the world's major capital market.

Reuters

http://mashable.com/2015/03/27/penis-shaped-house/

Unusually-shaped Sydney house garnering global attention

Influential Australian architect Stan Symonds sure has a way with design. One of his architectural works is on sale in Sydney and it is the whole package. The house has been getting giggles from interested buyers due to the phallic shape of the floor plan. The beautiful curvature of the penis-shaped home has remained the same since it was built in 1958.

Mashable

http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/former-aia-president-shelley-penn-announces-federa

Former AIA President Shelley Penn announces Federal Senate candidacy

Shelley Penn, the Former national president of the Australian Institute of Architects, recently announced that she will contest for one of the six Senate Parliamentary seats available to Victorian candidates at the next Australian Federal election. Penn will run as one of three Victorian Australian Labor Party candidates alongside the incumbent Kim Carr and current Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Stephen Conroy.

Architecture & Design

http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/gerard-minack-says-australia-one-in-three-chance-of-a-recession-20150326-1m7z17.html

Australia 'one in three chance' of a recession

Australia has up to a one in three chance of sliding into recession in the next year, according to high-profile strategist Gerard Minack. The stark warning comes after BT Investment Management gave the economy a 50 per cent chance of recession in the next two years. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs chief economist Tim Toohey also said he continued to predict a one in three chance in the next year.

The Sydney Morning Herald

http://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Norway-Investing-Oil-Wealth-In-Foreign-Real-Estate.html

Norway Investing Oil Wealth In Foreign Real Estate

Amidst the uncertainty, Norway’s nearly $900 billion sovereign wealth fund (the largest in the world) is keen on being a source of stability in an increasingly unstable world — which is why it’s planning on spending the country’s oil revenue on “a lot” of Asian skyscrapers and shopping malls.

oilprice.com

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-25/china-investors-seeking-greener-pastures-eye-aus-property/6341220

Chinese investors seeking greener pastures eye Australia's real estate market

Chinese investors are looking for better returns outside the country in part because they have limited options on the mainland. China's real estate sector — which accounts for between 16 to 25 per cent of the country's GDP — has produced some of the country's richest men, but is still cooling along with the rest of the economy.

ABC News

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/brisbane-real-estate-apartment-buyers-set-for-boon-20150325-1m7eyv.html

Brisbane Apartment buyers set for boon

Inner-city apartment hunters are in for a bonanza, with a huge supply of new developments set to flood the Brisbane market in 2015. But property consultancy Urbis moved to quell the jitters of developers at a business breakfast on Wednesday morning, reassuring agents and investors that demand for inner-city living in the river city has hit record levels.

Brisbane Times