I think the Daily Telegraph headline last week summed it up best, “Burned again by lunacy. Green tape nightmare preventing bushfire victims from rebuilding”. Some eight months after the devastation of the summer bushfires, homeowners are still being driven to despair by government-imposed green tape preventing them from rebuilding. So, what is the main crux of the ‘green tape’. In a word, Koalas. We all love koalas, even this hard-nosed quantity surveyor loves the thought of being able to look up and see one of our national treasures, cuddled away in a branch. In this instance, the strangling ..read more

The other day I saw someone in an interview say “It’s never too late to claim depreciation.” Now in fairness, perhaps in the following sentence, they added some caveats but even though I tuned out and got back to work, I don’t think that’s a prudent way to start a discussion about deductions, whether you’re back claiming them or otherwise. It is important to understand that it certainly can be too late to claim depreciation deductions. For example, in one of our research studies of a sample of 1,000 of our residential property investor clients, 6.7% of them waited more than two financial years ..read more

I’ve been buoyed by the political bipartisanship that’s, so far, seen us deal successfully with the health risks and financial pitfalls from the coronavirus crisis. Up until recently, there’s been a joint effort from both sides of the fence to find workable solutions. I say ‘up until recently’ because one policy just put a handbrake on all this brotherly love. The Homebuilder schemes. This one piece of policy has begun pulling at the seams of unity. And while there’s been plenty said in criticism of the plan among commentators, I’ve yet to hear from an industry professional willing to put forw ..read more

I went out for dinner last night. This would not normally be a news story, but in the current landscape, I could write an article just about that!!!!! Fresh in the back of my mind was the article that I recently wrote for the Australian Financial Review, about the Federal Government’s announcement on Monday of the housing stimulus package. For those of you that missed it, Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed the government was considering giving householders cash grants for home renovations. I started to think about “What if this actually gets approved?” I then started to think about my own ..read more

A study by MCG Quantity Surveyors has revealed property owners are now securing the most competitive building and renovation environment in almost a decade. MCG Quantity Surveyors were recently featured in the Australian Financial Review on the back of their recent analysis of construction contracts prompted a survey of builders which revealed most are dramatically reducing quotes to secure work. We believe the coronavirus crisis has opened a window of opportunity for property owners to make substantial savings on building costs, but it has the potential to close just as quickly, so you must s ..read more

On the 30th April 2020 the release of the final report of the Public Accountability Committee, titled ‘Regulation of building standards, building quality, and building disputes’ was tabled with the Clerk of the Parliaments of NSW. The report and its recommendations are now with the government for consideration. The government is required to respond to the recommendations within six months. I am proud to have been involved as one of the contributors to this review and that my opinions were included with the final report to the government. This report highlights the systemic issues plaguing the ..read more

I recently took part in the Ripehouse COVID-19 survey along with 146 other industry experts and academics and have now been able to view the report in full. I commend the team for putting the report together, especially during such a fluid and evolving set of circumstances. Real estate is such a pivotal part of the Australian fabric and the report cuts through much of the typical media noise around the very real concerns homeowners and investors have alike for the trajectory of the property market. The research asked several questions of the experts around the likely direction of property pric ..read more

If we compare the number of homes that commenced construction in 2018, compared to 2019, 2018 wins. In fact, the total number of homes that commenced construction in 2019 was 174,246. The total number of new homes that commenced construction in 2019 was 22.6 percent lower than in 2018. So, over the full year, 2019 was not as great as the previous year. However, as an industry, we had a lot to deal with. Within the property sector, there does seem to be headwinds in some way, shape, or form each year. 2019 had it’s fair share though. We had the Financial Services Royal Commission handed down it ..read more

What percentage of property investors had an ‘in-depth audit’ from the ATO in 2019? Last year the ATO announced that they doubled the number of in-depth audits to 4,500, due to an error rate of just under 90% on a sample of investor tax returns.  Speaking at the Tax Institute’s National Convention in Hobart, ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan said the Tax Office’s audits of over 300 rental property claims found errors in almost nine out of 10 returns reviewed. To answer the question, the number of property investors receiving an ‘in-depth audit’ would be about 0.21%.  That number of les ..read more

Here’s what you need to know about the changes to depreciation allowances and the instant asset write-off changes as part of the Governments $17.6 billion coronavirus economic stimulus plan. What has changed? The instant asset write-off – The turnover cap and the asset value threshold have increasedThe Government has committed $700 million to increase the instant asset write-off threshold from $30,000 to $150,000. On top of this, access to the write-off now includes businesses with aggregated annual turnover of less than $500 million. The cap was previously $50 million. As at the date of ..read more