Real Estate

The Albanese Government successfully passed over thirty pieces of legislation in the final sitting parliamentary week of the year. Below is a summary of the legislation that will be of interest to real estate professionals. The two central bills, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Build to Rent) Bill 2024 and the Help to Buy Bill 2023, are driven by institutional and government investment in the...

In October 2024, the Victorian Government announced a temporary off-the-plan stamp duty concession to cut upfront costs for buyers of properties under strata titles, including apartments and townhouses.  Effective from 21st October 2024 to 21st October 2025, the initiative aims to boost housing supply and homeownership by reducing stamp duty costs. The concession is currently...

11 SEPTEMBER 2024 Often, buyers looking to buy a house or unit limit their search to a handful of known suburbs, blissfully unaware that some great alternatives may be available. The perfect place might be right under the buyer’s nose, or in this case, in the next suburb. Sometimes, lesser renowned suburbs can share a border with a more sought-after counterpart and offer significant discounts...

19 JULY 2024 Land Use Victoria is phasing out the use of paper certificates of title. This will come into effect on 3 August 2024. This is part of the state government’s effort to transition to electronic registers. It is an initiative to make transactions faster, simpler, and more secure. An electronic certificate of title makes for a fully electronic conveyancing process with the registration...

16 July 2024 In a quarter that saw minimal house and unit price movement across Victoria, Melbourne’s western suburbs, Greater Geelong and Greater Bendigo have led quarterly growth whilst offering affordable options for buyers. According to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria’s latest median prices for the quarter ending 30th June 2024, Victoria’s metropolitan house prices fell 1.5 per...

18 June 2024 As the saying goes, safe as houses. The conventional wisdom is that houses are the reliable bet as an investment, a sure thing when it comes to sustained growth and return. However, units are emerging as a legitimate little sibling contender for capturing real growth in the market. The REIV Residential Market Index (RMX) is a residential property price index designed to provide a...

The build-to-rent model is a more recent approach to rental provision that aims to attract investment and development whilst providing stock specifically for the rental market under unique conditions. Although there are slight jurisdictional differences on what constitutes build-to-rent, it is effectively a large strata-type arrangement that is run under a singular management structure that...

The link between building approvals and the prevalence of rental bonds in the market is not necessarily an obvious one. However, it is self-evident in some parts of the state that an increase in approvals leads to improvements in housing supply that is then delivered to the rental market.As the REIV maintains its efforts to promote the provision of housing supply across Victoria, we looked back at a...

Opinion article published in the Herald Sun 12/03/2024 - "Don't Tax Housing Ambitions"Jacob Caine, REIV PresidentIn order to meet its objective of delivering 800,000 new homes in the next decade, the Victorian Government will need to consider modernising its property taxation strategy to one that both retains and attracts private investment.As Victoria’s house prices continue to soar and renters face...

While median house and unit prices across Victoria saw a stable but subdued performance in the fourth quarter of 2023, Melbourne’s eastern and south-eastern suburbs defied the remainder of the state with solid growth. According to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria’s median data for the quarter ending 31 December 2023, Frankston South was among suburbs with the highest quarterly growth, with...