Morning Briefing: Melbourne, Hobart lead the way as dwelling values go backwards over November

New research shows dwelling values went backward in more than half of the nation’s capital city markets... Online bond payments to benefit New South Wales private landlords, real estate agencies and tenants...

Melbourne, Hobart lead the way as dwelling values go backwards over November
November was a tough month for real estate in Australia, with new research showing dwelling values went backward in more than half of the nation’s capital city markets.

According to CoreLogic RP Data’s November Hedonic Home Value Index, five capital cities saw their dwelling values fall over the month, while the remaining three cities saw only slight improvements.

Melbourne was hardest hit during November, with values slipping by 3.5%, while Hobart suffered a 2.5% decline.

Values went backward in Sydney and Darwin by 1.4% and 1.3% respectively, while Canberra saw values slip by 0.5%.

Adelaide was the best performing market over the month, with a 0.7% rise in values.

Brisbane followed that with a 0.6% increase, while Perth’s values rose 0.3%.

The movements mean values across the capital cities fell by a combined 1.5% over November and mean the combined annual rate of growth is almost 3% lower than its peak in the first half of 2014.

“The latest results are now placing downwards pressure on the annual change in dwelling values,” CoreLogic RP Data research head Tim Lawless said.

“The annual rate of growth across the combined capitals index peaked at 11.5 per cent back in April 2014, and has since reduced to 8.7 per cent,” Lawless said.

Sydney maintained the highest annual growth rate at 12.8 per cent, which is down from a peak rate of annual growth of 18.4 per cent in July earlier this year.

Melbourne’s annual growth rate has reduced from a recent peak of 14.2 per cent to 11.8 per cent over the 12 months ending November this year.

Perth and Darwin remain the only two markets to have seen a fall in prices over the year, with the two recording annual decreases of 4.1% and 4.2% respectively.

While the Reserve Bank of Australia has left the official cash interest rate on hold since May, Lawless believes independent increases by lender have likely contributed to the capital growth slowdown.
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Online bond payments to benefit New South Wales private landlords, real estate agencies and tenants
The New South Wales government claims the roll out of a digital system for the lodgement and return of rental bonds will make life easier for the state’s private landlords, real estate agencies and tenants.

After launching a pilot program of the Rental Bonds Online system in July, NSW Fair Trading yesterday announced the system would be rolled out across the state and believes its adoption could cut through millions of dollars’ worth of red tape.

“The new scheme provides tenants with greater confidence that their bond money is securely held in trust, from the moment the payment leaves their account,” NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello said.

“Rental Bonds Online is expected to reduce red tape for tenants, private landlords and real estate agents by approximately $20 million per year,” Dominello said.

Dominello said NSW Fair Trading currently deals with more than 500,000 paper-based applications for the deposit and refund of residential bond monies each year.   

The online system operates by the landlord or real estate agencies registering an account with Rental Bonds Online, they then provide the tenant with a secure link via email.

The tenant then uses that link to create their own account and lodges the payment directly to NSW Fair Trading.

Any bond money to be refunded to the tenant at the end of tenancy is transferred to a nominated bank account.

An early adopter of the system, Bernie Mitchell, principal of Focus Property Management, said the system is one that has made life easier.

“We adopted it when it first came out. It used to be a tenant would come in payable to the bond board and we would send it off or the money would go into an agency trust account and then be lodged through that,” Mitchell said.

“Now once we’ve approved a tenant we send them an email and they pay it directly to the board. It’s all tracked and has made life a whole lot easier,” he said.
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