Real Estate

Trends and updates on property markets, including residential and commercial sectors.

Real Estate
US existing home sales rise 2% in July
Sales of existing homes in the United States rose by 2.0% in July as housing affordability began to improve, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The annual sale rate was 4.01 million in July, and rose by 0.8% year-over-year. Existing home sales rose year-over-year across all regions except the West. “The ever-so-slight improvement in housing affordability is inching up home sales,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “Wage growth is now comfortably outpacing home price growth, and buyers have more choices. Condominium sales increased in the South region, where prices had been falling for the past year.” “Near-zero growth in home prices suggests that roughly half the country is experiencing price reductions,” said Yun. “The market's health is supported by a cumulative 49% home price appreciation for a typical American homeowner from pre-COVID July 2019 to July this year.” Existing home sales had decreased by 2.7% in June, with an annual sales rate of 3.93 million. In July, the largest month-over-month sales increase was in the Northeast, at 8.7%. The South saw the largest year-over-year sales increase, at 2.2%. Total housing inventory was 1.55 million units last month, rising by 15.7% year-
Real Estate
Goodman in the black with focus on data centres
Goodman Group returned to a bottom-line profit in the 2025 financial year (FY25) as operating earnings grew and property revaluation losses dropped out of the results. The global integrated property group said statutory profit was A$1.666 billion (US$1.08 billion) in the 12 months ended 30 June 2025, compared with a loss of $98.9 million in FY24, which was marred by non-cash factors including revaluations. Operating profit rose 13% to $2.311 billion on revenue, which increased 16.5% to $2.311 billion. Goodman Group announced a final distribution of 15 cents per stapled security to be paid on 26 August to security holders registered on 30 June, level with a year earlier, bringing the full year payment to an unfranked 30 cents, unchanged from FY24. The group said it was targeting operating earnings per security growth of 9% for FY26, which equated to more than $2.6 billion of operating profit.Source: Goodman Group “Goodman has reported a strong operating result for FY25. This reflects the quality of our assets, the strength of our financial position, and the continued successful execution of our strategy,” Chief Executive Officer Greg Goodman said in an ASX announcement. He said Goodman pursued long-term growth opport
Real Estate
US housing starts jump in July, building permits slide
United States housing starts unexpectedly rose in July, buoyed by a surge in multifamily construction, even as building permits - a key indicator of future demand - fell sharply to their lowest level in more than four years. The Commerce Department reported on Tuesday that housing starts increased 5.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.428 million units, following an upwardly revised 5.9% jump in June to 1.358 million. Economists had projected a 2.4% decline to 1.29 million. Apartment projects once again led growth, with multifamily starts climbing 9.9% to an annual pace of 489,000 units in July after surging 33.6% in June. Single-family homebuilding also firmed, rising 2.8% to a rate of 939,000 after a 3.8% fall the previous month. Despite the pickup in construction, higher mortgage rates and elevated home prices have restrained demand. President Donald Trump’s broad import tariffs have made the Federal Reserve reluctant to lower rates this year, with officials cautious about the inflationary impact. “Single-family production continues to operate at reduced levels due to ongoing housing affordability challenges, including persistently high mortgage rates, the skilled labor shortage and excessive regulatory
Real Estate
US homebuilder sentiment drops in August: NAHB
United States homebuilder sentiment declined in August due to still-high mortgage rates, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. The index slipped from 33 in July to 32 in August, matching its lowest since December 22. “Affordability continues to be the top challenge for the housing market and buyers are waiting for mortgage rates to drop to move forward,” said NAHB Chairman Buddy Hughes. “Builders are also grappling with supply-side headwinds, including ongoing frustrations with regulatory policies connected to developing land and building homes.” The Housing Market Index has remained between 32 and 34 since May, with builder sentiment having been negative for 16 consecutive months. Mortgage rates are now at 6.58%, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly average, the lowest rate since October. All regional Housing Market Index scores fell by one point except for the Midwest, which increased by one point to 42. The West’s score was the lowest, at 24. Price reductions were 5% in August, and have been at this rate since November. The use of sales incentives was at 66%, rising from 62% in the previous month. According to the NAHB’s survey, 37% of builders supporte
Real Estate
GPT back in the black as write-down drops away
GPT Group has returned to profit in the first half of the 2025 financial year (H1 FY25) with a statutory net profit after tax of A$329.1 million (US$214.8 million) compared with a $249.4 million loss in the previous corresponding period (pcp). The property group said funds from operations (FFO) grew 4% to $322.6 million while adjusted FFO eased by just 0.4% to $257.4 million as total investment portfolio & investment management FFO rose 6.4% to $475.7 million in the six months to 30 June 2025. GPT had suffered a statutory loss in H1 FY24 due to write-downs in the value of its properties, mainly its office buildings. Directors declared an unchanged interim distribution of 12 cents per security to be paid on 29 August to security holders who were registered on 30 June. The group said it expected FFO to grow a least 3% to a minimum of 33.2 cents per security in FY25, from which it would pay a distribution of 24.0 cents per security, unchanged from 2024, “barring unforeseen circumstances”. “Our success in the half has been built on the strong operational performance at the asset level, a testament to the quality of our portfolio and ability of our people to drive earnings,” Chief Executive Officer Russell Proutt said in

