Maverick Strategies

Fairfax Media has signed a joint-venture deal with rival publisher Antony Catalano that will merge his real estate-focused The Weekly Review with Fairfax’s stable of publications.

Mr Catalano, a former Fairfax marketing director, left The Age and established Metro Media Publishing in a consortium with four leading Melbourne real estate agencies and lawyers Cornwall Stodart and accountants Lawler Draper Dillon.

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Rural property listing site Farmbuy.com is now selling rural properties from Elders Real Estate.

Farmbuy.com is Australia’s largest dedicated rural property listing site, with more than 13,000 rural and lifestyle properties listed and more than 50,000 visits every month.

Elders started listing on December 1 and now has 1,500 to 2000 properties on the site. This represents about 60% of Elders’ properties, and this is expected to increase by the end of the month.

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Foreign investors have spent a record $12 billion buying up Australian farmland and agricultural businesses over the past year, but have put off investing a further $14 billion until the outcome of a Senate inquiry in March 2012, a new report by Ferrier Hodgson says.

The purpose of the Senate inquiry is to determine whether the current foreign investment threshold of $231 million, the benchmark where transactions require the approval of Foreign Investment Review Board, should be adjusted since the vast majority of agribusiness transactions fall below this mark.

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Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has announced plans to seek tenders for a new inner city development at the old Supreme and District Court site on George Street.

The Government plans to offer the building to the market for uses such as a luxury hotel site, office accommodation and retail and also seeks expressions of interest for a privately owned and operated theatre as part of the complex.

State Government figures show a real need for high quality accommodation in Brisbane CBD, where accommodation is at 95 per cent occupancy for 56 nights a year.

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The Residential Development Council (RDC) said the Australian Government’s National Housing Supply Council – State of Supply Report 2011 confirms what the industry has long known — that there is an ever-widening gap between the demand for homes and the number of being delivered.

Caryn Kakas, Executive Director, Residential Development Council, said the report found that there is a projected housing shortfall of 215,000 dwellings nationally and growing.

“The report identifies major gaps between the demand for homes and the available supply with the disparity being particularly pronounced in NSW and Queensland.

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Sydney’s Point Piper has claimed the crown as Australia’s most expensive locale for house and unit prices, according to the latest RP Data-Rismark Home Value Index.

The index also found Brewarrina in NSW to have the most affordable houses, while Millicent in SA had the most affordable units.

DP Data analyst Cameron Kusher says although 2011 delivered weaker property market conditions over the year, there are areas throughout Australia that performed extremely well.

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The Domain iPad App has been selected for the “App Store Rewind 2011” featured content collection.

This feature collects the year’s best and most downloaded apps, chosen by the App Store editorial team.

Domain is the only real estate app in the whole collection.

Check out the App Store Rewind 2011 feature here

Asian buyers are vital to the success of future residential developments and developers must engage with them, says Morry Schwartz, head of Melbourne-based property developer Pan Urban. 

Speaking to Property Observer, Schwartz says Chinese buyers from countries like Malaysia and Indonesia see a country like Australia as a safe haven for the long term. 

“Sometimes Chinese people who are living in Malaysia or Indonesia feel slightly insecure about buying where they live because there may be anti-Chinese sentiment in those countries,” he says. 

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