- Rental moratoriums end - we explore the WA perspective and why it's good for rental vacancies
- It's a year since lockdowns first hit, and the market has been more positive than first feared
- Social housing has been a hot topic too, NZ clamping down hard - what it could mean for us
This week in property, the pall of moratoriums drawing to a close has left some with a melancholic feeling, but investors have been grinning with success abound.
On Monday, The Property Tribune covered the Western Australian side of the moratorium, Wouter Jellema explored what it means when the COVID measures end and previews an upcoming interview with commercial property lawyers.
Meanwhile, The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) has welcomed the State Government’s move to go ahead with the ending of the rental moratorium which will occur this Sunday, 28 March, meaning rents can increase for the first time in a year. Damian Collins, REIWA President, said that the WA Government’s decision back in September was a major reason for the record low vacancy rates.
In other big news this week the NSW floods have meant more than 5,000 insurance claims have lodged so far, more to come.
The Property Tribune dove into the property trends, Adrian Kelly, President of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, said “There were far fewer properties available on the market, so that was keeping prices steady.” We also looked into the RBA data behind the scenes.
It was also a year to the day that the COVID lockdowns hit, we reflected on how that affected the real estate market in Australia.
We also started to wonder how policies across the ditch could influence Australian property and property policy as the Kiwi’s embark on some of the most ambitious policies to cool an inflamed property market, widely reported as the least affordable country in the OECD.
Social housing has also made headlines across this week, Northern Territories, Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania, and South Australia all making moves in the arena. ACT put up 21 new developments in Dickson, SA was crowned best in show, and the NT is to redevelop an aging public housing complex. According to government data, the time it took to house priority social housing applicants in Tasmania was 53.9 weeks.
Solar hasn’t set on us, this time for three reasons: record numbers of people installing a battery to maximise the sun, and new technology from an Australia-USA partnership meaning solar can be used to create electricity well into the night, and no it’s not an early April Fools. Also, an unprepared electricity grid has also meant many people are unable to get the most out of the power they sell back to power companies.
Finally in ASX listed real estate companies, commercial real estate has been hot, with an ongoing battle to buy up prime agricultural businesses, and other companies raising almost double what they originally intended.
