Winners are Grinners!

Especially when it means that you are jet setting off to Bali for the Raine & Horne Darwin Awesome Conference 2017.

This Quarters Awards at Raine & Horne Darwin are always the most hotly contested as they are the last chance to qualify for your Golden ticket. A ticket which sees you boarding the plane and heading off with your high performing Team Members to enjoy the fruits of your labors in Bali.

The Quarterly Award Winners were

• Adam Gulliford – Gold Sales Award – Qualified
• Ange Hill – Most Improved Property Manager
• Briana Bilsborough – Top Property Manager
• Carly Wilson – Top Business Support – Qualified
• Evdokia Nistazos – Top Business Support – Qualified
• Elise Harris – Top Business Support – Qualified
• Rebekah Styles – Top Business Support – Qualified

And then we have the Wild Cards…. as they sound…. qualifiers who stood out from the pack with their performances however may not have been part of the team for the whole year

• Dan Cambell – Wild Card
• Emma Parry – Wild Card
• Briana Bilsborough – Wild Card
• Ange Hill – Wild Card

Believe me! A few ‘Wild Cards’ are definitely what you need in Bali for the Awesome Conference and a few of this bunch will likely add to the antics!! Stay tuned for the next Blog which shows the carry on…….

 

A 60% surge in buyer enquiries points to a stronger Darwin property market

Darwin, NT (6 October 2017) – A 60% surge in the number of groups at weekend open for inspections is a strong indicator the Darwin real estate market is set to surge.

“Compared to 12 months ago we have double and even triple the number of groups at each open home on a Saturday,” said Glenn Grantham, General Manager, Raine & Horne Darwin.

“Around 75% of buyers are savvy locals, who have been at our open homes regularly over the last 6 months.

“They recognise that a median house price of $445,000 and rental yields of 6-10% means that there is plenty of value in Darwin real estate right now.”

A local buyer, for example, has snapped up a spacious, well-presented 4-bedroom house with a pool at 15 Hodgson Drive Leanyer for $533,000.

“The buyer has secured a great deal for a property that would have been worth significantly more at the peak of the market a few years ago,” said Mr Grantham.

On the supply side, Mr Grantham confirmed there are 1,500 properties for sale in Darwin and Palmerston.

“However, we only need 1,000 investors from around Australia looking to take advantage of our real estate affordability and robust yields that are better than anywhere else in Australia,” he said.

“If we could grab 300 investors from NSW, 200 each from Victoria and Queensland, and 100 buyers from Perth, Adelaide and Canberra to our market, we’d quickly see listings dry up and values start to head north.

“Just a small percentage of property investors from other capital cities would make a significant difference to the relatively small Darwin real estate market in a short period of time.”

Longer-term the economic outlook for Darwin is promising and should flow through to the city’s property markets.

“There is talk of another big oil and gas project on the way, while the ongoing troubles on the Korean Peninsula mean that an additional influx of US troops into the Darwin rental market isn’t out of the question,” said Mr Grantham.

Whether you are buying, selling or leasing a property in Darwin or Palmerston, contact Raine & Horne Darwin on (08) 8941 8941.

Zuccoli Aspire Land Release Update

Catch up on the latest update for delivery of titled land in Darwin, Northern Territory.

Time ripe for Darwin empty nesters to sell

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Darwin, NT (27 April 2017) With property values starting to improve, astute empty nesters in Darwin are realising that now is the perfect time to downgrade from a superfluous family home into a modern apartment, according to Glenn Grantham, General Manager of Raine & Horne Darwin.

“Some Darwin retirees have recognised the challenges faced by empty nesters in the southern states, where spiralling real estate values and charges such as stamp duty make it difficult to downsize from larger properties into more appropriate housing,” said Mr Grantham.

“With these southern state lessons in mind, Darwin locals have recognised that in terms of paying lower fees, charges and taxes, it’s generally better to sell and buy in a less robust market, which we have now.”

Retirees living in larger properties in Darwin’s desirable northern suburbs are starting to enquire about downsizing to apartments in the CBD, according to Mr Grantham.

