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ISSUE 18
WHAT’S INSIDE 2-5
Insights: More than 800,000 properties sold as bumper 2021 results land
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Consumer: The homebuying experience in 2022
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News: PEXA partners with Honey Insurance
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Security: The real stories of device theft that could happen to anyone
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Australia’s property market hits $688 billion in sales, up 57% in 12 months The Australian property market has proven its strength as the backbone of the nation’s economy during the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the national aggregate value of property sale settlements growing a massive 57% from 2020, with Australians spending more than $688 billion on property in 2021. The latest Property and Mortgage Insights (PMI) report released by PEXA Insights, the data arm of PEXA – Australia’s leading digital property settlement platform, highlights an increase of 32% in annual growth for property sale settlement volumes, with more than 834,008 completed nationally in 2021, and almost 1.4
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million sales completed since the beginning of the pandemic. The growth in the aggregate value and volume of property across Australia highlights the strong buyer demand seen throughout 2021 on the back of record low interest rates, together with the rise in individual property prices.
This trend culminated in a record December 2021 for monthly national aggregate property value, reaching
$76.7 billion settled, with New South Wales accounting for almost half that figure with $31.7 billion settled.
Key property insights broken down via mainland state for 2021: Queensland • For the first time on record, Queensland recorded the most sale settlements of any jurisdiction in 2021 with 232,824, up 41% from 2020 and up 59% from 2019. • The aggregate value of all sales was $158.5 billion, up 76% from 2020 and up 116% from 2019.
• New South Wales saw the lowest year-on-year growth in volume of sale settlements with 228,657, up 25% from 2020 and up 36% from 2019. • Box Hill was the only postcode to make the national top 10 for property sale settlement volume, with 4,509 settled in 2021. Victoria
• Surfers Paradise was the most popular postcode in the state for settlements with 3,302, followed by Urangan with 3,079 – both postcodes made the top 10 nationally.
• Victoria was the only mainland state to not see year-on-year growth from 2019 to 2020 in both aggregate property sale volumes and values. However, the market rebounded strongly in 2021.
New South Wales
• The state recorded more than 220,400 properties settled in 2021 (up 28% year-on-year), worth $186 billion settled in 2021 (up 50% from 2020).
• With individual property prices continuing to skyrocket in the state, New South Wales again generated the highest aggregate value of sale settlements across the nation, with more than $262 billion settled in 2021, up 54% from 2020 and up 78% from 2019.
• Victorian growth regions dominated the national top 10 postcodes for sale settlements, with Truganina leading the way ahead of Craigieburn, Werribee, Cranbourne, Rockbank and Clyde.
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Western Australia
South Australia
• Western Australia recorded strong growth in property sale settlements in 2021 with 94,416, up 41% from 2020 and up 71% from 2019.
• South Australia recorded another consistent year of growth in property sale settlements in 2021 with 57,615, up 27% from 2020 and up 38% from 2019.
• The aggregate value of all sales was $51 billion, up 57% from 2020 and up 78% from 2019.
• The aggregate value of all sales was $31 billion, up 47% from 2020 and up 77% from 2019.
• Mandurah made the national top 10 for high growth postcodes, recording 3,120 in 2021.
According to PEXA Insights’ Chief Data and Analytics Officer PEXA Scott Butterworth: “In what has been a challenging time for many Australians amidst lockdowns and uncertainty, the property market has boomed with purchasers taking advantage of record low interest rates.
suitable housing to incorporate new working from home arrangements, which may have led to the significant increase in aggregate value of property settlements across the nation.”
Queensland was the shining light for the national property market, leading the nation for annual property sale settlements for the first time on record, “We also believe many consumers have been motivated to purchase more recording a year-on-year increase in 4
volume of 41% and in value of 76%. New South Wales came in second for property volumes, however clearly led all states for aggregate property values, with its $262 billion settled in 2021 making up more than a third of the nation’s value in property sales. “Although nudged out of top spot by Queensland for the first time on record for the number of properties sold during a year, home buyers in New South Wales as a collective have spent approximately $76 billion more on property in 2021 than any other region. “Consumers in Victoria have experienced more lockdown-related disruption than any other mainland state. However, the state’s property market has demonstrated strong resilience, posting an increase of 50% growth in aggregate property value for 2021, coming second only to New South Wales,” said Butterworth.
saw much more even growth across both inner-city and regional areas as all states began to loosen restrictions. “Despite the major banks winning market-share through 2020, nonmajor banks have managed to improve their position and arm-wrestle market share in new loans back away from the majors in 2021. With interest rate movement assumed by many commentators to be imminent, the battleground for both new loans and refinances is expected to heat up during 2022,” said Butterworth. As COVID-19 variants continue to impact the Australian and global economies, PEXA will closely monitor the local property market across all mainland jurisdictions.
