Discover 5 quick methods for generating a surplus of qualified prospects, to put you in the best position possible by watching this on-demand webinar.
Watch as our presenters Trevor Bragg and Ally Jacobs provide tips and tricks on how you can open new avenues, identify the perfect target audience, so that you can boost your leads and generate revenue.
By watching this on-demand webinar, you will learn how to:
In this on-demand webinar, public relations expert Dave Platter explains how to conduct a successful and low-cost public relations campaign. He discusses what public relations is, the five secrets of public relations for real estate agents, and how to make the most of your media coverage.
By watching this on-demand webinar, you'll learn how to:
After seeing some of the strongest price growth so far this year, both Perth and Adelaide have now joined the other major capital cities with declining prices.
The latest data from CoreLogic shows that property values across the country fell 1.8% last month, led by a 2.3% decline in Sydney prices.
Brisbane prices dropped 1.8%, Hobart and Canberra fell 1.7% while Melbourne was 1.2% lower. Darwin was the only capital city market to record price growth last month.
Source: CoreLogic
CoreLogic’s research director, Tim Lawless, said Brisbane’s market had finally started to slow down after almost two years of growth.
“It was only two months ago that the Brisbane housing market peaked after recording a 42.7% boom in values,” Mr Lawless said.
“Over the past two months, the market has reversed sharply with values down -1.8% in August after a - 0.8% drop in July.”
According to CoreLogic, it’s not just the capital cities that are experiencing declining prices. Regional markets are also starting to turn down after what has been a record-setting few years of price growth.
Regional home values were down -1.5% in August compared with a -1.6% fall in values across the combined capitals. Between March 2020 and January 2022 regional dwelling values surged more than 40% compared with a 25.5% rise for the combined capitals.
“The largest falls in regional home values are emanating from the commutable lifestyle hubs where housing values had surged prior to the recent rate hikes,” Mr Lawless said.
“Over the past three months, values are down -8.0% across the Richmond-Tweed, -4.8% across the Southern Highlands-Shoalhaven market and -4.5% across Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.“
The annual trend in housing values is rapidly levelling out. After moving through a peak annual growth rate of 21.3% in November last year, the annual growth rate across the combined capitals has eased back to just 2.2%. Values across Sydney (-2.5%) and Melbourne (-2.1%) are now below the level recorded this time last year.
Despite the recent weakness, housing values across most regions remain well above pre-COVID levels. Home values in all capital cities and rest-of-state regions, bar Melbourne, remain 15% or above the levels recorded in March 2020, implying most home owners have a significant equity buffer before their home is likely to be worth less than what they paid.
“A 15% peak to trough decline would roughly take CoreLogic’s combined capitals index back to March 2021 levels,” Mr Lawless said.
“Additionally, many home owners would have had at least a 10% deposit and paid down a portion of their principal, the risk of widespread negative equity remains low.”
Mr Lawless said he expects the downturn will continue to play out through the remainder of the year, and possibly into 2023.
“It’s hard to see housing prices stabilising until interest rates find a ceiling and consumer sentiment starts to improve,” he said.
“From current levels, interest rates are likely to increase by at least another 75 basis points and there is a good chance advertised stock levels will accumulate through the spring selling season, providing more choice for buyers and adding further downwards pressure on housing values.”
According to Mr Lawless, higher advertised stock levels are mostly the result of less housing demand rather than a rise in the number of new listings being added to the market. Nationally, CoreLogic estimates the number of home sales over the three months to August was -14.8% below the same period a year ago, but larger declines were evident across some cities including Sydney (-35.4%), Canberra (-18.9%) and Melbourne (- 16.5%).
“Between winter and spring we typically see a 22% rise in the number of new capital city listings based on the pre-COVID five-year average,” Mr Lawless said.
The flow of new listings this spring season may not be quite as active with the housing downturn dissuading some prospective vendors, but we are likely to see more listings added to the market than in winter.
“At the same time we are expecting to see less buying activity as higher interest rates and low sentiment continue to weigh on demand. Should this scenario play out, the net result will be an accumulation of advertised supply that could further weigh down values.”
Rental rates increased a further 0.8% in August according to CoreLogic’s national rental index, down from 1.0%.