“One retiree has decided to move to take advantage of lower apartment prices in the Darwin CBD,” he said.

“The empty-nester is confident that by downsizing into the city now, she’ll pay a more realistic price of around $750,000 for a 3-bedroom apartment, as well as lower transactional charges such as stamp duty.”

At the peak of the market in 2011, similar apartments in Darwin were valued at $1 million.

“At the same time, property values in the northern suburbs have held their ground, so the empty nester is confident that she’ll be left with a decent financial nest egg when she completes the move from a bigger house to an apartment.

“At the same time, she has estimated that by downsizing in the current market, she will save herself about $30,000 in transaction fees.”

Apart from the financial aspects, Mr Grantham said downsizing into modern apartments such as 9014/ 27 Wood Street, Darwin[i] affords lifestyle advantages. The apartment is on the market for an affordable $689,000.

“Many CBD apartments offer plenty of floor space that enables retirees to accommodate grandchildren and other family members when required,” said Mr Grantham.

“For those retirees looking to spend more time travelling, the lock and leave benefits is another attraction of downsizing into a secure Darwin CBD apartment.

“They have plenty of parking, full lockup security, pool, gym, outdoor entertaining areas, balconies and magnificent views of Darwin.”

[i] http://www.realestate.com.au/property-apartment-nt-darwin+city-119146107

Demand for Darwin Rentals returning to all time highs.

Darwin, NT (21 March 2017) Demand for Darwin rental properties is booming, with leading property specialist, Raine & Horne Darwin finalising leases on more than 60 properties in February. 

“This result follows 60 properties we leased to tenants in January,” said Glenn Grantham, General Manager, Raine & Horne Darwin.

“Consequently, rental yields for Darwin houses have improved and are currently 5.1%, which is the highest in Australia. The Darwin apartment market is also starting to pick up some pace.”

The Darwin rental market is still above the 2% vacancy rate sweet spot achieved a few years ago, with vacancies running at more than 7%.

“That said, the vacancy rate for properties managed by Raine & Horne Darwin is only 4%, which is well below the city’s average,” said Mr Grantham.

“Investors need to be sensible about presentation and pricing to ensure a vacant investment property is tenanted as quickly as possible. It seems our landlords are listening.”

Rental days-on-market have fallen to an average of about 32 days in Darwin, according to Mr Grantham.

“Vacancies are headed in the right direction, which is a good sign, however its means investors shouldn’t be complacent about pricing and presentation,” said Mr Grantham.

For first home buyers seeking to exit the rental treadmill, Raine & Horne Darwin recently held the launch of the Zuccoli Aspire[1] display village.

“There are 22 homes in the village making it the biggest display ever in the Northern Territory,” said Mr Grantham.

“We had 1,500 people visit the display village on Saturday 11 March, which was very impressive.

“Most of the interested parties were first home buyers and they visited the village to inspect the offerings of the 18 builders involved in the project, and to learn more about the land lots available at Zuccoli Aspire, which are selling for as cheaply as $135,000.

“Add the $26,000 First Home Owner Grant, and first timers may need as little as $109,000 of their own, or borrowed funds to secure a lot at Zuccoli Aspire.”

[1] http://zuccoliaspire.com.au/

https://www.therealestateconversation.com.au/news/2017/03/21/demand-darwin-rentals-all-time-high/1490038836

Northern suburbs housing activity to drive Darwin property values

Darwin, NT (27 February 2017) After two consecutive quarters of strong sales activity, Darwin prices are set to head north, according to Glenn Grantham, General Manager, Raine & Horne Darwin.

 “There was a bounce in buyer activity in the second half of 2016, which is contributing to a boost in the prices of quality, well-located properties in Darwin’s northern suburbs,” said Mr Grantham.

Desirable houses in Jingili, Karama and Anula, are attracting 30-40 groups to open homes, with many selling within 3 weeks of reaching the market, according to Mr Grantham.

