News and Announcements

Improving the energy efficiency of our homes

24 February 2009

Author: REIV

Environmental efficiency of residential property is an issue being closely examined by the property profession and the state and federal governments.

An enormous opportunity exists to significantly reduce Victoria's carbon emissions.

At present new dwellings in Victoria must comply with the five-star standard. This requires a five-star energy rating for the building fabric, water-saving measures, and the installation of either a rainwater tank or solar hot-water service.

New dwellings comprise a small percentage of the housing stock, therefore the challenge is how to lift the energy rating of existing houses.

In Victoria a range of subsidies are available for property owners to install energy and water-saving devices. The Federal Government's program to insulate 2.7 million homes will provide further impetus to the overall goal of carbon reduction.

The real challenge is implementing a reporting system that will allow prospective buyers to easily understand and compare the energy efficiencies of different properties.  Currently, before a buyer signs a contract of sale, the vendor must provide a statement (often referred to as a Section 32) of matters affecting the land to be sold.

The REIV is working with a range of stakeholders to determine whether Section 32 should contain environmental ratings and what standards the ratings should be set at, or if another means for reporting a house's environmental standard can be introduced.

It's only a matter of time until we move to a more transparent system of energy rating for residential houses.

---

REIV July residential vacancy rates

27 August 2008

Author: REIV

The REIV July residential vacancy rates release shows that there has been a slight improvement in the vacancy rate in most parts of Victoria.

REIV research and analysis reveal that the vacancy rate in Melbourne has eased from 1 per cent in June to 1.3 per cent in July and the rate for Victoria has eased from 1.3 to 1.5 per cent.

The areas with the tightest vacancy rate are the inner city, within 4km of the CBD and the middle ring of suburbs, those between 10 and 20 km. In those two areas the vacancy rate is 1.1 per cent.

Suburbs between 4 and 10km recorded the greatest improvement with the rate increasing from 0.5 to 1.3 per cent which is more in line with the months before June.

The outer suburbs of Melbourne recorded a vacancy rate of 1.6 per cent, up from 1.3 per cent in June.

Whilst there has been a slight easing in the vacancy rate this does not yet represent a substantial change in the market. Towards the end of 2007 the vacancy rate also eased to 1.6 per cent before spending five months at or under 1 per cent. Accordingly there is still a need for increased investment in the property market in order to restrain upwards pressure on rents and to provide tenants with a greater level of choice over the location and style of property they are able to live in.

Within regional Victoria the main centres continue to have vacancy rates similar to Melbourne. In the Geelong area the vacancy rate is 1 per cent, in Bendigo it is 1.7 per cent and in Ballarat it is 1 per cent.

The Wodonga area has the highest vacancy rate at 6.3 per cent.

---

Interest rates take their toll

05 July 2008

Author: REIV

With the end of the June quarter, research by the REIV has revealed that the interest rate increases introduced this year by the Reserve Bank and the additional increases passed on by some of the major banks has placed considerable pressure on the Victorian property market.
The exact nature of the impact will be clear in the REIV median house prices for Victoria, which will be released on the last Saturday of this month, however initial REIV analysis of auctions held has revealed a distinct change in the market compared to 12 months ago.
Over the months of March, April and May there were 11,200 auctions held of which 7,365 or 66 per cent sold. Of those 5,552 sold under the hammer, 1,627 sold before the auction and 186 after.
This makes an interesting comparison to 2007 when over the same three months there were 10,375 auctions of which 8,646, or 83 per cent sold. Of those 6,166 sold under the hammer, 2,072 sold before and 408 sold after. In 2006 the same period saw 8,128 auctions, a clearance rate of 71 per cent and 5,781 selling.
This year’s auction market has been stronger than 2006 with more homes on offer and more homes selling, but still not as strong as last year.
The cumulative affect of a range of economic factors, the most powerful being interest rates, can be seen following the March rate rise, with the subsequent drop of auction listings compared to 2008. The eight week lag between the last rate rise and the impact reflects the time it takes for a homeowner to initiate the sale process which includes finding an agent, undertaking a marketing campaign and auctioning the property or negotiating with potential buyers.

---

Melbourne Median hits $485,000

07 February 2008

Author: REIV

The release of the REIV’s December quarter median prices showed the single largest quarterly increase in the median price of a Melbourne house in the history of the series. The increase in the median price of 12.8 per cent to $485,000 was remarkable, but not surprising as 2007 was consistently a strong year for the residential property market.

The increase from $430,000 in September 2007 to $485,000 in represents the largest quarterly increase in dollar terms and confirms the data in the ABS latest inflation figures which showed that housing costs had been a significant contributor to higher than expected inflation.

The strong increases in property values are being driven by a sound local economy and strong population growth. This increase in demand has also seen the level of auction and sales activity increase with the number of auctions increasing from 23,257 in 2006 to over 30,000 in 2007 with a clearance rate of 82%. The number of private sales also increased by 21% during the same period.

