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Vol 11. No.45

Economic Overview

	Current	+/-	Movement
$AUS/$US	90.76	+0.74
Cash Rate	4.00	Steady
90 Day Bill	4.21	Steady
10 Year Bond	5.410	+0.15
ASX 200	4767.2	+16.7

NSW Property

Sydney CBD sales and leasing update (SMH 6-7 Weekend Business Pg.20)

• Sales and rental prices in the Sydney CBD are said to be at their highest level in a number of years.
• Recently the 2,067m² lower ground floor of Regent Place Shopping Centre at 501 – 509 George Street, sold for $10 million ($4,838/m²), the largest strata sale in 3 years. 
• A 254m² store at Circular Quay’s Opera Quays was leased to Australian Collection for 5 years for $3,051/m² with annual 5% reviews.

Sydney commercial/industrial sales update (AFR Pg.20)

• Bevillesta Pty Ltd sold a 349m² commercial office at 35 Lime Street, Sydney to Commercial Property Portfolio Trust for $2.75 million ($7,880/m²).
• Mars Road Pty Ltd sold a 1,807m² offce/warehouse at Building 5, 27 Mars Road, Lane Cove to AIT Pty Ltd for $2.4 million ($1,328/m²).
• A 488m², 3 level commercial building at 172 – 174 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst has sold for $2.35 million ($4,816/m²) to a private syndicate.
• A 146m² vacant retail freehold property at 147 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst has been purchased by a private investor for $1.62 million ($11,096/m²).
• A 1,170m² older style factory at 16/1 Short Street, Chatswood has sold for $1.55 million ($1,325/m²).

South Sydney industrial update (SMH 6-7 Weekend Business Pg.18)

• Over the past 3 months more than 35,000m² of industrial space has been leased within South Sydney. Demand has arisen from freight and logistics operators.
• Agility Logistics has leased 12,141m² in 4 Military Road, Matraville for 10 + 10 years at $140/m².
• TNT have also absorbed more than 10,000m² of industrial space in Botany recently.
• DSV Air & Sea has committed to 5,244m² at the Portside Estate at 2 – 8 McPherson Street, Banksmeadow for 3 + 3 years at $130/m².

Queensland Property

Queensland housing update (AFR Pg.49)

• Developers in Queensland who provide smaller homes and a diverse range of product are likely to be encouraged by future federal government planning initiatives as they look to cater for the state’s growing population.
• 115,000 people move to Queensland every year with approximately one-third of the state’s population coming from births, 50% from international migration and 16% from interstate migration.
• Dwelling sizes in Queensland increased by 20m² in the 4 years to 2005 whilst the number of occupants per household decreased.
• Last week the Brisbane’s Lord Mayor introduced a draft neighbourhood plan for Fortitude Valley with the possibility of 30 storey towers.
• The plan was blocked by council opposition due to a lack of green space.

National Property

Auction clearance rates (AFR Pg.48)

• Sydney’s auction clearance rate was 70.5%, down from last weekend's 74.8%, with $177.7 million of property selling.
• The most expensive home sold was $6.15 million for 17 Iluka Road, Mosman.
• Brisbane’s auction clearance rate rose to 52.9%.
• Melbourne's weekend clearance rate was down 4% to 74.8%.

Affordable housing update (AFR Pg.48)

• Devine has teamed with Affordable Housing Consulting to construct 388 house and land packages across 5 of their South Australian estates. They are expected to be completed by June 2012.
• Retail investors have purchased approximately 90 of the homes which sell between $257,000 and $320,000.
• Also at least 3 proposals to construct portfolios of 1,000 or more affordable dwellings have been earmarked by other groups as contenders for a berth in the National Rental Affordability Scheme.
• Approximately 10,500 incentives have been granted thus far with most going to consortiums investing on a smaller scale.

Regional residential update (AFR Pg.48)

• According to recent research the largest regional rental increase over the past 12 months was 11.1% in Wagga Wagga in southern NSW.
• In Dubbo, central NSW, growth was 8.7% and in Toowoomba, north Queensland, rents rose by 8.3%.