Latest news with #ISPT
AU Financial Review
09-07-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
ISPT offloads Blue Mountains shopping centre for $34.8m
Super fund-backed property fund manager Industry Superannuation Property Trust (ISPT) has sold a shopping centre in the Blue Mountains to Sydney-based asset manager Precept Property Partners for $34.8 million. ISPT, which recently became a subsidiary of global institutional investor and asset manager IFM Investors, purchased Katoomba Village in Katoomba from Coles Group. It initially acquired a 75 per cent stake in the shopping centre in 2013 for around $24 million, before purchasing the remaining 25 per cent in late 2016 for about $8.65 million.
Herald Sun
04-07-2025
- Business
- Herald Sun
When to sell: Vic homeowners lose six figures to crucial mistake
Thousands of Melbourne home sellers are shoving their 'head in the sand' every spring, amid shock new data showing the most profitable time to sell is March. Real estate experts are second-guessing the city's 'archaic' traditions and warning consistently flooding the market at the same time each year is actually helping buyers. Ray White economics team analysis of sales for the past decade show that the highest monthly median prices for houses and units across the city are set during autumn, with price gaps in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and even millions for elite suburbs like Toorak, when compared to their lowest ebb in other months. RELATED: $36m blow to super fund-backed ISPT could hit Aussie retirements National Housing Accord up to 60,000 new homes short in first year Huge blow for Australia's housing crisis It's also revealed that July is one of the best times to buy a home, with median prices this month historically at their most affordable in 108 suburbs. It narrowly outpaces January, when it's the best time to buy in 96 suburbs, however Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said with a number of other suburbs recording their second or third lowest medians in January over the timeline, it was overall the most affordable month to buy a home in. While sellers in both months are likely to be very motivated to lock in a deal, potentially explaining the typically lower prices, Ms Conisbee said spring could also easily work in buyers' favour — especially for buyers who made a move before expected rate cuts drive prices up much further. 'Spring is a time when we see so much stock coming to the market, which is great for buyers – but for sellers it's far more competition,' she said. 'Even so, I would be starting to search right about now. 'That's also because rate cuts are coming, and we know as they do we will get more and more competition from buyers.' For those thinking of selling a home, the economist warned the high numbers of homes for sale in spring could be a reason to reconsider. 'On average, it does seem to be the autumn months that are better for prices,' Ms Conisbee said. 'Maybe it's time to rethink selling season. 'It's definitely well worth considering selling outside of spring because of the competition.' Professional auctioneer Andy Reid said a rethink was urgently needed by Melbourne home sellers. 'Summer and autumn have become the new spring; you launch in summer, in February, and sell in March,' Mr Reid said. 'Everyone has their head in the sand. Melbourne is the most archaic capital city when it comes to selling real estate.' He warned the city's obsession with auctioning homes at 11am on Saturday was also likely hurting sellers. 'You are putting your auction in the middle of the most productive day for any working family, so they have no time to do anything at the start of the day and then no real time to do anything proper in the afternoon.' That causes friction, which can cause some buyers who might have bid to be forced to choose between that and family events, their children's sporting commitments and their social life. Midweek auctions and those held earlier on Saturdays, at 9.30am, reduced that friction and could suit buyers better. 'We are clinging to a mentality that's stuck in the 90s,' he said. 'This is probably all working out in favour of the buyers, but with an asterisk — because it's still not fully convenient for them. 'We're adding friction to sales and that reduces competition, which the seller doesn't want, but a motivated buyer does.' The auctioneer added that for buyers who were willing to move against the crowd, there were reasons that others avoided midwinter and midsummer. 'In January, everyone has spent all their pennies on Santa, and in July everyone is waiting for their tax return to come through and boost their deposit,' Mr Reid said. He added that by maintaining the status quo, home sellers were effectively playing into the hands of home buyers. Cohen Handler buyer's advocate Nicole Jacobs said while buyers shouldn't pass over the right property in the hopes of timing a purchase, there were definitely times of year that gave them the upper hand. 'Now is a really good time to buy, and six months ago was a really good time, too,' Ms Jacobs said. 'But I wouldn't be waiting to January. You will be getting a few interest rate cuts between now and then.' For those considering selling, the buyer's agent said the core reason for a spring timeline was for homes that had a reason for doing so – which many don't today. 'If you do have a botanic garden in your backyard, you'd be crazy not to sell when it is at its peak,' she said. 'You may think you need to wait for spring, but if you don't have much of a garden, why?' She also noted that home sellers should be aware agents would try to time their sale to suit their calendar, and workflow – and not necessarily work in their best interests. 'If the agent doesn't have a lot of other listings going, they will try to persuade the seller to do so now, rather than wait,' she said. While she said she did traditionally buy a lot of homes in spring, when volumes of homes for sales were typically higher, December was also a good time to 'mop up' a lot of the properties that had struggled in the prior months. But not every suburb struggles at the same time, Eltham is among the 12 Melbourne suburbs that defy the odds and score the best results in July — when 108 others are historically at their lowest level. Jellis Craig Eltham director Tom Kurtschenko said he wasn't overly surprised, having worked solidly through winter for the past 20 years – despite agents in many other areas heading off on holiday when the weather cools. 