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Off the plan apartment sales in Brisbane's inner city have taken a dive with the June quarter showing a 44 per cent decline in sales compared with the last quarter, raising concerns about settlement risk and valuations.

Place Projects' latest report shows that overall the inner Brisbane apartment market recorded a total of 464 unconditional transactions during the June quarter, the lowest level of sales since the December quarter in 2012.

The latest result is down from the March quarter which saw 828 unconditional transactions and the December quarter where more than 1200 sales were reported.

"This result is clearly going to clean up the market," Place Advisory director and report author Lachlan Walker said, "There have already been fewer apartments released and some projects have even been withdrawn.

"I think the threat now is how settlements will go. I haven't heard of any horror stories yet but the loan to value ratios have been tightened by the banks and there is some pressure on valuers now to be more conservative."
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http://www.afr.com/real-estate/bris...-now-key-focus-for-developers-20160809-gqo5jz
 
Tyler Durden said:
http://www.afr.com/real-estate/bris...-now-key-focus-for-developers-20160809-gqo5jz
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I think this is a good consequence and intended by the removal of the loophole for fraudulent employment statements....

However, i heard recently that they are still trying to find ways a round it. Our builder was telling us one case where they actually had an 'employer' answer the phone. In the end they could not provide an official tax statement or something...but they're still trying to get around the requirements.
 
CanOz said:
I think this is a good consequence and intended by the removal of the loophole for fraudulent employment statements....

However, i heard recently that they are still trying to find ways a round it. Our builder was telling us one case where they actually had an 'employer' answer the phone. In the end they could not provide an official tax statement or something...but they're still trying to get around the requirements.
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It's a bit like securing your home I guess. You just need to make it hard enough that they look elsewhere. They might find it easier to wash their money in London, Canada or the US at this rate. Although Canada is cracking down at the moment.
 
Bill M said:
I have to be patient, the right one might come along. My other options are a retirement village or to buy an apartment off the plan but that is dangerous to do. I've seen a lot of projects fail or not proceed for many years. We are getting older and I have no desire to spend my time cutting lawns, cutting hedges, pulling weeds, fixing fences, painting or anything like that. Just want a nice place in a nice location and let the body corp do all the work.

In all my years in the Sydney area it has always been the same story. It is far more difficult to buy the place you want than it is to sell the place you have, the search continues.
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Hey. I thought body corporate's were the middle men scum of property??? A mate of mine from Brissy told me that when he had a 3 unit portfolio at one stage of his life, but the fees from these middle men made it too hard for him in the end. I shudder when I hear the name of body corporates or strata

I don't own any property though so be gentle
 
lockscombi said:
Hey. I thought body corporate's were the middle men scum of property??? A mate of mine from Brissy told me that when he had a 3 unit portfolio at one stage of his life, but the fees from these middle men made it too hard for him in the end. I shudder when I hear the name of body corporates or strata

I don't own any property though so be gentle
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"Caveat Emptor" are the words you are looking for. The "middle men scum" clearly outline the rights and obligations under the strata fees prior to you purchasing. Once purchased you have a voting right to not agree with the "increase in charges" under the strata act.

DYOR. http://stratatitle.com.au/ go here and observe.
 
trainspotter said:
"Caveat Emptor" are the words you are looking for. The "middle men scum" clearly outline the rights and obligations under the strata fees prior to you purchasing. Once purchased you have a voting right to not agree with the "increase in charges" under the strata act.

DYOR. http://stratatitle.com.au/ go here and observe.
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Yeah ok but in reality do these guys tend to rip people off? I mean why can't people look after their own property. If the so call property had a bit of gardening to do then start a friendly committee or something. It's win win. Be neighborly and save money.
 
lockscombi said:
Yeah ok but in reality do these guys tend to rip people off? I mean why can't people look after their own property. If the so call property had a bit of gardening to do then start a friendly committee or something. It's win win. Be neighborly and save money.
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Some corporate bodies are run as a "profit" based business and the fees are quite high for insurance on the common areas, maintenance and gardening etc. Others are made up of the actual tenants who run the show by themselves but do it on a volunteer basis and the cost is the cost spread evenly amongst everyone.

People have to look after their own property. It is the common areas that are jointly owned under the Strata Act. Some corporations will only use "certain" trades and there will be restrictive covenants in the fine print. Like I said earlier if you don't like the conditions being imposed then don't buy the damn thing.
 
lockscombi said:
Yeah ok but in reality do these guys tend to rip people off? I mean why can't people look after their own property. If the so call property had a bit of gardening to do then start a friendly committee or something. It's win win. Be neighborly and save money.
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Hi, sorry I missed your posts. The "Body Corporate" are all of the owners of the units together as a group. They generally hire a Body Corporate Manager to run the day to day requirements of the building, ie: repairs, gardens, cleaning etc. The "Strata Title" is like the rules and laws for that particular unit block.

In order to run the Strata Title correctly the owners vote in a small number individual unit owners called the "owners committee". The "owners committee" are suppose to be the representatives of the majority of owners. They pass on requests to the body corp managers in order to get things done, ie: cleaning, gardening, lifts etc.

It is the Body Corporate Managers that have offices offsite that get paid to do this job. The reason why the owners hire Body Corporate Managers is because generally they don't want to do the job themselves, none of them. You have to have meetings, send letters, table minutes, do financials, liaise with builders etc. most people don't want to do this job for free.

Where it goes wrong is that sometimes the body corp managers waste money. For example, Joe Blow complains a light is out in his corridor, he tells the owners committee and they pass on the info to the body corp managers. For a small job they get an an electrician in and sometimes these tradespersons charge way over the top. No one checks the job and when the yearly minutes come out someone will say why did it cost $1,117 to fix that $10 light in the corridor. No real checks and balances. For bigger jobs they need to get a few quotes and the owners decide which contractor gets the job.

