PROPERTY A
PUBLICATION
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ISSUE 11
WHAT’S INSIDE 2-3 Preview: Industry leaders cast an eye toward FY22 4-5
Insights: UDIA Queensland CEO provides market overview and budget reaction
6-7 Data: Domain and PEXA launch strategic collaboration 8-9 Opinion: Why Australia’s property success story must be replicated in the UK 10-11 Security: Australian Cyber Collaboration CEO Mike Barber busts common myths 12-13 Feature: Mabo Day –from the nest in the hills 14-15
Around the grounds: The latest sales settlement data from May
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The year that was and the year to come in property By Aoife Garvan
The budgets are in, COVID vaccines are out and all eyes and ears are on the property market for the next financial year (FY). After what could only be described as an intense FY 2020/21, the Australian property market is signing off in June busier than ever before. Particularly in states like Western Australia – which has seen its sales settlements volumes skyrocket in the past six months alone. Golden decade Looking ahead, Jen Williams, QLD Deputy Executive Director of Property Council of Australia, proudly speaks about the golden decade in front of the state after Brisbane’s recent placement as one of the world’s top 10 most liveable cities. “Being recognised as one of the most liveable cities in the world this 2
year has set us up nicely to be seen internationally as a great city to live, work and play. Not only that but Queensland has been the beneficiary of increased interstate migration due to the impacts of COVID-19 in other states, a trend I foresee will continue into the new financial year. And with the Olympics ahead of us, a golden decade is certainly on track,” Williams said. Jen is not the only industry leader with a positive outlook on our property market with the latest results from the ANZ/Property Council Survey revealing a surge in confidence levels in Queensland’s property sector, despite the slower than anticipated return of workers to major business precincts. The survey canvasses
respondents such as owners, developers, agents, managers, consultants and government across all major industry sectors and regions. “It’s encouraging to see that sentiment remains high despite the year that’s been and superb initiatives like Fridays in the City are starting to attract people back to Brisbane CBD, to support local businesses and to get teams bonding together again in person. The one opportunity Queensland does have for the upcoming financial year is addressing the land supply issue and the low rental availability for its growing population. It’s the right time for Queensland’s own Build to Rent initiative, however Land Tax remains a huge hurdle to overcome for it to work.”
While government incentives continue, more investors will inevitably return to Melbourne once borders open and COVID vaccinations are rolled out fully. “The limited supply of quality properties will increase demand and competition in the market, and low interest rates will push property prices even higher. People will be willing to pay premiums for the right suburbs within Melbourne, potentially driving first homebuyers outside of Greater Melbourne.” Although last financial year saw a surge of homebuyers reaping the benefits of government incentives, CEO and President of REINSW, Leanne Pilkington, expects a more measured approach to come.
“After the last financial year, we should all be cautious in any predictions that Moving south, Buyers Advocate, Dean we make, although in saying that Munro foresees a strong 12 months we expect that the strength in the ahead for Melbourne’s property market. market will remain while interest rates remain low. The frenzy we saw during “Government incentives will continue the early months of 2021 is likely to to support first homebuyers entering be replaced with more measured the Melbourne property market. growth, slightly higher levels of This will go some way in supporting stock and vendors with higher price them against their main competitor, expectations than previously.” investors,” said Munro. The year of homebuyers and investors
PEXA Insights | FY21 highlights March saw more than 30K refinance transactions, the highest since June 2020.
Queensland broke a 14-year property record in the third quarter of FY21, recording its highest third quarter property sales numbers since FY 2007.
Western Australia has been the front runner for growth in every month bar one throughout FY21, with May showing the highest year-onyear growth of 126.5% in transfers.
Five states recorded double digit percentage growth year-on-year in February, March, April and May 2021. 3
Assessing the state of play in Queensland By Isabelle Harris
Throughout the first half of 2021, Queensland’s property market has seen exceptional momentum. With property transaction records being beaten on a monthly basis, a tussle between housing supply and demand has developed – amidst a frenzy of local consumer demand and interstate migration. Australians flocking to the Sunshine State Speaking at PEXA’s recent PropertyX Connect Series conference in Brisbane, Kirsty Chessher-Brown, Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Queensland CEO, says the State’s population growth is the highest it’s been in 16 years – and it shows no signs of slowing down. “People in New South Wales and Victoria are going to continue coming
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to Queensland – particularly the south east,” Ms ChessherBrown said. And the lockdown weary arrivals have clearly preferred destinations. “The Gold and Sunshine Coasts are the main beneficiaries of this trend – and will continue to be in the months ahead.” Battling to meet the demand A variety of factors are presenting challenges within the landscape, amidst this high-volume period. Though there are obvious economic benefits generated by the current market surge, according to ChessherBrown, land shortages are hindering the progression of developments required to support this population rise, with this potentially having further knock-on effects.
