Category Archives: Housing

Upcoming event on drivers of Qld economy – presentation by James Keating from QCA

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Gene Tunny

The French-Australian Chamber of Commerce has organised an interesting event for Wednesday evening, 1 April in Brisbane CBD, featuring a presentation by James Keating from the Queensland Competition Authority: Which industries are currently driving the Queensland economy? I’m very interested … Continue reading →

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Urban sprawl filling in the 200km City

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Gene Tunny

In the first seven months of financial year 2014-15, the top five suburban areas in Queensland for residential building approvals were: Newstead-Bowen Hills (1,358 approvals), Southport (1,305), North Lakes-Mango Hill (612), Caloundra-West (406), and Jimboomba (401) (see map below based … Continue reading →

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State & local govts need to allow development to boost housing supply – Gap mega-suburb would be a good start

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Gene Tunny

Now that likely future PM Malcolm Turnbull has highlighted the “big supply side issue” in Australia’s housing market (see yesterday’s Australian), it would be timely for State and local governments around Australia to review their regulations and charges, which many … Continue reading →

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Apartment & townhouse approvals double in January – catch up or over-shoot in supply?

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Gene Tunny

The massive surge in apartment and townhouse approvals in January reported by the ABS today (chart above) is welcome news for the Queensland building industry and people looking to buy or rent an apartment in inner city Brisbane, where much … Continue reading →

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Up-tick in Queensland building approvals, while Victoria surges

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Gene Tunny

There was a welcome 5.6% increase in building approvals in November last year according to ABS data released yesterday (see chart above), largely due to approvals of new apartments and townhouses. Of course, the volatility of approvals from month-to-month means … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Qld Government likely to go into election campaign with weak economy

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Gene Tunny

New ABS data released today show a large drop in engineering construction activity – i.e. the heavy construction activity that has been largely associated with the resources sector in recent years. At the same time as this drop is occurring, … Continue reading →

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Local government regulatory reform process fails to stop silly heritage listings in Townsville

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Gene Tunny

In its report on cutting red tape last year, the Queensland Competition Authority noted that “the Government will consult with local government in late 2013 on a regulatory reform program for local governments.” This consultation obviously didn’t achieve much, because … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Townsville | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Residential building activity recovering nicely, but still below levels of mid-2000s

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Gene Tunny

Builders across Queensland should have noticed higher levels of residential building activity lately, although they may still be disappointed activity remains below the levels of the mid-2000s (see chart based on ABS building activity data released yesterday below). The new … Continue reading →

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HIA appears worried RBA will move to rein in housing market

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Gene Tunny

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) released an informative (though possibly naively optimistic) note yesterday titled A Portrait of Australian Home Prices, available at the HIA website, which is basically a message to the RBA that “There’s nothing to see here.” … Continue reading →

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HIA wants debate on stamp duty, not negative gearing

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Gene Tunny

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has released an excellent report from the consulting firm of top Australian economist Chris Murphy on The Economic Impacts of Negative Gearing of Residential Property (see the news report Don’t slash negative gearing, says HIA). … Continue reading →

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