PEXA Insights’ PMI report also analyses growth trends across metropolitan and regional areas, and consumer lending behaviour, with 2021 seeing 617,338 new loans taken out nationally, an increase of 32.5% from 2020. “It was a strong year of growth for regional centres across the country in 2020, with many Australians deciding to make the move to the seaside and countryside. In 2021, we 5
Buying a home in 2022 – an expert’s take After an incredible 2021, the market has shown little sign of slowing down in recent times. Though COVID-19 continues to impact our community, consumers are certainly not being deterred. Whether you’re a first homebuyer, upsizing, downsizing or looking to invest, buying property in today’s climate can be daunting. We caught up with Rich Harvey, Buyer’s Agent and CEO, Propertybuyer.com. au, one of Australia’s most trusted industry voices, to discuss the market’s current state and what you need to know when looking to buy.
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Hot start to 2022 “The year has kicked off at a cracking pace – though it’s not quite the same furious sprint as last year. I still recall going to an auction in 2021 which had 22 registered bidders – you just don’t see that,” says Harvey. “Presently we’re still recording good numbers, between 5-10 bidders, though properties aren’t selling crazily high over reserve. I would’ve expected to see more listings, but I think that’ll ramp up toward Easter – traditionally the first of two peaks, the other being the Spring high season. “Overall, the market is definitely still strong, but particularly for quality property – that’s bringing buyers out of the woodwork and creating fierce competition.” The interest rate debate
look for the best opportunity to enter the market, if you’re an investor, research the market and find the area that’s going to deliver optimum capital growth and yield – it’s all about identifying your goals and executing. “A lot of people worry after getting their pre-approval – they might have $1 million but only want to spend $800,000 – why wouldn’t you buy better property if you can do so?” In terms of what to keep an eye out for, Harvey believes the following is key: 1. Make sure you understand covenants, easements and any restrictions over the land and as a general rule, avoid being on main roads or next to large power or transmission lines which can deplete value.
Much has been made about a potential increase to interest rates by the RBA. But what effect is that having on the market? At this stage, as Harvey explains, the impact is negligible.
2. Don’t be overly concerned with a cracked tile or a little bit of rot here or there, look out for major structural damage.
“So far, there’s been no evidence of a reduction in prices due to potential interest rate rises down the track – I certainly believe it’s on the mind of buyers, but there’s been little material impact on behaviour.”
“It’s also important to watch auction clearance rates and how many days a property has been on market – those signals of when there’s drop off in demand.”
Advice for prospective buyers When it comes to buying, Harvey stresses that it’s all about preparation and strategy.
Propertybuyer is an independent Buyers’ Agency that assists home buyers and investors find their ideal home or investment property.
“If you have borrowing capacity, get your pre-approval and buy – but do it carefully. If you’re a first homebuyer, 7
PEXA partners with Australianborn home insurance disruptor, Honey Insurance PEXA is excited to be teaming up with Honey Insurance (Honey), collaborating to offer Australian home buyers and sellers a simpler and smarter option for home insurance via its trusted and secure app. PEXA Key, an award-winning secure app which enables Australian buyers and sellers the opportunity to track their settlement’s progress in realtime, communicate critical information such as payment directions to their representative, and removes the need to engage via unsecure communication channels, such as email. The app also offers educational material for buyers and sellers on what to expect when transacting property, useful checklists and acts as a onestop-shop to take as much stress out of the settlement and moving process as possible.
the sign-up process from an average of 30 mins to just three minutes. Importantly, Honey also offers $250 worth of smart sensors (for eligible policies) to proactively mitigate a range of the most common claims, that happen in the home such as theft, fire and water damage, allowing customers a discount on their annual premium for the adoption of these devices.