“We’re dealing with a supply crisis – and this will inevitably transition into a housing affordability crisis, if it hasn’t already, at the current rate. “Every week that passes by, there’s another news story about someone being locked out of the property market or someone living in their car. We have a problem we need to address.” Critical budget
The verdict Treasurer Cameron Dick presented a budget which included the establishment of a $1 billion Housing Investment Fund to drive new supply – support current and future social dwelling demand. “Given the housing and rental availability crisis unfolding across Queensland, social housing was also a deserving winner in the State budget,” Ms Chessher-Brown said.
The property sector eagerly awaited the delivery of the 2021-22 Queensland However, she added that it would Budget – tabled in State Parliament on have been good for dedicated and significant efforts funded that address Tuesday 15 June 2021. the root causes of the housing Chessher-Brown’s budget wish-list, shortage. shared in late May, was simple – “from the UDIA’s perspective, we’re hoping to Navigating ongoing land availability, rising housing unaffordability and see no new property taxes or charges low vacancy rates are evidently key introduced, as well as no increases to challenges facing industry. existing measures.” And it’s clear the months ahead will be crucial as the sector looks to consolidate.
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PEXA and Domain report closes the loop on property journey By Isabelle Harris
A joint PEXA-Domain research report has confirmed a statistically significant relationship between buyer demand changes and property settlement volumes in New South Wales and Victoria.
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The two organisations, which operate across complementary segments of the property lifecycle from listing, search, research and property value tracking, through to purchase, settlement and ownership, collaborated to validate this trend. New market insights The report found the Domain Buyer Demand Indicator (BDI), which tracks weekly house and unit demand nationally, can be used as an economic indicator to forecast property settlement activity. The study identified that as BDI levels rise and fall, property settlement volumes subsequently spike and dip, following a lag period.
Additionally, property agents can use this data to guide vendor expectations on listings and price, as well as influencing marketing strategies. PEXA Group Chief Executive Officer Glenn King said that given its position as the national leader in digital property settlements, PEXA is committed to delivering impactful guidance to industry. “With more than 80% of all property transfer settlements in Australia now handled on the PEXA platform, our PEXA Insights business has access to a range of timely, authoritative national datasets that can deliver valuable property trend insights for policy decision makers, industry and the wider community,” King said.
The lag refers to the period between Domain CEO Jason Pellegrino said that searching for a property and settling on continued knowledge-sharing with it – this varies from region to region and PEXA can help deliver further insights state to state. in the months ahead. In practice, a BDI rise in New South “The health of Australia’s property Wales will lead to a rise in settlements market is a topic that generates eight weeks later, while a BDI rise in immense interest to a wide range of VIC will lead to a rise in settlements 11 Australians. This collaboration is the weeks later. start of PEXA and Domain working closer together to unlock unique Supporting the sector and powerful insights into Australia’s The forecasting capabilities of the BDI, property market that will benefit with this new correlation uncovered, everyone with direct or indirect interest can benefit industry professionals from in property,” Pellegrino said. a number of market segments. Banks and financial institutions can use the BDI and property settlement volumes data to tailor products strategies and marketing campaigns.
The full research report can be found on the PEXA website.
