Australian Property Journal - ‘Talking Property‘

APJ’s “Talking Property” with Johnny Woodhouse

• IN this latest episode of Australian Property Journal's Talking Property, Nelson Yap talks to Johnny Woodhouse, State Director Victoria at MaxCap Group, on interest rates and the outlook on the development and lending markets.

  • Residential development and unit sales have been subdued, but the reopening of borders has seen a return to apartments, reversing the COVID “escape from the city” trend, what is the new normal?
  • Construction facing rising costs, how does that impact rise and fall contracts and traditional funding structures? How do developers and builders manage the headwinds?
  • Despite the collapse of Probuild, the emergence of Roberts Co shows market fundamentals still stack up.
  • Return to work and flight to quality, lower grade office rents now asking below market rates meaning owners almost need to reposition. But traditional banks don’t want to take on leasing risks, how is the non-bank lending sector stepping in?
  • Build-to-rent, opportunities in the mid-market space.
  • More demand for mixed-use developments and air rights, with large sites in short supply, developers are following in the footsteps of Vicinity Centres and Coles to develop high rises above shopping centres as well as railway stations.
  • Social and affordable housing, and Specialist Disability Accommodation (NDIS) opportunities for developers and financiers.

 

APJ’s “Talking Property” with Michael Nitschke

This latest episode of Australian Property Journal’s Talking Property is brought to you by MaxCap Group.

IN this latest episode of Australian Property Journal's Talking Property, APJ’s Nelson Yap talks to Michael Nitschke, State Director QLD at MaxCap Group, about rising interest rates and the impact on the Queensland lending and development markets, and the outlook.

• An interest rate hike cycle is underway, how does that impact the project financing debt markets and impact project viability?
• What is happening across the major regions in Queensland?
• Which sectors and markets are developers targeting?
• Queensland has enjoyed the fastest population growth in two decades during COVID, boosting the residential property market. Is the apartment market face severe undersupply? Will this spur demand for Build-To-Rent?
• Construction costs, labour shortages, supply chain constraints are some of the major challenges, what can developers do to mitigate these risks?
• And the road to the Olympics.

 

APJ’s “Talking Property” with David Oudshoorn

IN this latest episode of Australian Property Journal's Talking Property, APJ’s Nelson Yap talks to David Oudshoorn, State Director NSW at MaxCap Group, on the NSW lending and development markets and the outlook.

• Bank vs non-bank lending, the non-bank sector is maturing, how has that changed financing senior debt, mezzanine and equity, and shaped the growth of MaxCap and its partner Apollo Global Asset Management?
• The outlook for residential construction in Sydney over the next 12 to 24 months, the strength of the building industry and what sets NSW apart from Victoria and Queensland following the collapses of Probuild (VIC) and Condev (QLD).
• The significant gap emerging between house prices and apartment prices, what needs to happen to attract developers back into the market?
• Population growth has slowed due to COVID, but supply remains constrained due to the NSW planning system.
• Interest rates and inflation, will rising construction costs put a strain on apartments?
• Build-To-Rent theoretically makes sense in Sydney more than anywhere else given lack of affordability, but it doesn’t stack, what is making BTR feasibilities difficult?
• Sydney’s commercial office sector is roaring back, although COVID accelerated workplace changes, office is not dead.
• Industrial shows no signs of slowing, how will the new Sydney airport impact the market over the next five years.
• What type of developments are developers looking at? Residential, office, retail, hotel, industrial? and where are developers considering opportunities?

APJ’s “Talking Property” with Benjamin Martin Henry

• 2021 will likely go down as the year of the mega deal. Over the last 15 years, portfolio transactions have accounted for an average 12% of overall volume annually; in 2021, such deals accounted for 25%, a new record.
• Industrial has gone from strength to strength but the retail sector surprised many by outperforming the office sector in Q4'21 for the first time since 2015, and offices had the quietest fourth quarter since 2013 but investors are already coming back.
• Another surprise is the hotel sector. With international and national borders reopening, the market is waking up from its covid imposed slumber.
• Which cities, sectors and deal tiers were most active?
• Can pubs still be considered “alternative” investments?
• How does Australia compare globally? Because we are performing exceedingly well compared to some of our global counterparts.

APJ’s “Talking Property” with Bill McWilliams

IN this latest episode of Australian Property Journal's Talking Property, APJ’s Nelson Yap talks to Bill McWilliams, Chief Investment Officer of MaxCap, about commercial real estate (CRE) finance and non-bank lending.

