Hot Property: The biggest property headlines from the week 7-11 December

Welcome to The Adviser’s weekly round-up of the stories that are getting big reads across Momentum Media’s property titles: The Adviser, Mortgage Business, Real Estate Business, Smart Property Investment and nestegg.

The final Home Loan Price Inquiry report recommends that lenders should regularly prompt customers whose loans are more than three years old to review their rate and consider switching products.

Consumer credit reforms introduced into Parliament 

The National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Supporting Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 has been introduced into Parliament and read for the first time.

The bill seeks to amend the law relating to consumer credit and consumer leases, and includes the controversial proposal to extend the best interests duty to more credit assistance providers and to remove responsible lending laws.

House prices to surpass pre-COVID levels in ‘early 2021’

According to CoreLogic’s Hedonic Home Value Index data for November, dwelling values were up 0.8 per cent over the month, building on the recovery first seen in October, and following a 2.1 per cent drop in Australian home values between April and September.

Detached housing approvals at 20-year high: ABS 

Building approvals for private houses were at the highest recorded level since February 2000, and rose for the fourth consecutive month in October, according to new data.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Building Approvals data for October 2020, total dwelling approvals rose 3.8 per cent in October (seasonally adjusted terms), following a strong 16.2 per cent rise in September.

The rise was driven by substantial increases in NSW (32.1 per cent) and WA (29.7 per cent).

Agency cops fine for unregistered agent

A Perth-based real estate agency that allowed a sales agent to work on more than 100 transactions over a five-year period while unregistered has been fined $7,000.

The Agency board slams legitimacy of Magnolia offer

An ASX announcement from The Agency Group Australia has called out Magnolia for its “proposal to make an unsolicited, conditional offer” for a controlling share in the real estate company.

“The board of The Agency does not consider that the proposal provides shareholders with enough information to even be considered a credible ‘proposal’ or constitute a legitimate alternative to the proposed issue of $5 million in convertible notes to Peters Investments Pty Ltd,” it outlined.

Revealing the REB Awards finalists for 2021

With the recent relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, we’re now pleased to announce that the REB Awards will be returning from Sydney’s The Star on 28 January 2021.

Post-recession pattern: How prices will rise in the next 5 years 

The CoreLogic Home Value Index for November showed that national dwelling values were up 0.8 per cent over the month, with every capital city, apart from Melbourne, posting positive results and regional areas performing even more strongly.

Rental income tipped to spike as shortages drive record prices 

Propertyology’s head of research, Simon Pressley, believes that even a fall in migration due to border restrictions will not offset the number of dwellings Australia needs: “The reality is that Australia does not have enough housing supply for its existing 25.6 million population.”

“Propertyology is predicting that these next couple of years will produce the biggest increase in rents that Australia has seen in living memory.”

For more analysis and insight into these stories, tune in to Momentum Media’s new live talk show on Facebook, What’s Making Headlines, featuring Momentum Media’s executive editor - real estate, Phillip Tarrant, and business coach and Real Estate Gym trainer Tom Panos.

You can also catch up on the show via the What’s Making Headlines podcast, which is released every Friday.