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The key to unlocking the UK’s digital housing market By James Bawa
A lot has changed since the Victorian era. We have the internet, international flight routes and smart phones which contain almost every detail of our lives. Yet when it comes to buying a house, there’s one part of the process that would still be recognised by the Victorians. While most parts of the home buying and selling process have been digitalised, the settlement process still relies on the transportation of physical documents between offices; a step which causes delays, friction and confusion to many purchasing a home. The pandemic has underlined the impact that this has on homebuyers and the lack of resilience in the system. The Times reported that the average transaction time from point of sale to completion increased
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from 12 weeks to 16-18 weeks in September 2020. With offices closed across the country, that seemingly simple step has faced reduced capacity and operational challenges which have stopped many from progressing their home buying journey. A simple change – digitisation – would remove these barriers and open the door to a smoother property settlement system. As the UK
government aims to place the housing market at the centre of the economic recovery, it may need to look to the global market. Australia is the first country in the world to implement a fully digitised property settlement process. Over the last decade PEXA has helped complete 8.2 million property transactions and replaced the paperbased conveyancing process with a simple online exchange platform. This new system has benefited many. It has reduced costs for consumers, minimised the risk of errors and delays, and given consumers direct access and visibility to the progress of their home buying process. For the conveyancing and legal industry, it has reduced the need to correct manual errors, allowing conveyancers to concentrate on higher value work and decreasing concerns around fraud.
This fully digitised property settlement process has also been a key factor in allowing the Australian property market to withstand many of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to our Insights team, Australia’s housing market has recorded 30% year-on-year growth in property sales settlements for the first quarter of 2021 (calendar year) when compared to the beginning of 2020 (pre-COVID-19 restrictions). For the UK market and consumers, there is recognition in the industry and amongst lenders that this evolution is needed. With a consensus across the market that a digital solution to the UK housing sector is needed, it is crucial that industry, regulators and the government work together to unlock benefits for consumers and propel the market in to the 21st century.
We should be leaving the paperIt has reduced friction in the Australian based system in the Victorian era and opening the door to digital solutions housing market, leading to a more which can reinvigorate the market as effective market and driving better the UK recovers from the economic outcomes for those looking to sell or shock of COVID-19. purchase a home. For more information on PEXA, visit https://pexauk.co.uk.
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The truth about cyber-security By Isabelle Harris
Cyber-security is a hot topic within the property industry – for practitioner firms, financial institutions and consumers alike. Residential dwellings represent Australia’s largest asset class, worth $8.1 trillion, which makes it an understandably attractive target for criminals and fraudsters. However, while the sector continues to upscale its cyber-awareness, there remains grey areas in this space.
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Speaking at PEXA’s PropertyX Connect series event in Adelaide, Mike Barber, CEO of the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre (A3C) sought to shed light on common misconceptions within the community.
MYTH: Only certain businesses are vulnerable to cyber-attacks. TRUTH: Any business with sensitive information can be targeted. “The threat exists for all businesses and industries – big and small. Data is one of the most important assets for any organisation and it’s not a matter of if you’ll be targeted – it’s when.
“There’s research that says insider threats account for nearly 70% of most incidents in an organisation,” Barber said. Remote workforces and increased mobility in more recent times have increased these threat levels.
He suggests zero-trust networks that ask for authentication upon logging into the network, as well as when “This includes small businesses as well logging into individual applications. and is particularly applicable to those Research says up to 73% of online working in property,” Barber said. accounts are guarded by a duplicate He recommends evaluating the processes password, with an average of eight and infrastructure you have in place to passwords being used to guard up to protect your customer’s information. 24 online accounts. MYTH: Anti-virus and anti-malware This creates a domino effect for hackers software keep you completely safe. to take down multiple accounts by TRUTH: Software alone can’t protect hacking into a single password. against all cyber risks. Best practice in this domain includes using an app or website to manage “There’s a misconception that a different password for each online antivirus and antimalware software account and never reusing or writing will safeguard you on its own – this down passwords. isn’t true – protection is also about the security of your hardware,” Barber said. MYTH: Your IT department is solely responsible for cyber-security. Older software tends to be more vulnerable to attack, which is why TRUTH: Everyone plays a role in most IT companies and cybersecurity keeping your organisation cyber organisations recommend using the latest safe. operating system available for your device. “It’s not just the IT department’s MYTH: All cyber threats originate responsibility, the onus is shared from outside your business. among all staff. It’s imperative to make sure cyber-security awareness TRUTH: What happens within your is entrenched throughout every organisation is just as important. organisational level. Insider threats include employees “Creating wholesale action and accidentally clicking on a malicious awareness around security risks can link, downloading a virus, opening an help form a culture that underpins unsafe attachment or pre-existing your cyber-resilience,” Barber said. password vulnerability. 11