• Bill discusses what has happened over the past 18 months in the CRE finance market.
• What trends will emerge over the 12 months for the CRE lending markets, which sectors are developers attracted to?
• Will financing for build-to-rent projects take off this year?
• Which sectors, geographical, CRE lifecycle and lending opportunities.
• What are the risks for the year ahead? The recent collapse of Probuild has highlighted the risks of construction price escalations, what are developers and lenders looking out for? How are they assessing the feasibility and stress testing projects?
• Increasing number of developers are paying attention to Social and Community Housing, a sector which is attracting billions of dollars in investments from various state governments. Is it easier to fund these projects from a lenders point of view?

APJ’s “Talking Property” with Benjamin Martin Henry

Our guest Benjamin Martin Henry, Real Capital Analytics Head of Analytics – Pacific, returns to APJ’s Talking Property, and chats to Nelson Yap about the Australian Capital Markets.

• It isn’t just consumers who are revenge spending after lockdowns, investors have also flocked to the retail sector.
• Industrial and logistics remain the most sought after and transactions have outstripped the office sector in the first three quarters, could it be on track to beat offices in 2021?
• But the office sector is also roaring back, as investors who had been in hibernation, re-emerge as the lockdowns end.
• 2021 is the rise of the alternatives. Priced out of industrial by big players, private investors in the sub $30 million tier are turning to alternatives - pubs, medical offices, service stations, childcare, self-storage, just to name a few. The average price for alternatives was $9.1 million.
• Are alternatives the new “industrial”?
• There has been a big increase in deals in the $10-100 million and $100-$250 million tiers. This is largely due to retail, whereas last year there were basically none. What’s behind this trend?
• At the same time, deals in the $1-6 million tier which have been declining over the past five years, has seen a jump over 30% in 2021, what is driving this?
• Finally looking ahead in 2022 – post the lockdowns, international borders reopening in the new Covid-normal world, what can we expect for the Australian capital markets?

APJ’s “Talking Property” with Katherine Liu

Katherine Liu, Managing Director, BEKL

Katherine is one of the few women CEOs, leading a property development company.

Grew up in a property family, surrounded by builders and developers.

Liu talks about what makes a good property development, trends in the industry, what consumers want.

She also talks about the challenges faced by property developers, particularly over the past two years and the trends in a post-COVID world.

APJ’s “Talking Property” with Tony Crabb

APJ’s “Talking Property” with Tony Crabb

 

In this latest episode of Australian Property Journal's Talking Property, APJ’s Nelson Yap talks to Tony Crabb, about the retail property market and the road to recovery.

Australians have accumulated 175 million days in leave and over $200 billion in savings, and they are just waiting for the permission to spend it.

• What will the recovery look like?
• What are the challenges?
• What sort of recovery will we see?
• What will help the recovery?
• The CBD’s vs the suburbs. Online vs physical, tourism retail – domestic/international.

APJ’s “Talking Property” with Tony Crabb

APJ’s “Talking Property” with Tony Crabb

In this latest episode of Australian Property Journal's Talking Property, APJ’s Nelson Yap talks to Tony Crabb, National Director of Research at Cushman & Wakefield, about the industrial property market.

• Industrial is the darling of the market and underlying demand will continue to increase, underpinned by e-commerce, food storage, manufacturing, last mile logistics, and now data centres.
• Last mile logistics is helping retailers keep costs down. Myer and David Jones freed up 100,000 sqm of warehouse space within shopping centres, saving them tens of million of dollars in rent every year.
• What is the next stage of evolution for industrial?
• Onshoring or reshoring trend is also emerging as companies look to minimise global supply chain disruptions.
• Will 3D printing see a revival of Australian manufacturing? A smarter, green and lean industry “prints” products locally on-demand rather than in the hope that somebody will buy the goods, eliminating materials wastage due to overproduction, reducing storage and transport costs, all of which will lower the cost of goods for consumers.
• Industrial land is running out in the major cities, and it is becoming a particular concern in Sydney, will south east Queensland become a hub to service Sydney’s industrial needs?

APJ’s “Talking Property” with Zelman Ainsworth

In this latest episode of Australian Property Journal's Talking Property, APJ’s Nelson Yap talks to Zelman Ainsworth, Director of Ainsworth Property, about the retail leasing markets during these COVID times.

• What are landlords, businesses and tenants saying?
• What are some of the biggest changes landlords are wanting going into 2022? And tenants?
• Where are retail strips and shopping centres headed into the next five years?