Talking Apartments

It times of trouble and challenge it is truly heartwarming to hear about less fortunate people being supported.

Su Mai grew up in Malaysia before spending time in London, Uganda and Boliva and now Melbourne. Through Su Mai's work in her business Art Tearapy she supports people to take charge of their own mental, physical and emotional well-being.

Su Mai explains how she uses her own personal experience of expressing herself through the medium of art to work with others including disabled people to help them process their own emotions. Creativity in many forms helps the healing and development.

You can find Su Mai - Art Tearapy on

Facebook - Art Tearapy Instagram - @art.tearapy email - [email protected]

As we have discussed several times the apartment market trends differently in each capital city around Australia.

The local market dynamics such as supply and demand play a big role but now we have the variations in Covid-19 restrictions and interstate travel factors at play as well.

To help understand what is happening we welcome back our go to apartment market commentator Leigh Warner - Head of Residential Research at JLL. Leigh and his team of researchers around the country have just released the Apartment Market Snapshot which provides a review of each of Australia's capital cities markets.

You can download them here and listen to Leigh talk you through the key drivers and how he sees the outlook.

Apartment Market Snapshots. Brisbane Sydney Canberra Melbourne Adelaide Perth

I hope this helps you navigate your way through the current issues and please let me know if you have any apartment issues we can help you with.

While Covid-19 has turned up the pressure on all of us, the importance on mental health and well being has always been there and always will be.

This special episode of Talking Apartments goes inside the home to discuss the very important and personal issue of mental health. Rachel Bowes is Head of Crisis Services and Quality at Lifeline Australia and speaks to us about what you can do to manage your mental health, how to support others and the services lifeline offer to people needing someone to talk to.

What struck me most in our discussion was while the Crisis Support volunteers that answer calls to Lifeline are trained and skilled, it is what they don't do that is the real key. They don't judge or provide advise so much as just listen empathically to understand you. It reminds me about the difference everyone of us can make by just being there for other people to talk.

When the property market hits troubled waters the industry turns to valuers for help to understand the property fundamentals and navigate their way through the complexity of issues. Valuers deep property knowledge provides a rigor that grounded and provides structure to factors not normally experienced.

That is certainly the case now given the combined health and economic crises combining in a perfect storm of turmoil in every sector of the property market.

Talking Apartments have therefore turned to Damian Kininmonth, Director - Preston Rowe Paterson, who' s 35 years experience provides lessons of past downturns like the early 90's (our last recession) to help make sense and provide insights to how the current issues will play out.

Damian discusses how Covid is impacting the apartment market (among others) and how the ingrained property risks between landlord and tenant are shifting.

Firstly I hope this finds you and your loved ones well and successfully working your way through all of the challenges Covid-19 is creating for all of us.

Over the last 2 weeks there has been lots of announcements from the government and industry bodies about changes in response to our living, working and financial arrangements. The federal and state governments have been very active is getting financial support measures in place such as the Job Keeper and Job Seeker packages as well as concessions for business to help keep people in work.

One area that has so far eluded government changes is the arrangement for residential tenants and landlords and how they should deal with the challenges being thrown up. Save for a statement that residential tenants can not be evicted for 6 months from issues resulting from Covid-19 they have postponed any decision on this but we understand they hope to announce some initiative soon.

To find out what is going on right now I have gone to the front line and asked Property Management (PM) experts Kelly Thomas and Kirsten Braiuka what they are seeing and hearing right now from tenants and landlords and what is there advice to each.

Kelly is the Director of PM and Kirsten is the team Leader of PM at Wood Property and they both have significant experience in PM but admittedly haven't experienced a global pandemic before. Fortunately they are fasts learners and bring a healthy serve of human compassion mixed with a deep understanding of the legislation to find solutions.

Mr Leigh Warner leads JLL apartment market research in Australia and in addition to his recent paper on the state of the market in Melbourne and Sydney, he has identified 6 themes driving the apartment market in 2020 plus global economic issues like the Coronaviris.

There are both immediate and longer term issues but all will directly impact how apartments perform from both a capital and rental value throughout the year and beyond.

The 6 themes Leigh identified specifically are;

Sydney and Melbourne's resurgence will slow

Non Syd & Melb markets to steadily improve over the medium term.

Under-supply calls to get louder and louder

Off-the-plan sales to stay muted (except WA)

More regulatory competition between the state.

Global uncertainties to remain the wild card.

Read the full paper here and I am very keen to hear your thoughts.

There are 6 themes driving the apartment market in 2020 plus gobal economic issues like the Coronaviris.

Some are shorter term and some longer but all will directly impact how apartments perform from both a capital and rental value throughout the year and beyond.

Mr Leigh Warner - Senior Director Research Australia with JLL has just completed his analysis for the residential market outlook and discovered six themes that will directly influence the apartment market throughout 2020 and beyond.

These are...

1. Sydney and Melbourne's resurgence will slow
2. Non Syd & Melb markets to steadily improve over the medium term.
3. Under-supply calls to get louder and louder
4. Off-the-plan sales to stay muted (except WA)
5. More regulatory competition between the state.
6. Global uncertainties to remain the wild card.

Read the full paper here and let me know your throughts.

One of the greatest challenges for many sellers of real estate is what happens if we don't get our price or worse still... it doesn't sell at all. Adding to that stress is if you have already bought your next home committing yourself financially so you have double the exposure to the market.

What about if you could get a guaranteed sale but were still able to go to market to see if you can do better? Well they do. It is called Brickfloor.

Dean Fraser is the Founder and CEO of Brickfloor which is a really exciting new offer in real estate. Brickfloor agree a guaranteed sale price with you giving you confidence to step out into the market to sell your home with a sale already in your back pocket. Nice eh!

This means you can buy your next home before selling your current home with comfort of your fall back position.

One of the greatest fears for most sellers of real estate is what happens if we don't get our price or worse still... it doesn't sell at all. Adding to that stress is if you have already bought your next home and committed yourself financially so you have double the exposure to the market.

What about if someone offered you a guaranteed sale price but still let you go to the market to see if you can do better? Well they do. It is called Brickfloor.

Dean Fraser is the Founder and CEO of Brickfloor which is one of the most exciting new offerings in real estate. Brickfloor agree a guaranteed sale price with you giving you confidence to step out into the market to sell your home with a sale already in your back pocket. Nice eh? Also you can now buy your next home before selling your current home with comfort of your fall back position.

One of the keys to having a sucessful investment property is getting all the little things right. Some of them like landlord insurance don’t make for riveting dinner party conversation, but are very important to understand and have in place.

Landlord insurace for apartments is a bit different from houses. For a start it is part of a larger building and has many other residents and owners all around it.

What does it cover? How much does it cost? Am I paying for the tenants insurance? What happens if my tenant wrecks the place and takes off?

Roy Garcia is the Executive relationship manager in Victoria for EBM RentCover has a very solid understanding of this topic and cuts to the chase on all these questions and  other things you need to know.

Talking Apartments and its sponsor Wood Property Partners are not endorsing or specifically recommending EBM RentCover and you are encouraged to do your own research to find the insurance cover that is right for you, your circumstances and your property.

RentCover policies are issued by QBE

Before deciding to buy insurance, download the Product Disclosure Statement available on the RentCover.com.au

All advice given in this chat is general advice only