“Historically when values in the northern suburbs improve, this creates a ripple effect that eventually flow south to Palmerston,” he said.

Mr Grantham said that while values in Darwin’s north will rise in the medium term, vendors with properties in the city and the south must be patient.

“Regardless of where you live, to cash-in on current market activity, a property must be well-presented and priced sensibly to sell,” said Mr Grantham.

Other hurdles to a swift sale might include rental properties with long-term tenants, which are not realising competitive yields.

“A Darwin property generating a gross yield of less than 4% will be harder to shift in the shorter-term,” said Mr Grantham.

“The bottom line is that properties with a few flies on them will be more difficult to sell now. However, when the momentum picks up across Darwin, they’ll wash through the market too.”

Owner-occupiers continue to dominate the Darwin market, although Mr Grantham said that interstate investors are increasingly among the buyers.

“We had a Sydney investor who wants to use his self-managed fund (SMSF) to buy a property worth $470,000 which will rent for $475 a week. This is a stronger return than Sydney real estate, or other asset classes such as cash and fixed interest,” he said.

“We have plenty of product in the Darwin market that will tick the boxes for investors from the Southern States.”

Underlining the improving strength of Darwin rental market, Raine & Horne Darwin has leased 100 properties already in 2016.

“This works out at roughly 2 a day, and we have strong demand from trades people, public and private sector workers moving to Darwin now for work,” said Mr Grantham.

There are several planned and committed infrastructure projects set to begin in Darwin including the $500 million upgrade of HMAS Coonawarra and Larrakeyah Barracks, and the $250 million Darwin Luxury Hotel development[i].

[i] http://genielift.com.au/blog/outlook-for-the-non-residential-construction-industry-in-2017

Selling in a Tough Market!

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$$$$, Auction, Boom, Darwin, First Homebuyers, Home, House Price, Median, Northern Territory, NT News, Property, Raine & Horne, Real Estate

The 2016 Darwin Residential Sales Market is presenting as one of the toughest if not the toughest market in which I have been involved over the last 28 years in Real estate.

Now that is really saying something as I started my career selling homes in the ‘recession we had to have’.

The lowest sales No’s on record in Darwin since the REINT started keeping statistics in 1999.

But I am not here to belabor the point as to how tough it is for the poor old Real Estate Agent. Because unless you are a Real estate Agent who would actually care?

What I am here to talk about is something we are seeing that is making the job a little more exciting as we are at least getting some traffic through the door and having the opportunity to talk to someone rather than just putting out and collecting Home Open signs 8 times a Saturday.

In the NT the Auction system is a much maligned and avoided tool. We hear all the excuses from ‘Auctions are Expensive’ to ‘I’d never buy at an Auction’ however I can tell you that they are currently getting more people through the door.

Over the last 2 years I have tracked the No of attendees at our Home Opens and the average has diminished over this time from 3/open to where it currently sits at 0.7/open.

The last 5 auctions we have conducted had an average of 7 attendees per Home Open and there were 38 people in attendance at the Auction just 2 weeks ago. 4 out of 5 properties have sold so far in the Auction Program (coincidentally only 1 Under Hammer) and we are dealing with buyers on the other.

Now that is not to say that we recommend Auctioning everything however it certainly makes a strong statement in a market where the average Days on Market is in excess of 120 days and approximately 8% of properties are selling of those listed for sale in any month! Meanwhile we have an 80% strike rate on Auctions…..Just Saying!

There is one thing that I do know for sure and that is that ‘You can’t sell a home if you do not have a buyer’ and the traffic of potential buyers certainly increases during our Auction campaigns…..it stands to reason that you would have an increased chance of sale in a Tough Market?

 

Zuccoli Aspire News May 2016

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$$$$, Boom, Darwin, First Homebuyers, Home, House, House Price, INPEX, Investment, Northern Territory, NT News, Property, Raine & Horne, Real Estate, Zuccoli Aspire

Here is your chance to catch up with all the news about the fastest selling Land Estate in the Northern Territory straight from the mouths of the Developers.