Sometimes individual owners are out voted on a project or a new ruling. These owners then tend to blame "The Body corp" for this but usually it has been democratically voted for.

Body Corporates and Strata Titles are not that bad when it all works but when it doesn't it can become a nightmare. I would strongly recommend to anyone who is buying a Strata Title unit to get their Solicitor to do a "Strata Title Search" on the place they want to buy. It is only in there you will find if there is anything wrong in that building. That won't show personality clashes with other owners though. Yes there are pluses and minuses.
 
Bill M said:
Hi, sorry I missed your posts. The "Body Corporate" are all of the owners of the units together as a group. They generally hire a Body Corporate Manager to run the day to day requirements of the building, ie: repairs, gardens, cleaning etc. The "Strata Title" is like the rules and laws for that particular unit block.

In order to run the Strata Title correctly the owners vote in a small number individual unit owners called the "owners committee". The "owners committee" are suppose to be the representatives of the majority of owners. They pass on requests to the body corp managers in order to get things done, ie: cleaning, gardening, lifts etc.

It is the Body Corporate Managers that have offices offsite that get paid to do this job. The reason why the owners hire Body Corporate Managers is because generally they don't want to do the job themselves, none of them. You have to have meetings, send letters, table minutes, do financials, liaise with builders etc. most people don't want to do this job for free.

Where it goes wrong is that sometimes the body corp managers waste money. For example, Joe Blow complains a light is out in his corridor, he tells the owners committee and they pass on the info to the body corp managers. For a small job they get an an electrician in and sometimes these tradespersons charge way over the top. No one checks the job and when the yearly minutes come out someone will say why did it cost $1,117 to fix that $10 light in the corridor. No real checks and balances. For bigger jobs they need to get a few quotes and the owners decide which contractor gets the job.

Sometimes individual owners are out voted on a project or a new ruling. These owners then tend to blame "The Body corp" for this but usually it has been democratically voted for.

Body Corporates and Strata Titles are not that bad when it all works but when it doesn't it can become a nightmare. I would strongly recommend to anyone who is buying a Strata Title unit to get their Solicitor to do a "Strata Title Search" on the place they want to buy. It is only in there you will find if there is anything wrong in that building. That won't show personality clashes with other owners though. Yes there are pluses and minuses.
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Strata title searches may not actually be worth the money, as my experience illustrates. We has the search done and nothing showed up in the mm minutes. However anyone actually reading the minutes could have noticed the history of poor build quality, skylight leaks, while balconies collapsing....nothing on the search. Now we are in for rising maintenance costs, special levies, etc....

Lesson learned.
 
It's Owners Corporation these days. Many of them have enormous problems with Committee members deciding things in their own interests. I own a unit with those problems the Chairman of the Committee is a sociopath and I will take him to VCAT if things don't improve.
 
CanOz said:
Strata title searches may not actually be worth the money, as my experience illustrates. We has the search done and nothing showed up in the mm minutes. However anyone actually reading the minutes could have noticed the history of poor build quality, skylight leaks, while balconies collapsing....nothing on the search. Now we are in for rising maintenance costs, special levies, etc....

Lesson learned.
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Those reports can cost up to $1,000 or more. Sounds like someone didn't do their job properly. I mean you paid someone to check this and they didn't do it properly. Yes, another problem to add to the list, thanks for sharing.

MrBurns said:
It's Owners Corporation these days. Many of them have enormous problems with Committee members deciding things in their own interests. I own a unit with those problems the Chairman of the Committee is a sociopath and I will take him to VCAT if things don't improve.
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We had a sociopath on the other side. He was a lone owner who took the Manager and the committee to the tribunal, he ended up losing his argument totally. He just wanted things to be done his way and not the majorities way. Another cost added on the body corp fees.

I've been living in my house for 7 years, over that period I've spend $3,000 for repairs, fences etc. In 7 years, you will pay $28,000 in levies for a unit with only a $1,000 per quarter levy fees. If your unit has $2,000 per quarter fees then that blows out to $56,000 in maintenance for the same period.

I might stay where I am, I'm talking myself out of buying a unit.:eek::D
 
A senior work colleague ran his body corporate for 5 years. During that time he fixed many poor build problems with specisl levies such as a new roof and upgrading the security system. Like me he is a consulting engineer.

I would buy in now as its all fixed and high levies are no longer required. You need to see the history and whether it's been run properly. As long as you don't have structural issues then the history should show residents fixing the problems. The danger is patch ups and incompetance.
 
Resource boom is well a truly over, W.A. is doing it tough all right S.P.

Wheatstone LNG Project construction up North, nothing else in W.A. (or Australia) to be honest. I think we will be in a world of pain if things don't pick up.
 
DB008 said:
Resource boom is well a truly over, W.A. is doing it tough all right S.P.

Wheatstone LNG Project construction up North, nothing else in W.A. (or Australia) to be honest. I think we will be in a world of pain if things don't pick up.
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Indeed, the transition from $150k/p.a to real world wages, will not be without pain.

Meanwhile the property sector must be kept on life support, now the retirees will kick in with upgrading to qualify for the new pension limits.

Then low and behold, IMO the PPR will be included in the assets test in five years time, causing them all to jump out and downsize. :1zhelp:

It seems to be a long and torturous path, to bring us in line with everyone else.IMO

The one thing that is constant, is the Governments work on a long time scale, as the song goes "Time is on my side" is the Government mantra.
 
It is never an easy feat to predict how the housing market would go on due to constant fluctuations that make the patterns seem rather confusing endlessly. Even if we do manage to work something out but there will still be a sudden turn of events which would make our calculations useless eventually. Thus, estimations are often put in place to have a basic idea instead of expecting to know the exact situation.
 

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