The Australian regions where property buyers are cleaning up
Affordability and lifestyle factors are driving home buyers to these regional areas, but it’s still a case of buyer beware
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Savvy property investors might do well to head to the regions for their next purchase, if market trends are correct.
That’s the news from CoreLogic’s quarterly regional Market Update, with data showing regional housing markets continuing to outperform properties in capital cities.
Mining regions in Queensland and Western Australia lead the charge once again, with regional towns in those states taking out the top 10 spots.
The Queensland town of Mackay was the top performer over the quatter, with 8.3 percent growth, followed by Geraldton in WA (8.2 percent) and Townsville (6.6 percent). Geraldton also experienced the strongest annual growth, up 28.7 percent. Western Australian regional towns also delivered the highest gross rental yields.
Report author and CoreLogic Australia economist Kaytlin Ezzy said affordability was a strong factor in the growth these areas had experienced.
“Regions like Mackay, Geraldton, and Townsville are seeing exceptional growth, driven
by affordability advantages compared to our major cities, as well as lifestyle appeal,”
Ms Ezzy said.
“This will have contributed to the strong demand but even with the impressive growth,
for those with the capacity to service a mortgage, they still remain attainable with
medians less than $600,000.”
However, CoreLogic noted that not all regional housing markets were showing signs of growth with Batemans Bay on the NSW far south coast the worst performer, seeing a fall in housing values of -2.7 percent. The Victorian town of Warrnambool was right behind, down -2.6 percent. The once-prosperous gold rush town of Ballarat in Victoria experienced the greatest fall over the year, down -6.3 percent.
Australian shares fell on Thursday as Wall Street weakness, rising oil and persistent rate concerns weighed on most of the market. The S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.72 per cent to 8,702. The All Ordinaries lost 0.66 per cent to finish at 8,897. Mining stocks were hit particularly hard, while real estate also dragged on the index. …
Continue reading “ASX falls 0.7 per cent as miners and property stocks retreat”
Borrowers cannot control the Reserve Bank, but they can control how exposed their household budget is to its next decision. The RBA meets on 29 September with inflation concerns still elevated and major-bank economists increasingly bringing forward their rate-rise calls. Fixed mortgage rates have also been moving, reducing the value of waiting for perfect certainty. …
Continue reading “What mortgage holders should do before the next RBA decision”
A five-bedroom Palo Alto home designed by Steven Ehrlich is listed for $44 million, making it the city’s most expensive listing. Built around a dramatic concrete spine, the home features four courtyards and a pool.
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For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.
The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.
So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.
Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.
Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.
The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.
A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”
Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.
Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.
Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.
Powerhouse real estate couple Avi Khan and Kaylea Sayer welcome their daughter while balancing record-breaking careers, proving success and family can grow side by side.
Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation CEO Kristina Keneally says Australia’s culture of large-scale philanthropy is becoming more sophisticated as Gold Dinner raises $75.5 million for children’s health, research and innovation.
