Daily Buzz: Wednesday, 3 April

PropertyBuzz, your daily dose of property news.

Auction activity stays low over easter, New South Wales Tenants and Landlords Demand No-Grounds Evictions, and the Victorian builder accused of pocketing $100k before skipping out on jobs

Welcome to Property Buzz! I’m Grace Ormsby

Today is Wednesday, 03 April.

And we’re back to regular programming post-easter, after an unsurprising lull in auction activity over the weekend.

Corelogic reports a preliminary auction clearance rate of 71.1 per cent across Australia’s capital cities, a slight decrease from the previous week’s 72.3 per cent clearance rate.

– Sydney bucked the trend of softer outcomes, with its auction clearance rate rising to over 77 per cent. Melbourne’s clearance rate was just 63 per cent.  

– Among the smaller capitals, Adelaide boasted the highest preliminary clearance rate at nearly 79 per cent, while Canberra and Brisbane recorded clearance rates in the sixties.  

Auction volumes are expected to increase back to more than 2,000 this weekend.

– The NSW Labor party pledged to introduce a “reasonable grounds” eviction policy during the 2023 election, which is a change still supported by the majority of the state’s residents.
– A poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for the Tenants’ Union of NSW found that 88 per cent of renters and 77 per cent of landlords support the ending of “no grounds” evictions.
– Over 70 per cent of those polled believe the government should act immediately to fulfill its election promise.

And Down in Victoria, the state’s Department of Consumer Affairs is taking legal action against an unregistered builder for failing to complete work after accepting deposits.
– Mark (Najy) Rayes allegedly accepted over $100,000 in payments for services he did not provide, including major domestic building and landscaping contracts.
– He is now facing 28 charges under the Australian Consumer Law and the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995. In Victoria, builders must be registered for work valued over $10,000.
– Consumer Affairs Victoria Director Nicole Rich urged Victorians to check with the Victorian Building Authority to ensure builders are properly licensed and registered, to avoid financial risk.

That’s Property Buzz for today.

See you again tomorrow, 04 April, for your daily dose of Property Buzz.

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