The slowdown in rental appreciation comes after annual rental growth reached double digits (10.0%) for the first time since at least 2006 when CoreLogic rental statistics commence. The slowdown was most evident across regional Australia, where the annual rate of rental growth eased from 12.5% in November last year to 10.1% over the 12 months ending August. Growth in capital city rental trends look to be easing a little as well, with the combined capitals recording a 10.0% rent rise over the past year, while the monthly trend eases from a recent peak of 1.1% in May to 1.0% in August.
“This trend is reversing as tenants become more willing to rent in higher density situations, especially in Sydney and Melbourne where unit rents are now rising at a much faster pace than house rents,” Mr Lawless said.
“Potentially we are seeing the first signs of smaller rental households that formed earlier in the pandemic reverting back to larger households or utilising higher density rental options to combat worsening rental affordability.”
Source: CoreLogic
The outlook for the housing market remains intertwined with the trajectory of interest rates. Forecasts for the terminal cash rate generally range from the mid-2% to the mid-3% range, although financial markets are pricing in a peak cash rate of just over 4% by August next year. Mr Lawless said the range of forecasts for the cash rate highlights the sheer uncertainty associated with inflation, wages growth and monetary policy.
“As borrowing power is eroded by higher interest rates and rising household expenses due to inflation, it’s reasonable to expect a further decline in consumer confidence and lower housing demand,” Mr Lawless said.
Mr Lawless said that while interest rates are hurting property prices, it is also helping with affordability in many areas.
“The wash up is that lower housing prices and higher incomes should make home ownership more achievable for non-home owners, but headwinds remain in being able to save for a deposit and demonstrate the ability to service a loan amid such a high cost of living,” he said.
“With spring upon us, advertised stock levels are expected to rise. Inventory was already higher than average across some markets at the end of winter (Sydney/Melbourne/Hobart) and, although the flow of new listings may not be as high as previous years, we could see advertised supply accumulating through spring due to a lack of housing demand.
“Amid higher advertised stock levels, vendors will be competing across a larger pool of available supply for fewer buyers. While this is positive news for buyers, sellers will need to be realistic in their pricing expectations and ensure they have a quality marketing campaign in place.”
Although housing values are on track to record a significant drop, the risk of widespread negative equity remains low, considering the substantial rise in housing values between September 2020 and April 2022. Nationally home values rose by 28.6%; so even a 20% decline in housing values would result in housing values remaining above their pre-COVID levels.
The PropTech Group Limited (ASX:PTG) released its full year results for the financial year ended 30 June 2022 ("FY222"). In this recorded webinar, Group CEO, Joe Hanna, and Group Financial Officer, Michael Fiorenza, discuss the results from the year and how they were achieved.
Watch the full webcast here:
The PropTech Group Limited (ASX: PTG) is pleased to announce its full year results for the financial year ended 30 June 2022 (“FY22”), highlighted by a 74% year on year growth in total revenue and other income to $20.2 million, from $11.6 million in FY21,
• Total revenue and other income of $20.2 million, an increase of 74% from $11.6 million in FY21;
• Operational revenue of $19.9 million, an increase of 78% from $11.2 million in FY21;
• Underlying EBITDA of $2.0 million, resulting in an Underlying EBITDA Margin of 10%;
• $2.9 million in positive net operating cashflow;
• Cash receipts of $21.4 million, an increase of 74% from $12.3 million in FY21;
• $14.1 million in cash on hand as at 30 June 2022, up 114% versus prior corresponding period;
• ARR (‘Annualised Recurring Revenue’)1 as at 30 June 2022 of $18.5 million, an increase of 49% over 30 June 2021; and
• Organic growth2 represented 57% as a portion of the total operating revenue growth.
• Increased Average Revenue per Account (“ARPA”)3 to $267 in June 2022, an increase of 27% over June 2021;
• Increase Average Products per Account (“APPA”)4 to 1.93, an increase of 82% from 1.06 over June 2021;
• Increased accounts (real estate agency offices) to 5,106 in Australia/New Zealand as at 30 June 2022, an increase of 24% from 4,115 as at 30 June 2021; and
• Approximately 42 percent of Australia / New Zealand real estate agency offices use at least one PTG product or service.
