Why are property investors quitting a market where rents are rising 25 per cent?

One answer: Government. As one intance, Queensland landlords are not allowed to ban pets from their property. But pet smell is a huge issue at the time of re-letting. It may make a landlord spend thousands on carpet replacement. That eats up most of the income from a pet-loving tenant. It's too big a risk. So rather than wear such losses many landlords will sell up

In every city across Australia the rent crisis is hitting hard. Anyone who needs to rent finds out very quickly there is very little on offer and prices are rising rapidly.

For property owners, however, it’s a red-hot market. The single biggest risk for private investors in property investment – the risk of missing rental income – has effectively been removed.

But private investors are quitting this lucrative market in droves; As Hayden Groves, the president of the Real Estate Institute of Australia puts it, “investors have been running for the hills”.

Why are investors giving up when capital city asking rents are rising by 25 per cent a year?

The reality is that vacancy rates – the key measure in judging the rental market – sit near 1.8 per cent in Sydney and Melbourne and less than 1 per cent in some other cities. To take the city of Perth as an example there is a vacancy rate of 0.5 per cent.

If you ask property owner groups such as the REIA or the Australian Landlords Association why are private owners quitting? They generally point to the same thing – excess regulation.

This is a state by state issue but it is clear that tenant rights are reaching something of a high water mark in Victoria. While in Queensland a particularly controversial effort to pull in money from property owners beyond the state if they also had property in Queensland shows how far state bureaucracies will go to tax property investors. (The idea has since been canned by Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick.)

It is also clear that some investors who held property through the pandemic – and its associated emergency rulings such as the moratorium on evictions – were sufficiently troubled by changing regulations that when the chance came to take profits in 2022, they moved fast.

However, most investors can look though such issues if the investing terms are attractive. Moreover, it’s not all bad news from state administrations. In NSW the Perrottet government has introduced an alternative to stamp duty where land tax is paid progressively – the measure is currently aimed at first home buyers.

Will it work? You bet it will.

The early statistics show that any way a buyer can avoid stamp duty, they will do so. It is estimated that more than half of the projected annual level of applications to the NSW scheme were received in its first week of operation.

At best the Perrottet government’s move may spell the beginning of the end for a notoriously regressive property tax.

It could also be a key factor in an eventual turnaround in property prices in NSW. Some analysts expect this could happen by the end of this year, largely on the basis that the state had recorded the sharpest falls to date.

Socially, the existence of a super low rental vacancy rate is bad news – it triggers homelessness at the bottom end of the market and considerable stress across the entire housing system.

Some might not like the fact that private property owners control the market but they do — and that is not going to change anytime soon. Indeed encouraging investors to return to the market should be welcomed. Though searching for encouragement in this area will most likely be futile.

Instead the investors who move earlier may well be the ones that get the biggest rewards and even if they have to wait longer for a turnaround, rental income will certainly not be a problem.

In this market you can literally rent anything.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/business/why-are-property-investors-quitting-a-market-where-rents-are-rising-25-per-cent/news-story/ee286c7fae4c533f6e6acec534e8b467

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Australian Manuka honey producers score legal win over New Zealand producers in Europe, UK

It is said that they sell 10 times as much Manuka honey as they gather these days so I am glad that I have some of it from way back. I have used it with apparently positive results

Australian manuka honey producers have scored a win over their trans-Tasman rivals after New Zealand producers backed out of legal action aimed at preventing them from using the descriptive word.

A group of New Zealand manuka honey producers have been attempting to block their Australian counterparts from using the word "manuka" in export markets around the world since 2016.

Manuka honey from both countries is sold for hundreds of dollars a kilogram, and is included in a range of medicinal products because of its anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Australian manuka honey is used in lozenges, throat sprays, and eczema creams, as well as cosmetic products.

The New Zealand Manuka Honey Appellation Society recently backed out of an appeal before the United Kingdom's High Court, as well as similar legal action in the European Union, meaning Australian producers were free to call their product "manuka honey" in those valuable markets.

The UK Intellectual Property Office had previously ruled in favour of Australia.

Both parties are still waiting to hear the outcome of a hearing held in 2021 before the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand.

The NZ Manuka Honey Appellation Society argues manuka is a Māori word, and has attempted to trademark it in their home country, as well as the USA, UK, EU, and China.

It was seeking exclusive use of the word via a trademark, a move that's been rejected in the USA previously.

The plant that produces the pollen used by bees to make manuka honey, Leptospermum scoparium, grows natively on both sides of the Tasman.

The Australian Manuka Honey Association, which has appointed two Māori board members, has demonstrated the word has been used in Australia to describe the plant and the honey produced from its pollen since the 1930s.

It has also abstained from using a macron over the "a" in its branding.

Association president Paul Callander said the legal victory would have significant benefits in the sizeable UK and EU markets.

