Tag Archives: australia
Not all estate agents ask about neighbours when selling a house
Only 40% of estate agents ask people selling their home if they have issues with their neighbours at a time when issues from next door can knock thousands off the price of a property, new research shows. It is clear that not all estate agents want to ask the question when it comes to neighbourly problems and 10% rely solely on the purchasers’ solicitor or conveyancer to investigate existing issues with neighbours. The research from Churchill Home Insurance also found that according to estate agents the most contentious disputes are over communal space. Over half, 56%, of the estate agents surveyed identified this as the major issue while 10% said it was noise and 8% boundaries. Dogs and anti-social behaviour were also cited. Some 14% of estate agents highlighted cases where the seller had to drop the price of a property because of issues with neighbours. The average price drop was 3.8%, around £7,000 in England and Wales and £6,400 in Scotland. Churchill’s research also reveals that 20% of estate agents ask sellers if they have had issues with their council and 15% of these would pass this information on to the prospective buyer. As such, it is vital that prospective buyers ask the right questions to ensure they get all of the information they require to make an informed purchase, the firm said. Buyers are relying on their solicitors or conveyancers to investigate issues with potential new neighbours. The conveyancing process can unravel any open disputes or circumstances that could lead to disagreements, but the subjectivity of loud music or an aggressive neighbourhood dog means these checks may not capture potential day to day problems. ‘Buying a property is one of the most expensive decisions many of us will ever make. As such, we are well within our rights to be informed about issues that may affect our buying decision,’ said Martin Scott, head of Churchill Home Insurance. ‘Buyers should ask their estate agent to disclose as much as information as they can about the property, seller and neighbours to help the buyer make the right decision,’ he added. He also pointed out that since the demise of the Property Misdirection Act in 2013, estate agents are required under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading regulations to reveal any negative issues about a property, if known to them, which may affect the buying decision. If an estate agent has been made aware of a nightmare neighbour or previous council disputes, they are obliged to inform the buyer. Withholding information that could affect the buying decision could land estate agents in hot water. They may be subject to legal action and fines of up to £5,000 and/or two years in prison. Churchill says that buyers should not be afraid to ask questions and when they meet the estate agent or seller they should specifically about issues such as past/ongoing disputes and the… Continue reading
City of London office market sees strongest recovery on record
Rents for City of London offices have proved more resilient in recent years than during previous market downturns and recoveries, according to new research. The analysis from real estate firm Knight Franks indexed City of London office rents at 100 for the pre-downturn peaks recorded in the fourth quarter of 1989, the third quarter of 2001, and the fourth quarter of 2007. This showed that rents in the most recent downturn found a floor and moved into recovery far sooner than during the early 1990s and early 2000s downturns and overall the City office market has seen its strongest recovery on record. Also, the current recovery is proving to be far more enduring than that seen after the early 2000s downturn. Indeed that market cycle lasted just six years, with the arrival of the global financial crisis in late 2007, the report points out. It also explains that the outlook is good as it is over seven years on from the market peak for rents, and growth is still occurring, and expected to continue. ‘These figures demonstrate that the City office market has proved far more resilient in recent years than anyone would have imagined back in 2007 when the financial crisis began,’ said Bradley Baker, central London tenant representation partner at Knight Frank. ‘One of the keys to the City’s success has been its’ significant diversification away from an over-dependence on the financial sector in the past and instead embracing and attracting technology and media firms such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Amazon, Hachette and Uber,’ he explained. ‘Unlike previous downturns, the current recovery began within two years of the initial crash and has been sustained for over five years. This compares favourably to the 2001/2003 and 1989/1991 crashes which took over three and four years respectively to post a recovery, and even then they were short lived,’ he added. Continue reading
Majority of home owners in Australia concerned about property values
More than two thirds of Australians are concerned that Australia’s housing is vulnerable to a significant correction in values, according to the latest housing sentiment survey. Some 68% of respondents to the September CoreLogic RP Data TEG survey said they believe the housing market is vulnerable to a significant correction in values. However, the findings are a reduction from the previous quarter results where 75% of respondents indicated they were concerned about a significant downturn, but despite the apparent improvement in consumer perceptions, a significant proportion of the community are wary of substantial value falls across the nation’s largest and most important asset class, which according to CoreLogic RP Data is worth an estimated $6.2 trillion. ‘While we don’t envisage dwelling values will fall substantially, the probability of declines in Sydney, and to a lesser extent in Melbourne, after such a strong run of capital gains isn’t unlikely,’ said CoreLogic RP Data head of research Tim Lawless. ‘Home values are already trending lower in Darwin and Perth. It was less than three and a half years ago that capital city dwelling values fell by 7.4% between October 2010 and May 2012,’ he pointed out. Additionally, 95% of survey respondents believe that foreign demand is pushing property values higher, with 19% indicating that foreign buyers were responsible for placing ‘extreme’ upwards pressure on home values. Only 5% of survey respondents thought foreign buying activity wasn’t pushing home values higher. According to Lawless, the results are a stark reminder that the true extent of foreign buying of residential properties across Australia continues to lack transparency, despite the House Economics Committee Report on Foreign Investment in Residential Real Estate being handed down almost a year ago. He added that the latest statistics haven’t been updated since the 2013/14 financial year. Some 55% of survey respondents thought that the current housing market conditions represented a good time to buy a property, down from 60% in June. Respondents based in Sydney, where housing market conditions have been running the hottest, were the most pessimistic about buying conditions, however 29.7% of respondents still thought that now was a good time to be getting into the market. Alternatively, more than 70% of survey respondents thought buying conditions were ripe in the Australian Capital Territory, Adelaide, regional Queensland and Perth. The proportion of survey respondents who thought property values will rise over the coming six months has been trending lower, with respondents who thought home values will rise over the next six months dropping from 49% in March and 48% in June to just 40% of all respondents in September. Continue reading