• Successfully integrated Website Blue and Eagle Software into the PTG family while continuing to grow both businesses. Post-acquisition, Website Blue’s ARR has increased by over 135% and Eagle’s has increased by over 61%;
• Established the Rello joint venture, a real estate payments platform, and integrated into the PTG suite of products; and
• Partnered with digital offer management tool Propps and data provider National Property Group to earn equity in each through the sales of their products to our customers.
Joe Hanna, Group CEO and Managing Director of PropTech Group, said:
“This is our first full financial year of operation since we relisted in November 2020. During the last 12 months we grew quickly, more deeply integrated our businesses and their teams, and leveraged the 42 percent of agents using our products to increase average revenue and products per account.
“Since the close of the 2022 financial year, we have strengthened our management team through several internal promotions. Eagle Software Founder and CEO, Luke Paverd, took a new role as Group Chief Operating Officer, Website Blue Chief Operating Officer, Luke Thomas, moved up to Group Chief Commercial Officer, and Head of Marketing, Audrey Nicoll, became Chief Marketing Officer.
“We believe we are in a strong position to continue to drive strong growth in 2023 by executing a clear four-part strategic plan that combines organic and inorganic initiatives.
1. In our core business of SaaS CRM software for real estate agencies, we expect to capture an increased share of the $120 million total agency spend in Australia and New Zealand;
2. To complement our core CRM business, we will integrate additional related real estate software to capture a larger share of the $610 million Australia and New Zealand real estate agency non-CRM SaaS and related spend;
3. We are in the early stages of exploiting the significant opportunity in ancillary services, such as utility connections and mortgages, provided by our strong relationship with 42 percent of Australian and New Zealand real estate agencies; and
4. We will seek to operate profitably in the UK.
“The future looks bright for PropTech Group. On behalf of the management team and staff of PropTech Group, I would like to thank our Board and shareholders for their ongoing support.”
1 Annualised Recurring Revenue is calculated as at a point in time, multiplied by 12 (i.e. June 2022 run-rate). It provides a 12-month forward-looking view of recurring revenue if all factors such as new, churn, pricing and foreign exchange were to remain the same for that period. This excludes other operating revenue (non-recurring revenue).
2 Organic growth has been calculated as the delta between acquisitive revenue growth contribution and total revenue growth for the group. Acquisitive growth includes any acquisitions that occurred during the financial year 2022 and uses the month prior to acquisition as the basis of revenue contribution to the Group and multiplied for the period. Any additional growth from that date has been included in organic growth.
3 “ARPA” is monthly average revenue per account calculated for last month of period indicated.
4 Products per account has been calculated as the number of products subscribed to by PropTech Group customers, divided by the total number of accounts. The individual products captured include CRM Core, CRM Property Management, CRM Commercial, Rent Find Inspect, Websites and Designly.
Having the right Real Estate CRM is essential to thriving in today's industry. By automating and monitoring various processes and menial tasks, agents will benefit immensely, streamlining contact communications and listing management.
Watch this on-demand webinar, as presenters Trevor Bragg, Head of Sales at Eagle Software and Scott Bentley, Business Relationship Manager at VaultRE, take you through:
Property prices are continuing to soften with both Sydney and Melbourne leading the falls across the country.
According to the latest data from CoreLogic, national property values fell 1.3% in July, with Sydney down 2.2% and Melbourne's values dropping by 1.5%.
The previously rampant Brisbane market also dipped into negative territory for the first time in nearly two years, falling -0.8%, while Canberra (-1.1%) and Hobart (-1.5%) were also down over the month.
Perth's growth in values has seen a sharp reduction, but it still managed to achieve a small 0.2% gain, while Adelaide (+0.4%) and Darwin (+0.5%) also showed positive growth.
Source: CoreLogic
CoreLogic's Research Director, Tim Lawless, said rising interest rates are likely to cause price to continue to soften.
"The rate of growth in housing values was slowing well before interest rates started to rise, however, it's abundantly clear markets have weakened quite sharply since the first rate rise on May 5," Mr Lawless said.
