Daily Buzz: Saturday, 13 January

PropertyBuzz, your daily dose of property news.

Rezonings in Adelaide pave the way for 1000 new homes; The suburbs where it’s now hardest to find a rental, and how a bank manager saved one customer from a property scam that would have cost them thousands.

Welcome to Property Buzz! I’m Juliet Helmke. Today is Saturday, 13 January.

– Rezonings in Adelaide’s north, south, and west will facilitate the construction of at least 1,000 new homes, following state government’s approval of code amendments for three developments.

– The rezonings will unlock 489 allotments at West Lakes, 400 at Hillier Park, and 114 at O’Sullivan Beach, with some expected to host medium-density buildings as well as standalone homes.

– The government has also promised that the rezonings will benefit all levels of the market, from affordable housing to high-end, catering to first home buyers and retirees alike.

– Civil works on all three sites are expected to commence this year, with the rezonings contributing to South Australia’s Better Plan for Housing and its commitment to undertaking the largest land release in the state’s history.

And in NSW, a St Ives resident has been saved from losing $400,000 in a property investment scam involving a hacked solicitor’s email and a fraudulent invoice for a property purchase.

– The scam was detected by a bank’s branch manager who questioned the legitimacy of the large transfer and delayed the payment until the customer could confirm the details with his solicitor.

– The customer received further fraudulent communication urging immediate payment, but became suspicious after a call from an unfamiliar voice. The scam was confirmed when the customer spoke to his solicitor.

– The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission reported that investment scams such as this cost Australians over $224 million in 2022, but the actual figure is likely much higher due to underreporting.

Finally, new research has revealed the locations of the most severe shortages of rental listings in key Australian suburbs, both in cities and regional areas.

– The shortage is particularly acute in Greater Sydney, Regional NSW, Greater Melbourne, and Greater Brisbane, putting significant pressure on renters.

– In New South Wales, the areas with the worst vacancy rates are Oyster Bay in southern Sydney, and the regional suburbs of Iluka, Armidale and Inverell.

The lowest supply suburbs in Victoria are Upwey, Montrose and Geelong. 

In Brisbane, Ipswich and Eatons Hill had extremely low rental availability. Rockhampton and Mackay also suffered from low vacancies in December.

That’s Property Buzz for today. 

See you again on Monday, 15 January, for your daily dose of Property Buzz.”

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