The Federal election was the story of the day at Facey Property’s second annual Southeast Business Breakfast.
On Friday 10 May, Facey Property played host to both clients and customers for a morning of networking, coffee, market discussion and food by The Healthlink Crew.
With the then-upcoming election looming large in the everyone’s minds, keynote speakers Nerida Conisbee, chief economist at REA Group, and Julian Cheng, a tax consulting partner at Pitcher Partners, addressed the impacts that either a Labor or Liberal government’s election would have on the commercial property market.
Ms Conisbee spoke on how world events in the US, Asia and the UK as well as the national election may have variable impacts on property, possibly leading to less pressure on mortgage rates with more pressure on employment. She highlighted that while there is no shortage of money, consumer confidence and the fear of over-paying are key factors limiting price growth. Meanwhile, industrial real estate remains the most popular asset class with land values reaching record highs and leading to rental growth.
Mr Cheng focused more heavily on the proposed tax changes of each of the leading parties with the Coalition aiming for reduced corporate and low to middle income owners’ tax rates. He warned of Labor’s proposed removal of negative gearing and reduction of the discount on capital gains and the potentially negative impact these changes could have property investment.
After the Southeast Business breakfast, and with the result of the election now known, Ms Conisbee added that,” Property market conditions are now looking far more positive than where they were at the start of the year. The Federal election is now over, we have returned to a Coalition Government, access to finance is slowly easing and it looks like we may have an interest rate cut. Despite conditions being slower this year, we are seeing very little signs of distress in property markets and employment growth remains positive. The second half of 2019 is looking far better than the first half.”
Mr Cheng’s post-election comments were less positive on the residential market, stating, “We are still seeing weakness in the residential market. It’s difficult to gauge when a turnaround in prices is expected but at least the uncertainty associated with Labor’s proposed negative gearing and capital gains tax policies has now been removed.”
Facey Property said it looks forward to the commercial market continuing to be led by a strong industrial property market post the Federal election.