"Although the housing market is only three months into a decline, the national Home Value Index shows that the rate of decline is comparable with the onset of the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2008, and the sharp downswing of the early 1980s."
"In Sydney, where the downturn has been particularly accelerated, we are seeing the sharpest value falls in almost 40 years."
Regional markets have also weakened, with the combined regional index recording the first monthly decline (-0.8%) since August 2020. Dwelling values were down across Regional New South Wales (-1.1%), Regional Victoria (-0.7%), Regional Queensland (-0.7%) and Regional Tasmania (-0.6%), while values continued to trend higher in Regional SA (1.1%) and Regional WA (0.1%).
Overall, regional markets are still outperforming their capital city counterparts, but this month's figures show major regional centres are not immune to falling home values.
"Dwelling values across CoreLogic's combined regionals index were up 41.1% from the pandemic trough to the June peak, compared with a 25.5% rise across the combined capitals index," Mr Lawless said.
"The stronger growth reflects a significant demographic shift towards commutable regional markets, which is likely to have some permanency as more workers take advantage of formalised hybrid employment arrangements."
Most of the regional centres adjacent to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (including Geelong, Ballarat, Illawarra, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, the Southern Highlands & Shoalhaven, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast) recorded a decline in home values over the three months to July, marking the end of nearly two years of significant capital gains.
After seeing a slower rate of growth during the past few years, unit values are now holding up strongly compared to houses, with values down -1.0% compared to -1.5% for houses.
"This trend is most apparent across the three largest capitals as well as Canberra, where housing affordability challenges may be deflecting more demand towards the medium to high density sector," Mr Lawless said.
"Additionally, firmer interest from investors should favour the unit market over houses where demand has historically been more concentrated."
Listings continue to trend higher across much of the country, however, there is a growing divergence between the major capital cities and the smaller locations.
In Sydney and Melbourne, total listings are already 8 to 10% above five-year averages, however Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth are recording advertised supply levels that are more than -30% below the five-year average, suggesting a faster absorption through the growth cycle to-date.
Notably, CoreLogic's estimate of sales activity over the three months to July was -16% lower relative to the same period in 2021.
The national figures are heavily impacted by an estimated -39.8% drop in sales across Sydney and a -26.3% fall in Melbourne sales, relative to the same period a year ago. Stronger markets such as Adelaide and Perth have recorded a rise in activity, with the estimated volume of sales up 21.6% and 7.2% respectively.
"It's important to remember the context of these statistics," Mr Lawless said.
"While national home sales are falling from record highs, they are still 9.2% above the previous five-year average for this time of year.
"There is a good chance the number of properties sold in the second half of this year and into 2023 will continue to trend lower as higher interest rates, a more cautious lending environment and a reduction in household confidence continues to weigh on housing demand."
Source: CoreLogic
Rents continued to trend higher through July, rising 0.9% nationally over the month to be 2.8% higher over the rolling quarter and 9.8% higher over the past 12 months.
The trend in rising rents is evident across each of the capital city and broad rest of state markets, led by Brisbane with a 4.2% rental rise over the three months to July, to a 0.3% rise across regional NT.
Mr Lawless said rental markets are extremely tight, with vacancy rates around 1% or lower across many parts of Australia.
"The number of rental listings available nationally has dropped by a third compared to the five-year average, with no signs of a lift in rental supply," he said.
“On top of already tight rental supply, it’s likely demand will continue to increase as overseas arrival numbers climb."
“Such widespread and rapid rental growth is likely to remain one of the key domestic factors pushing up inflation, along with construction, food, transport and energy costs.”
While some of these can be attributed to global supply chain issues, the rental situation is a domestic one, caused by a combination of tight supply and amplified demand, according to Mr Lawless.
“Logically, we will probably see a reversal of the pandemic trend towards smaller rental households as tenants look to maximise their occupancy and spread rental costs across a larger household.
“To this end, rental values are rising fastest in the more affordable unit sector as tenants seek out cheaper rental options.”
Source: CoreLogic
The outlook for national property markets remains uncertain as the RBA continues to move forward with higher interest rates to combat inflation.
“As borrowing power is eroded by higher interest rates, and rising household expenses due to inflation, it’s reasonable to expect a further loss of momentum in housing demand,” Mr Lawless said.