The collaboration between PEXA and Honey is an example of PEXA’s broader aspirations to identify, incubate and accelerate entrepreneurial businesses committed to innovation across the property industry ecosystem for the benefit of As a fellow Australian start-up focused consumers. on innovation, PEXA Key will now offer According to PEXA’s Chief users access to Honey Insurance’s Customer Officer Lisa new and innovative offers. Honey is Dowie: “From humble on a mission to turn home insurance beginnings as an on its head by streamlining the insurance process and offering smart Australian tech start up, we are passionate about tech integrated into a customer’s improving the experience home and contents cover. Australian consumers have with Honey uses a wealth of satellite and property, whether that be buying or third party data to remove the guess selling, refinancing, renting or simply work out of helping customers get protecting their home. the right level of cover, and reduces 8
“Property-related decisions can be both stressful and important given the costs and commitment involved, so it is critical innovators remain focused on providing new and enhanced offerings to make the decision-making process simpler and less stressful for us all. “Honey has not only acknowledged consumers are more time poor than ever, being at the point of ‘property related decision fatigue’ by the time they are looking at home insurance, it has changed the game by offering smart tools to reduce the chance of an incident occurring, therefore mitigating the stress of loss and the need to claim,” said Dowie.
Rich Joffe, Founder and CEO of Honey commented: “PEXA revolutionised how Australians exchange property and Honey is doing the same for the home insurance industry, that’s why we knew from our very first conversations that this partnership was perfectly aligned. “Both Honey and PEXA are on a very similar mission, to try to make the current process of buying a house easier, quicker and more importantly pain free, and we are excited by the journey we are on to achieve this,” said Joffe. All users of PEXA Key will have access to the Honey Platform. PEXA Key is free and packed with tools and resources, including a settlement countdown, so users will never miss a beat.
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At home?
Secure your devices Given the number of employees and organisations shifting to remote or hybrid working, it has never been more important to secure your portable devices.
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At work?
Conveyancers, lawyers, bank representatives and real estate agents alike are responsible for highly sensitive, critical data, making them an attractive target for cybercriminals. Whether you are using your portable device for work or in your everyday life to communicate with friends and family or to do your daily banking, it
is vital your mobile phone, laptop or computers are protected. To help you stay aware of cyber security threats, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has shared how some Australians have been caught out – and provided easy to follow tips on how to secure your devices.
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Case study #1 A small printer supply company in New South Wales was using multiple servers to run their websites, emails, and product databases. One day they noticed the website was experiencing some errors and logged into the servers to investigate. The servers were all running very slowly. One of the servers had an open text file on the desktop, claiming files had been encrypted and they would need to pay $2,500 USD for the decryption key.
The company searched the servers and discovered every file was locked. When the company tried to get their business running again, they realised they only had partial backups and were unable to restore any website functionality. If the company had backed up their files more regularly as a precautionary measure and had their important information on at least two other devices, they may have been able to restore the entire website functionality.
Case study #2 A Victorian woman had her laptop stolen during a home robbery. The laptop was unlocked, giving criminals easy access to her personal information such as IDs. A few months later, she realised her personal information had been used to fraudulently lodge a tax return and COVID disaster payments in her name.
If the woman had set her device to automatically lock after a short time of inactivity or set up \multifactor authentication that requires two or more proofs of identity, the cybercriminal would have had a harder time to access her personal information.
Case study #3 A New South Wales man received a new debit card from his bank. He thought this was strange as his current card did not expire for another year. He received further letters from his bank, explaining they opened a new account in his name. After speaking with the bank, he discovered the account had been opened using his online banking details and then closed a week later. Two weeks earlier, the man had upgraded to a new phone and
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sold the old one. He had forgotten to delete the personal information from his phone, which contained passwords and photos of his ID documents. This information made it easy for criminals to access his accounts and personal information. The New South Wales man could have reduced the risk of being targeted by a cybercriminal by removing sensitive and personal information from his portable devices before selling it.
Reduce the risk of being cybercriminal’s target and secure your devices with the ACSC’s easy-to-follow tips: • Lock your Portable devices including for personal and business use with a passphrase, password, PIN or biometrics. • Encrypt your portable device. Even though it may be protected with a strong, unique passphrase, cybercriminals may still be able to access your information. • Set your device to automatically lock after a short time of inactivity, such as 5 minutes. • Treat your portable device like your wallet. Keep it safe or with you at all times. • Store and handle your passphrases carefully to avoid being compromised. • Use a password manager to save your passphrase. • Remove sensitive and personal information from your portable devices before selling or disposing of them. Cyber-criminals can strike anytime and anywhere – but by staying vigilant, updating your devices and follow the latest ACSC advice, you can minimise your exposure to cyber criminals. The ACSC’s cyber security advice and assistance is available to all businesses. Step-by-step guides and a variety of online learning resources are available at cyber.gov.au. All Australians are urged to report cybercrime and cyber incidents to ReportCyber, or call the 24/7 cyber security hotline 1300 CYBER1 (1300 292 371).
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Do you have feedback, a question or a story pitch? Get in touch with us at industry@pexa.com.au
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