Unlike previous quarters the increases in value during the December 2007 quarter have been more evenly distributed across metropolitan Melbourne. Suburbs with prices close to the median, such as Altona, Seddon, Lilydale, Heathmont and Footscary recorded some of the strongest growth.

The median house price has now doubled since the March 2000 quarter which is further exacerbating affordability which is now at it’s lowest level in 25 years. The issue of affordability is one which needs serious consideration at all levels of government and consideration needs to be given to a range of issues such as the cost and time of the approval process for new developments, a serious review of the property tax regime, sustainable developments where people want to live.

So what is the outlook for residential prices in 2008, clearly the increases recorded in December and throughout 2007 cannot be sustained, however that does not mean property prices will not increase, we anticipate moderate growth in 2008 which will be dependent on interest rates and the economy.

---

Rental Vacancies : two years below two per cent

18 January 2008

Author: REIV

The REIV’s Residential Vacancy Rates for 2007 show the extent of the challenge that the new Federal Government faces in its commitment to improve the provision and cost of rental accommodation.

REIV CEO Enzo Raimondo said that the Residential Vacancy Rates in Melbourne was consistently low in 2007; at its lowest it was 1.2 per cent and at it highest, 1.6 per cent.

"It is now two years since Melbourne’s vacancy rate has been under 2 per cent, in December 2005 when 2.1 per cent of rental dwellings were vacant.

"Melbourne’s lack of vacant rental accommodation is bad news for renters as it will maintain upwards pressure on rents.

"The first quarter of the year is also a fairly active period for vacancies due to corporate relocations and demand for student accommodation, this will mean higher than normal competition and a reduction in the vacancy rate

"Investment in new dwellings in Melbourne has not kept up with demand and unless we build more accommodation where people want to live this shortage will persist," Mr Raimondo concluded.

The area that shows the greatest demand and lowest vacancy rate is in the inner city, within 4 km of the CBD where the vacancy rate is now 1.1 per cent. It reached a low of 0.6 per cent in February 2007 which is the lowest vacancy rate we have ever seen.

Major regional centres, Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo have followed Melbourne’s trend with similarly low vacancy rates of 1.5, 2.4 and 1.2 per cent in the month of December.

---

Melbourne property market sets new records in 2007

12 January 2008

Author: REIV

With results in from the last major auction weekend this year it is clear 2007 has been one of the strongest years for vendors on record.

REIV CEO Enzo Raimondo said that the auction clearance rate for 2007 was 82 per cent, 15 per cent higher than last year.

"Not only did demand increase but so did the number of auctions. There were 30 per cent more auctions than last year with 29,718 homes presented for auction compared to 22,257 last year.

"To put this into perspective, there were more homes sold under the hammer this year than there were presented for auction last year.

"It is therefore no surprise that residential property has experienced its highest level of growth since 2002 and has exceeded the expectations of many agents, vendors and buyers.

"This is reflected in the increase in prices of homes sold. In 2002 the Melbourne median house price increased by 13.5 per cent, the following four years growth was substantially lower and averaged only 3.5 per cent per year. Over the 12 months to September Melbourne’s median house price has again increased 13 per cent.

"When looking at the significant price growth over the preceding 12 months, which has been driven by strong demand, it provides some insight into why residential property has in many instances been selling for more than the advertised price.

"The performance of the property market next year will depend on the impact of recent rate increases or any further increases and impacts from changes in the costs of living linked to oil or drought," Mr Raimondo concluded. 

YEAR	AUCTIONS	CLEARENCE RATE
2003	28,230	67%
2004	19,424	57%
2005	21,244	66%
2006	23,257	71%
2007	29,718	82%

 

 

---

Welcome to the New jarrel.com.au

11 January 2008

Author: Gary Jarrel

Jarrel Estate Agents has a new website! Launched late in the evening on the 11 January 2007, for a very dedicated team, it encompasses months of research and hard work. The site has been build in house from the ground up, utilising the latest in web technology – with a basic purpose: to simplify the delivery of information to the end user.

jarrel.com.au integrates a number of common, easy to use technologies, in order to bring the most user friendly experience with little interruptions. Ease of use, was amongst the primary goals of jarrel.com.au and we believe we have achieved it well.

We have taken advantage of new technologies such as RSS which have never before been used in delivering property information. When developing this site we have adopted web standards and recommendations thus maximising the computability of web pages across the Internet in order to deliver a wide range of benefits to a greater number of web users.

Where to from here? The road map for jarrel.com.au runs far into the future. We are already developing a number of new features which, when introduced  shortly will deliver an information portal to our users and not just another “property searching” web site.

We would love to hear your comments and suggestions – please feel free to contact the jarrel.com.au team.

We hope you enjoy jarrel.com.au and from the entire development team: Thank you!

---