Mr Lawless said this interest rate hiking cycle may be short and sharp, with financial markets and some economic forecasters now factoring in interest rate cuts through the second half of next year.
“When interest rates start to stabilise, or potentially reduce next year, this could be the cue for housing values to find a floor,” he said.
“Similar to the trajectory of the upswing, this downswing phase could be a short but sharp one, depending on how high and fast interest rate settings go.”
The spring selling season will test the depth of housing demand where historically the flow of new listings has surged through spring and early summer, typically reaching a peak in late November Mr Lawless said.
“The rise in freshly advertised stock may not be met with a commensurate lift in buyer demand, resulting in higher levels of housing inventory.
“By late spring or early summer, we could be seeing advertised stock levels trend higher than normal,” he said.
“Vendors are likely to be more competitive across a smaller pool of active buyers, which would drive clearance rates lower across auction markets, and could result in longer selling times and larger discounting rates for private treaty sales.”
The past few years have not just been a boom time for homeowners but also for real estate agencies.
While prices have soared, the number of transactions also reached record levels. As sales activity slows down, it’s important to make sure your agency remains profitable in 2022.
Here are five ways to make keep your agency profitable.
As an agency, it’s possible to sell property across your entire state. The world of opportunity is large, but that doesn’t mean you should be trying to win every single listing. In reality, a far better approach is identify your strengths and hone in on your point of difference.
One of the most obvious strengths an agency can have is location. Being area experts is one way you can separate yourself from the competition and put a moat around your business during a market slowdown.
Other strengths can be around the selling and marketing techniques that you implement and how they can stand up well in changing marketing conditions.
Another key strength to focus on is your database of potential buyers and how that can help vendors and buyers do deals faster.
In a market downturn, it can be hard to justify a shakeup of your technology due to the costs involved as well as the time taken away from generating leads and making sales - but it can and will save you long term.
Becoming more efficient with what you’re currently doing and improving your processes is important regardless of where you are in the business cycle. But this can be even more important when things slow down.
More often than not, businesses don’t take a close look at their tools and processes, such as their technology stack, until they really need to. This might be the perfect time to do it.
Upgrade where you can and consolidate if there are tools you don’t need. A great way to do this is by performing a tech stack audit, which will help you decide which technology can stay, and what needs to go.
Now is the perfect time to start leaning on your existing network and databases to nurture contacts that have already been captured, even if they aren’t active. In this stage, building trust with your clients is paramount.
A healthy lead nurture campaign can be crucial to converting leads into listings in a cooling market.
While the number of listings are rising, nurturing buyers is important in the current market.
The modern real estate journey starts digitally and every agency should have a website that provides meaningful value to visitors to entice them to stay on the site (and return).
Look to find new ways to expand your social media presence and paid advertising campaigns for all types of properties that you are selling, sold or about to list.
Don’t be afraid to try new platforms and experiment with different forms of content. You can learn more about how to market yourself as a real estate agent by reading this article.
These days real estate agencies are a lot more than just the sales side of the business. Property management is often the lifeblood for most agencies, so it might be prudent to focus more time and invest in more staff to bolster this side of the business.
Similarly, there are other complementary businesses that you might be able to work with or bring in-house that could add additional ravine to your business. Having in-house settlement agents or mortgage brokers might be something to consider as a point of difference, or look to establish more formal referral arrangements with your current partners.
It’s important to be flexible and put your energy to where your business most needs it and where you’ll get the most value for your time and capital.
Building an authentic, impactful personal brand as a real estate agent will help you stand out from your competition - getting you more leads, more deals, and better listings.
Watch our presenters Jordan Reyneke, Business Development Manager at Eagle Software, and Scott Bentley, Business Relationship Manager at PropTech Group as they take you through the essentials for building a brand as a real estate agent, including:
Australia’s two largest capital cities have both seen property prices decline the last month, dragging national house prices lower.
According to the latest data from CoreLogic, national property prices fell -0.6% in June, led lower by falls in Sydney (-1.6%) and Melbourne (-1.1%).
Hobart was the only other capital city to record a fall in home prices with a -0.2% decline, while Brisbane (0.1%), Canberra (0.3%) and Perth (0.4%) all saw minimal growth.