Investing in Real Estate 2016

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Darwin, Raine & Horne

In several States and Territories around Australia you will hear the cry that it’s a ‘Buyers Market’. Meanwhile in the population capitals of the country real estate speculators have just reaped the rewards of ‘Superheated’ Markets.

A Bull market is never the time to enter as a purchaser especially if you are an investor. So what happens to the savvy investor in 2016? They either take their new found wealth to buy a Ferrari or alternately look for sage investment opportunities outside the major capital cities which offer opportunity for Capital Growth and return.

So if you are not buying a Ferrari here are my tips for the 2016 Property Investor.

Get out of your own Backyard

Throughout my real estate career I have witnessed investors purchasing property close to their own home so that they can ‘Keep an eye on it’.

In my opinion this is one of the silliest reasons I have heard to drive a buying decision which should be based on figures rather than whether it’s close enough to show your mates.

You already have a large investment in the area that you live and chances are you didn’t buy there because of the growth rate or the return. A decision to purchase an investment in that same area may therefore be based upon the wrong indicators as they are two very different transactions.

Any stock broker worth their salt will tell you to diversify your portfolio through the acquisition of shares in different Companies. This is a technique which enables you to spread the risk. Real Estate Investments should be viewed in a similar fashion.

Don’t Forget to Buy

Day 1 in real estate some 27 years ago I was handed a ‘Funny Fax’ hot off the roll next to my desk which had a picture of an old bloke with his beard down to his knees and a walking stick in his hand. The caption read ‘This is the picture of the young man who waited for the price of Real Estate to come down’.

Great advice. The median price when I started selling was under $100 000 so things have risen a bit since then!

Do not get too caught up in analysis and fail to make a decision over whether you think that the market might drop another $5k before it hits the best value. You are purchasing this investment with the long term in mind and in 10 years’ time when the price has doubled, chances are you won’t even remember what the purchase price was.

Another wise man said to me that the only time that you know that the market hit the bottom is after the price already went up. Unless you have a crystal ball or a time machine then you will be well served to listen to those blokes called Agents. If they are suggesting that it is a Buyer’s Market it is because they know that properties are taking a while to sell so make sure that you don’t forget to buy.

Maintain your Property

Just because you have a Professional Property Manager looking after your property and you have awesome tenants you will be needing to spend some money on the ongoing maintenance of your investment property. Especially if you want it to look the same when you get it back as when you handed it over

No matter how good your tenants are they are highly unlikely to do improvements to your home or invest money into the upkeep. Your home will suffer wear and tear. The ATO even allows you to claim it so they know it is going to happen. Make sure that you are prepared for it.

Factor this expense into your Annual Budgeting so that you are doing everything you can to elevate your future Capital Value when it comes time to sell. If you budget on a shoestring you will be handed back a very different home to the one that you initially purchased.

Take full advantage of cheap money

Interest rates probably won’t remain at historic lows for ever. Though the Reserve Bank has not yet given any indication of an impending rate rise, I would still suggest investors take advantage of the current situation and consider locking in rates where possible. Money is cheap now, but it can’t last forever.

Darwin is pretty damn good

Finally, none of us really know what 2016 will bring. We can’t actually say for sure whether interest rates will rise, fall or stay the same. Nor can we predict with complete certainty the locations or property types which will provide the greatest capital gains or the highest rental yields.

What I can tell you is whilst Darwin’s median rental prices have come off over the last 12 months their yields have remained the same as the highest in the Country. This is due to the median prices dropping also. Combine this with the opportunity to access cheap money and investors entering the Darwin market are actually better placed from a cash flow perspective right now than they have been over the last 5 years.

Why would you put your money anywhere else…..and we have Crocs to protect it for you!

If you require further information about this article or would like to chat about the marketplace in general then do not hesitate to email me on glenn@rhdarwin.com.au

Darwin’s First Time Buyer Activity

http://www.raineandhorne.com.au/darwin/blog/dirt-cheap-real-estate-and-generous-government-subsidies-driving-first-time-buyer-activity-in-Darwin