"This victory provides our industry with a noble precedent against some in New Zealand who are attempting to monopolise the term manuka honey for their own commercial gain," Mr Callandar said in a statement.

"Australian growers have every right to use the word to describe their produce as upheld by the UK Courts."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2023-01-23/manuka-honey-legal-win-over-new-zealand-in-europe-uk/101876528

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Price of devon a stark illustration of cost-of-living pressures on families

I ate a lot of it as a kid. We called it "Windsor" sausage. It was OK with mustard pickles

It has many alter egos — devon, fritz, polony — but there’s always been one ­constant with the humble manufactured meat roll: it was cheap as chips.

Now, in an unsavoury — and perhaps the most telling — example of cost-of-living pressures gone mad, the price of the classic school lunch box staple has hit nearly $10 per kilo, just as parents are stocking up on supplies for the new school year.

At Woolworths this week, sliced Hans devon is being advertised at $9.85/kg, and it is $9.60/kg at Coles.

It’s a far cry from the luncheon meat’s heyday. In the ’70s and ’80s it was snapped up by budget-conscious shoppers for just $99c a kilo, and often slapped on to a white bread sanger with a dash of tomato sauce for the kids’ school lunch.

The current sky-high price of the perennial product sparked outrage on the “Meanwhile in Australia” Facebook page this week, as families felt the pinch of price rises across the board.

Krisi, from Lake Macquarie, wrote: “My kids love devon. I remember buying $2 worth and it being a huge pile.”

For Davina, it was the perfect cheap eat in a time of need: “Back in the early ’90s my husband and I lived on that for three days as we were saving for our first home and had no money until payday.”

Queenslander Sandra remembered buying devon and tomato sauce rolls at tuckshop for threepence, while fellow Queenslander Courtney labelled it “the bogan sandwich”.

“I used to get sent to the corner store for 20 cents worth of devon. Enough slices for the whole family (four kids) sandwiches for several days,” said Melbourne resident Susan.

Not everyone’s a fan, with many on the site likening it to dog food, even “floor scrapings”, but one Sydney manufacturer says it doesn’t always deserve the bad rap.

Pendle Hill Ham and Bacon business manager Sunny Singh said high-quality devon was manufactured on site, and sold in slices at the associated meat market.

“The price of products like devon are increasing and that’s because most other costs are rising — labour costs, the price of ingredients, even the clips we hang products with are more expensive,” he said.

“However, as manufacturers our products are a lot cheaper than elsewhere — at the moment we’re selling devon for $6.99 a kilo.

“Most people want sliced devon, not the whole roll, but it’s not as popular as it once was.”

The Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed last week that Australia’s inflation rate was 7.3 per cent, and that food and non-alcoholic beverages increased 9.4 per cent in the 12 months from November 2021.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/nsw/price-of-devon-a-stark-illustration-of-costofliving-pressures-on-families/news-story/51205966b217930999a87409af74947c

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Calls for Victoria to join other states to outlaw duck hunting

Hunting is one of humanity's oldest food gathering acts. It is basically human. So it is popular

Victoria’s government has been hit with fresh calls to completely outlaw duck shooting in a move that would bring it in line with other states.

The practice is illegal in Queensland, NSW and in Western Australia, where recreational duck shooting was banned more than 30 years ago.

Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell argued Victoria’s current rules leaves the state leaps and bounds behind its counterparts.

“I think duck shooting is one of Victoria’s greatest shames,” she told NCA NewsWire.

“We like to call ourselves the progressive state in Victoria, but we are left behind Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales in terms of getting the start here.”

The duck shooting season in 2022 allowed a daily bag limit of four birds and went for 90 days from last March.

Ms Purcell said the practice can often be forgotten by metropolitan Victorians as it largely takes place in remote areas.

“I think it’s one of the most obvious and blatant forms of animal cruelty that legally exists in the state,” she said.

“I think in a way that because it happens in regional and remote parts of Victoria ... every person doesn’t get to see what they do to these birds.”

There is believed to be a divide in opinion among senior government MPs about what to do about the practice with Premier Daniel Andrews hesitant to make any changes.

“As an issue, there is a genuine split within the caucus and there are senior ministers who want it stopped. There is momentum there for a change,” one insider told Herald Sun.

“However, the premier has been reluctant to go ahead with a ban in the past and it is likely to come down to his call.”

A state government spokeswoman said decisions on the topic were get to be made and all discussions remained ongoing.

“A decision will be made on this year’s duck season after thorough consideration,” she said.

An RSPCA survey from 2022 revealed nine in of ten Victorians said they would never shoot a duck.

There were a total of 23,000 hunters licensed in Victoria last year, according to the Game Management Authority.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/technology/science/calls-for-victoria-to-join-other-states-to-outlaw-duck-hunting/news-story/a38b5a8e923d702dce5866498ea809b0

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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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