Adelaide continues to be the strongest housing market in the country, with values increasing 1.3% over the month of June.
Source: CoreLogic
Values in regional Australia have also started to slow down after a record run of growth, with prices up just 0.1% for the month.
According to CoreLogic, every capital city and broad rest of state region is now well past their peak rate of growth as trend rates eased across the remaining markets.
CoreLogic Research Director, Tim Lawless, said the housing market’s sharper reduction in growth coincides with the May cash rate hike, surging inflation and low consumer sentiment.
“Housing value growth has been easing since moving through a peak in March last year, when early drivers of the slowdown included rising fixed term mortgage rates, an expiry of fiscal support, a trend towards lower consumer sentiment, affordability challenges and tighter credit conditions,” Mr Lawless said.
“More recently, surging inflation and a rapidly rising cash rate have added further momentum to the downwards trend. Since the initial cash rate hike on May 5, most housing markets around the country have seen a sharper reduction in the rate of growth.
“Considering inflation is likely to remain stubbornly high for some time, and interest rates are expected to rise substantially in response, it’s likely the rate of decline in housing values will continue to gather steam and become more widespread.”
After what’s been a long period of time where sellers have been in control, markets are now starting to come back to favour buyers.
According to CoreLogic, national advertised stock levels remain -7.4% lower than 2021.
In Sydney and Melbourne, total advertised supply is now 7-8% above the levels recorded a year ago and well above the five-year average.
Hobart has seen advertised stock levels jump 48.4% higher relative to last year and inventory is 20.7% higher in Canberra.
In Adelaide, where housing conditions remain quite strong, advertised stock levels are still -16.9% lower than last year and almost -40% below the five-year average. Brisbane (-14.9%) and Perth (-16.2%) are also showing low advertised stock levels relative to this time last year.
Mr Lawless said the rise in advertised supply across some markets is mostly due to a slowdown from buyers.
“Estimated transactions in Sydney throughout the June quarter were -36.7% lower than a year ago while Melbourne is down -18.3%,” he said.
“At the same time, the flow of new listings added to the market is falling as selling conditions becoming more challenging and listings move into a seasonal lull."
“We aren’t seeing any signs of panicked selling as housing conditions cool, in fact the trend is the opposite, with the flow of new listings to the market slowing.”
Source: CoreLogic
Despite a slowdown in transactions, rental markets remain extremely tight around the country, with rents consistently rising.
Nationally, rents increased 0.9% in June, taking the annual growth rate to 9.5%. This is the highest annual growth rate since December 2007 when record levels of overseas migration pushed rental demand higher.
Mr Lawless said rents had been negatively impacted by the long-running downturn in investment activity between 2015 and 2021.
“A reduction in average household size through the pandemic helps to explain such high rental demand during a time of closed international borders,” he said.
According to CoreLogic, Australia’s housing market outlook is becoming increasingly skewed to the downside, with the trajectory of housing values heavily dependent on the path interest rates take.
Mr Lawless said while forecasts vary significantly it’s entirely possible the cash rate could rise beyond the pre-COVID 10-year average of 2.56%.
“Under this scenario, the average variable mortgage rate for new owner occupier loans would be approximately 4.96%, more than double the rates in April, adding roughly $720 per month to a $500,000 mortgage or $1,439 per month to a $1 million loan,” he said.
Households are also likely to be all the more sensitive to rising interest rates due to record levels of debt held by the sector according to Mr Lawless.
“The double whammy of high inflation is another factor likely to weigh on the household sector and ultimately housing demand,” he said.
“Lower savings and higher expenses along with rising interest rates will have an ongoing impact on borrowing capacity for households.
“Reduced borrowing capacity is likely to further diminish housing demand and potentially deflect more home buyers towards the middle to lower end of the pricing spectrum.”
Higher interest rates and rising inflation are also both likely to continue to weigh on consumer sentiment which could further impact homes sales Mr Lawless said.
“Although sales activity remained above average throughout the June quarter, it’s likely the number of home sales will continue to drift lower as housing demand cools and lenders become more cautious in their approach towards borrowers,” he said.
