Property in the media

Buyers keep up with supply

Demand from home buyers has kept pace with the rising number of properties being offered for sale, with the national clearance rate holding steady above 70% even as auction listings jumped.

Listings jumped 9.4% to 760 auctions in Sydney in the past week, the preliminary clearance was 72.4%, down only slightly from a week earlier.

Units lead national rental growth

The strongest rental conditions continued to be seen across the unit sector, where rents were up 2.9% over the three months to July nationally, compared with a 1.9% rise in house rents.

Since January 2022, the unit sector across the capital cities has consistently shown a higher rate of appreciation compared to houses.

CoreLogic attributed the trend to several factors, including more affordable unit rents, increased demand for medium to high-density accommodation, and supply constraints with approvals below the decade average since 2018.

Over the year, the biggest annual change in unit rents was observed in Sydney (up 17.8%), Perth (15.9%), Brisbane (15.8%) and Adelaide (11.4%).

Industry concerns stall Sydney’s housing density reforms

The NSW government is going back to the drawing board on a flagship policy meant to spur on high-density development while increasing affordable housing.

NSW Premier Chris Minns announced the initiative six weeks earlier, introducing fast-track incentives for developers who agree to apportion at least 15% of builds over $75 million to affordable housing.

Doing so will give them access to the “State Significant Development” planning approval pathway, set up by the Coalition government, which will allow “faster planning decisions” by bypassing local council approval processes.

These developments are also given allowances to access a 30% floor space ratio boost – meaning that developers could exceed the maximum floor area they would generally be able to build compared to the total area of the block – and a height bonus of 30% above local environment plans.

Now, the Department of Planning and Environment will backtrack to consultation, potentially redrafting some of the measures, following feedback in the weeks since the policy’s announcement that developers are unlikely to go for the incentives.