Talking Apartments

If you love a good road trip then strap in for a Quick Lap of the Australian Apartment Market with JLL's Head of Residential Research - Leigh Warner. Leigh and I stop off at the 5 mainland state capitals to dissect his recent research papers which he has kindly shared here as follows... Brisbane Apartment Market Sydney Apartment Market Melbourne Apartment Market Adelaide Apartment Market Perth Apartment Market We discuss the local economics, supply, demand, pricing and rental markets to posture a view on where each market is at. It's a roller coaster ride with most markets experiencing a degree of cooling with Brisbane looking like the place to buy after suffering recent falls. We start off with some national and general issues then start in the sunshine state before turning right at Melbourne and then crossing the Nullarbor. You can jump to the market of interest here. 9:40 Brisbane market 14:20 Sydney market 16:48 Melbourne market 21:57 Adelaide market 24:02 Perth market

When it comes to sorting out the tax issues for investment property we are all pretty good and capturing the main components, That is the income of rent less all the costs like rates, insurance, owners corp fees, agents service fees, and interest on the loan. But there are non cash items that are also deductible from your taxable income which can keep dollars in your pocket which is a whole lot better than paying it to the ATO. Here are three quick trigger questions to decided if you should get a depreciation schedule prepared. The main one is depreciation which is the notional allowance for the deterioration in monetary value of the buildings and all the associated fixtures, fittings, plant and equipment. Their are rules about how much money you can claim for each component of the property and a quantity surveyor can work out exactly how much you can reduce from your tax bill. They prepare for you a depreciation schedule which tells you (actually your accountant) how much you can claim each year for many y

I dropped in recently to the marketing launch of Linden House at 33 Park St South Melbourne and had a glass of bubbles while checking out the marketing suite. It is sometimes hard to find a small or boutique apartment building especially close to the city and with great natural light. This new project is so close to Melbournes Bontanic Gardens and the Domain Interchange on St Kilda Road which when completed will provide a amazing transport hub. Buying an apartment off the plan can be a tricky process and there is lots of things to look out for and questions to ask. (See earlier blog here) Linden House has only 33 apartments and on the upper floors there is only 2 apartment per floor which is nice and exclusive. Or you can buy the Penthouse for $2.7 million. The Linden House web site gives you more detail and let me know if you would like to buy one and we can help you out. Just email me - chat@talkingapartments.com.au Cheers...        

The world is thirsty for ways to use our finite resources smarter, easier, and cheaper and this is giving rise to a burgeoning share economy. If you don't want to use all of something, all of the time, you can share it. It may be a car trip, short stay accommodation, a book, or even a dress for Saturday night. Now you can share the ownership of property thanks to Kohab. (Clever name eh...) When I first heard about how I could literally share the ownership of property with someone I didn't yet know, my traditional real estate mind exploded with "what ifs" and why it wouldn't work. After this chat with Kohab Founder - David Dawson I was sold. And it wasn't that hard a sell. The Kohab website covers all the obvious questions and we dig into more here in this interview. Co ownership of property is centuries old and anyone who owns the family home with their partner is already doing it. Kohab just ads a layer of connectivity, a pinch of "tenants in common" and then wraps it up with a co ownership agreement to a

When we go hunting for a property investment the very first thing most people do is start searching for a great property by following all the rules of location, aspect, size, access to facilities, etc etc. But according to Domenic Suleman - Director of BCG  the decision of what property to buy is about number 7 on the list of things to do. Domenic's book  "Property Investment" starts off with asking a few important questions ... What can I afford? What does the property investment analysis look like? Whose name should I buy it in? What are the tax differences between different ownership structures? What type of loan is best? How do I protect my assets? and once we have answered all these questions can we then ask... What is the most suitable investment property? Once you have worked through these steps you will be well placed to then start searching for the right property for you that will ensure your goals or objectives of property investment are delivered by the property investment that is

Before most new apartment projects are completed an architect sat down with a developer about 5 years before that to plan the new apartment development. So if you want to know what is going to be happening in 5 years time from now an architect is a great person to ask. Shane Rothe is the Founding Principal and Director of RotheLowman and with his partner Kim Lowman they have a better idea than most on what the future holds for new apartment projects as well as other residential sectors. RotheLowaman have offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and while they are prominent in many disciplines of architecture they have a strong position in the apartment market around Australia. In this interview I speak with Shane on what direction the apartment market is taking. We talk about the format and size of apartments currently in design services and facilities in most new projects and the cost of supplying such services the regulatory environment (particularly in Vic) and its impact how the apartment mark

There is a lot of talk about the apartment market and many questions being asked. Who is buying the apartments? How many buyers are from overseas? Where are the best places to buy an apartment? How is the demand for apartments? Have we built too many apartments? To answer these and many other questions I sat down with the Chief Economist for REA Group (www.realestate.com.au) Nerida Conisbee and put her under the microscope to get the answers. Nerida has access to the data generated from over 7 million property searches on realestate.com.au everyday and she can see on a daily basis how demand is trending and for what type of property. When you buy an apartment or sell an apartment you want to know what the apartment market is doing and where are the hot and cold spots in the market. You also what to know why the market is behaving this way so you can tell how much it will impact you and adjust your plans accordingly. For more passive investors the rental market also of interest and we talk to Ne

From many years working in Real Estate Ray Wood has discovered the key issues when it comes to selling real estate. He has written about them in his best selling book "How to sell your home for more" We discuss this very topic with Ray and from our chat I have written up the 5 rules of selling an apartment. So here they are... The 5 rules when selling an apartment The very first decision to make is … “Are you committed to sell the apartment?” This may seem like an odd thing to ask but throughout a sale process there are some critical moments where you will need to revisit your commitment to sell the apartment to help guide you through. Assuming you are committed to selling you need to do whatever you can to maximise the sale price and then sell the apartment at that maximised price. That is not to say you will sell at any price, but if you are only half-hearted in your decision to sell or have a relatively high target price then you may be wasting your time and money and should perhaps not sell at all. Se

Hi and welcome to Talking Apartments. This will help you decide if this Podcast is for you and what it is about. Talking Apartments will help you make the right decisions when buy and sell an apartment as well as leasing and managing them. It is also very interactive and I am super keen to actively engage with you along the way to make sure your questions or concerns are answered. You don’t have to wait for the next podcast or blog just shoot me an email on chat@talkingapartments.com.au or via our contact form Apartments have been part of Australia’s property market for decades but recently that have rocketed to prominence due to a huge growth in development and everything that goes with that. There has been a commensurate growth in ownership of apartment and often by people who have never owned an investment property or an apartment before. Apartments have an added level of complexities over a house, and that is assuming it is an existing apartment. Add on top of that buying an apartment “off the plan” an