Mabo Day From the nest in the hills
By Morvanna Owen Jones
Blessed to live in Cairns and work throughout North and Far North Queensland (FNQ), I grew up on a sheep farm in rural NSW in a scenic town called Mudgee, which derives from the Wiradjuri Aboriginal term ‘Moothi’ meaning “nest in the hills”. Throughout my life, I have always held an affinity to the land and feel that it’s an integral part of who I am. Having worked in the property industry for nearly 20 years, including five years with PEXA, I am well versed in Torrens Title. Of how its invention revolutionised the way interest in land was recorded and registered in Australia and eventually in many other countries across the world. 12
Photo by Amber Hooper During this period I was educated about the historic decision handed down by the High Court of Australia on 3 June 1992 that overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius, or land belonging to no-one, a decision that gave rise to the Native Title Act 1993. This naturally leads me to Mabo Day, celebrated each year on 3 June. A day that, commemorates the courageous efforts of Eddie Koiki Mabo and four others that culminated in this historic decision being handed down. For me Mabo Day represents the importance of fighting for what you feel is right and is an important element in inspiring others to drive reconciliation – something that is long overdue in Australia. I’ve been lucky in my life and career to be surrounded by people who have a sense of connection to our land and
understand the significance of Mabo Day. With this in mind, it’s important for me to share their stories and experiences as well. Maria Mabo, Granddaughter of Eddie and Bonita Mabo “My name is Maria Mabo, I am a proud Meriam woman from the Piadram Tribe and the granddaughter of Eddie and Bonita Mabo. I have always known them as Nornie and Ata (grandfather). For our family, Mabo Day is a special day where we can all reflect on, celebrate and be proud of what my grandfather alongside Reverend David Passi, Sam Passi, James Rice and Celuia Mapo Salee achieved. The Native Title not only means land rights but more importantly recognises our continued connection to land, seas, culture, family and ancestors, which is central to our identity. I am extremely proud of the achievements of my grandparents. I hope that they continue to inspire more truth telling conversations that lead to real actions for healing, reconciliation and shared equal and equitable futures for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians.” Lorelei Billing, Criminal Defence Lawyer, Legal Aid Queensland, Townsville “I am a Noonkul and Nughi woman of the Quandamooka nation of North Stradbroke Island and the Moreton Bay region. I am also a descendant of the Mununjali people of Beaudesert and the Bundjalung people of Tweed Heads.
I was born and Eddie Mabo raised in Townsville, having completed my Bachelor of Laws at James Cook University, Douglas campus and now work as a criminal defence lawyer in Townsville and the surrounding regions of Palm Island, Ayr, Ingham and Charters Towers. I have always known about the Mabo decision. My family knew Eddie Mabo throughout his life, and I grew up hearing the story of how Native Title came to be through Eddie’s own connection with James Cook University when he was working as a groundsman. I cannot recall when I first heard about the decision, but it fills me with pride as an Aboriginal woman and JCU graduate to know that a significant High Court decision originated in my own backyard. The Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community is a tight community and we recognise Townsville’s own traditional owners, the Wulgurukaba and Bindal people. We know, without the Mabo decision, the Mabo family, Eddie and the legal practitioners’ tireless campaign, we wouldn’t have the recognition we have today. I think we still have a long way to go, but having Mabo day recognised each year, means our community and Australia wide, will never forget where it all started.” Thank you to Maria Mabo and Lorelei Billing for sharing your stories and what Mabo Day means to you both. 13
Around the grounds
NATIONAL
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Sales settlements May 2021
73,245
Sales settlements April 2021
73,069
Month-on-month change
0.2%
Year-on-year change
66%
QUEENSLAND Sales settlements May 2021
17,879
Sales settlements April 2021
19,069
Month-on-month change
(6.2%)
Year-on-year change
89.7%
NEW SOUTH WALES Sales settlements May 2021
20,531
Sales settlements April 2021
20,508
Month-on-month change
0.1%
Year-on-year change
71.2%
VICTORIA Sales settlements May 2021
20,818
Sales settlements April 2021
19,798
Month-on-month change Year-on-year change
5.2% 32.5%
SOUTH AUSTRALIA Sales settlements May 2021
5,368
Sales settlements April 2021
5,307
Month-on-month change Year-on-year change
1.1% 69.1%
WESTERN AUSTRALIA Sales settlements May 2021
8,649
Sales settlements April 2021
8,387
Month-on-month change
3.1%
Year-on-year change
126.5%
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