'We like the winter months … though ideally you wouldn't book an auction on the key weeks of school holidays,' Mr Kurtschenko said. 'And, in spring, there can be a lot more choice for buyers.' He added that at the moment he was seeing a lot of people in the area looking to buy a home before selling, noting that the market would support that approach for many as prices rose. Loan Market broker Jacob Decru said there had been a surge in homebuyers seeking home approval in the past quarter, with large numbers now ready to go — and more on the way. While that could be good news for home sellers thinking about spring, Mr Decru said many of those looking to buy were hoping to make a move in July or August to beat any future rate rises that might drive prices up. 'The sentiment among buyers now is that it's a good time to buy,' he said. Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox. MORE: Inside Vic's $2bn housing shake up Toorak: $30m+ health-boosting mansion sold to overseas-based buyer Matthew Dellavedova sells bayside home after Melbourne exit
News.com.au
02-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
$36m blow to super fund-backed ISPT could hit Aussie retirements
Victoria's nation-topping property taxes and Melbourne's struggle to get office workers back to the CBD have taken a $36m bite out of Australians' retirement plans. Property funds management firm ISPT, who invest in properties nationwide on behalf of a swath of super funds that covers about 50 per cent of all Australian workers, have sold a 206 Bourke St property in an $80.1m deal that is one of the biggest CBD transactions this year. But it's far less than the $116.28m they paid for the property in the heart of Chinatown in 2015, according to CoreLogic records. The six-storey complex currently hosts Michelin-starred dumpling restaurant Tim Ho Wan, JB Hi-Fi, Holmesglen Institute, and Victoria Police. The property sold to a Melbourne-based investor with historic links to China, and half of the other groups that contested the sale were backed by Asia-based capital. Independent commercial property specialist Mark Wizel said the sale was outstanding in the current climate, but noted that additional taxes on foreign investors would have wiped millions from what they would have bid for the site. The founder of Mark Wizel Property Group estimated that if not for the additional costs for internationals, the property would have sold for more than $95m — with such bidders likely to have factored in a $1.5m hit to annual revenues for the property to cover those taxes. 'And there is little doubt that the Melbourne CBD has undergone major repricing post Covid, due to the nature of our lockdowns, an ongoing work from home trend and the CBD going through a big transition from the traditional Monday to Friday, nine to five, hub, to a more vibrant destination Thursday to Sunday evenings,' Mr Wizel said. 'But the Melbourne CBD is now opening itself up from a commercial property pricing point of view to being at an extremely smart counter-cyclical time in the market for buyers to secure core assets in core locations at heavily discounted prices.' Historically, the property was home to Melbourne's old Village Cinemas centre, and prior to ISPT, Singaporean real estate group Hiap Hoe paid $105m for it in 2013. JLL's Stuart Taylor, Josh Rutman and MingXuan Li, as well as Cushman and Wakefield agents Oliver Hay, Leon Ma, and Daniel Wolman handled the most recent sale, which was touted as an indication of the depth of international and particularly Asia-based demand for Melbourne properties. About half of the offers made for the property with a 3157sq m landholding and 11,845sq m of floorspace, were backed by Asian capital, with Mr Ma indicating that the buyer while based in Melbourne today, had relocated from China a number of years ago. The agent added that of the $700m in commercial property the team have sold since January, 50 per cent of sales had been linked to Asia-based capital'. 'But land tax will definitely play a critical role in this space, because it has gone up quite significantly — and that's not helping to get investors back,' Mr Ma said. 'So the government does need to do something.' Mr Hay said there were other positive signs for the CBD, including its relative affordability. 'If you look at foot traffic, that is up beyond where the numbers were pre Covid, and assets like this are starting to rebound reasonably strongly,' he said. 'And the population fundamentals are very strong.' The completion of the nearby Town Hall train station is also likely to have an impact on boosting foot traffic further. JLL's Josh Rutman said while not commenting directly on the 206 Bourke St sale, said the CBD had suffered as a result of uncertainty around government taxation and policies in the property sector — but also as a result of poor clarity on bringing government workers back into the office instead of working from home. 'But it has been heartening to see investors starting to bid on well located properties that present a great deal of potential, and on a historical basis, they are buying in at a very attractive time,' Mr Rutman said. Property Council of Australia Victorian executive director Cath Evans said it was good to see Melbourne's CBD attracting investment, a sign of confidence in its long-term future. 'At the same time, further investment can and should be unlocked through innovative planning solutions and much needed tax relief that levels up Melbourne with other major cities in Australia and throughout the Asia-Pacific region,' Ms Evans said. ISPT remains one of Victoria's bigger property owners, with stakes in a further 10 CBD sites, including the Midtown arcade, The Strand arcade and Melbourne's GPO in the vicinity of their recent sale. Their website indicates they own about 44 properties around the state, and have a total of 139 properties and $20.5bn under management. The property at 206 Bourke St was understood to be a part of its $16.6bn Core Fund, which aims to help super industry groups maintain growth in the long term. Money made in the sale is likely to be put back into the fund in a bid to deliver future gains. The government is also facing calls to alter taxation on international investors to help boost housing supply, with groups including the Housing Industry Association noting additional costs were a major deterrent to bringing in more funding to build homes across Melbourne — especially apartments in the CBD.