Real Estate
Mirvac eyes FY26 growth despite 2025 profit drop
Property development group Mirvac returned to expected levels of profits in fiscal 2025 as the group faced significantly lower portfolio devaluations. The investment trust’s A$474 million in operating profit after tax was in line with guidance, but still fell behind last year’s $552 million, even though the company reported after-tax earnings of $68 million for FY25, a sharp turnaround from a loss of $805 million. This turnaround has been attributed to the hits the company took a year earlier from greater investment revaluations, joint venture losses and impairment, disguising a 10% decrease in revenue to $2.74 billion. Mirvac’s investment properties devalued by A$102 million, an improvement from the $1.1 billion in property devaluations in FY24. Despite the drops, Mirvac CEO and managing director Campbell Hanan said the company is focusing on a return to growth in FY26 and beyond. “We saw a strong pickup in activity in our residential business, with unconditional sales up almost 40 per cent, and $1.9 billion of residential pre-sales provide good visibility of future earnings,” he said. “This is further supported by new investment income and funds under management growth from upcoming development completions, alo
Real Estate
Home resale profits grow across Australian capitals
Resale profits in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide are the highest amongst the Australian capital cities according to new data. The Domain Profit & Loss Report shows that this increase was driven by median resale prices in Sydney, which has the highest median price of A$700,500 and Brisbane and Adelaide, with median prices reaching A$480,000 and A$430,000, respectively. Unit resale prices varied more dramatically across the capital cities. In Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, more than 97% of units sold for a profit, with Perth unit profits surging by 55.5% and Brisbane and Adelaide climbing 40.4% and 37.4% respectively. Nationally, median profits sat at A$365,000 and at A$202,000 for units. According to Domain senior economist, Dr Joel Bowman, the opportunity for profit-making resales remains strong for the rest of 2025, partly due to long tenure by home owners. “Most sellers are making solid gains, in large part because they’re holding onto their properties longer – on average, nine years for houses and eight for units – and building significant equity over time,” he said. “With ongoing undersupply and renewed price momentum already emerging, the outlook for profit-making resales remains positive across most region
Real Estate
Home loans rise following quarter of decline
Australian home investment loans increased by 3.5% in the June quarter, while new occupier loans rose by 0.9%, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data. ABS Head of Finance Statistics Mish Tan said the June quarter’s overall rise in home loans followed a fall in the March quarter. “Through the year growth was more subdued at around 0.2 per cent. That said, lending activity is still at relatively high levels,” Tan said. “While there were rate cuts in February and May, we will not see the full impact of these on new home lending activity until later in the year.”Credit: ABSLending to owner occupiers In the June quarter 80,929 new owner occupier loans were made, a 0.9% rise from the previous quarter. The total value of the loans rose 2.4% to A$54.7 billion, with the average loan reaching A$678,011. Tan said while the number of occupier loans was slightly lower than the same time last year, they still grew by 7.4%. “The average loan size has grown by 7.5 % since the June quarter 2024,” Tan said. “This was consistent with higher property prices, noting growth has been stronger in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.” The growth in the number of loans was driven by Queensland, with
Real Estate
ANZ: RBA rate cuts to boost Australia’s housing market
ANZ Research has raised its housing price forecasts for Australian capital cities, now predicting a 5.0% year-on-year increase in 2025 and 5.8% in 2026. Three key factors underpin this outlook: rate cuts, supply constraints, and affordability pressures. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s easing cycle, which began with a rate cut in February, helped reverse a shallow three-month housing downturn. Since then, capital city housing prices have grown at an annualised rate of 7.4% over the past three months. Historically, easing cycles have seen capital city prices rise by an average of 6.1% in the first year (7.4% excluding the post-GFC cycle). ANZ expects the RBA to cut rates by 25 basis points again in November, further supporting house prices. Supply remains tight, with new listings down over 10% year-on-year and total listings around 29% below the 10-year average. This shortage is expected to ease slightly with the upcoming spring selling season but will continue to exert upward pressure on prices, especially in regions with strong population growth. Affordability constraints are expected to limit sharp price increases. Lower-priced properties are seeing stronger gains, with prices in the bottom quartile rising 5.7%