A somewhat contentious post given recent events and COVID19’s potential impact on employment. Last year the Australian Government’s released new five-year forecasts for employment via its Labour Market Information Portal. Heavy caveats have subsequently been added to this dataset. We have been using this information for some time and my regular review of the statistics…
Much has been written – with little doubt more to come – about the Australian rental market of late. The themes most discussed include the potential impact of eviction and rental increase bans; the fall in international student numbers and their effect on rental demand; the rise in unemployment (especially in those industry sectors which…
What is going to happen to overseas migration post Coronavirus? Chart 1 tells me that net overseas migration has lifted substantially when compared to a generation ago. But in recent times it has slowed down. Like interstate migration, net overseas migration is also a cyclical occurrence. Table 1 tells me the New South Wales and…
What do tenants want? We recently asked the Matusik Missive tribe to answer this question. We had just over 100 replies and thanks to those that took the time. I like to number things, but acronyms can be fun too. Here are three acronyms you should know to better understand what tenants want. SOAP SOAP…
The COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak has forced many employers to consider encouraging, or even forcing, their employees to work from home. Some are saying that this is a new trend, with many more of us – once the respiratory illness is under better control – working from home. An in-depth survey by Roy Morgan has found…
I wrote about demographics a month ago – back when the world was a far less turbulent place. That post featured the following table showing the total size of the Australia market by housing buyer segmentation. And I explained that there will be a need to build more homes over the next decade than the…
An emergency. Then crisis. Now a pandemic? Falling confidence. Market correction. Talk of recession. Social distancing. Cancelled events. Closed borders. The list goes on and on. No good news anywhere. Panic! There is little doubt that it is serious. And I don’t want to make light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) but I am of the…
When comparing the performance of various property markets, most focus on the change in property values. But there is much, much more. I’ve included two tables this post. Please take 30 seconds to look at them. Most will focus on the price column in the first table and then spend most of their time reviewing…
James Carville, allegedly, helped win the Presidency for Bill Clinton in 1992 with a sign in the campaign’s headquarters saying, “The economy, stupid”. Well maybe there should be a sign saying – “Demographics, stupid” – on our desks as well. Many in the economic, town planning and property space, including investors, tend to ignore or…
The average floor area of a new free-standing house in Australia is 254 square metres. Our homes are much larger than those within Europe and even many American cities. Why has this occurred? It is simply economics. The actual land component of a new house and land package is very high and fixed. And these…
