- MP previously called new gas connections ‘a climate crime’
- She just sold her house which has extensive gas fittings
A Teal MP who wanted gas connections in new homes to be banned because they are ‘a climate crime‘ has just sold a house loaded with new gas features for more than $6million.
In a speech on June 21, North Sydney MP Kylea Tink said Australia needs to ‘break not only our society’s reliance on gas but also our government’s addiction to gas’.
She called on the federal government to force NSW to follow Victoria in banning gas connections in new households – which NSW Premier Chris Minns ruled out.
But the independent MP has just sold her six-bedroom home in Northbridge for $6.35million – around double the price she paid ten years ago.
Its features include a recently renovated kitchen, complete with a gas stove. There is also a gas fireplace, and the pool is gas-heated too.
In a tweeted message to Mr Minns a month ago, Ms Tink wrote that his ‘decision to rule out stopping gas connections in new builds is a climate crime.
‘Real leadership would have been supporting for households to get off gas and onto cheaper, cleaner renewables.’
Before the last federal budget, Ms Tink called for households to be paid to electrify their homes and vehicles.
She said households faced ‘significant decisions and upfront financial outlays’ in ‘replacing gas appliances with efficient electric ones’.
Two months ago, Ms Tink told parliament that when it comes to gas, ‘It is time we moved beyond platitudes and million-dollar headlines to really be the change we need to see.’
She also told her fellow MPs in the same speech that ‘when I was elected a year ago one of my pledges was to get North Sydney to net zero by 2035.
‘And I’m incredibly grateful to the people I get to work with — both the experts and my community members who are working to make this happen.
‘They do it by nudging the 80,000 homeowners, landlords, families and businesses in our electorate to make a set of decisions over the next 12 years to get them to choose home appliances that bring them closer to an electrified future.’
Contacted by Daily Mail Australia, Ms Tink said ‘I stand by my calls for no new gas projects, and no new domestic gas connections.
‘I also stand by my call for Australia’s leaders to support households getting off gas.’
She added that she ‘bought that house with a gas pool heater and during the decade I owned it, it was never used.
‘The gas appliances were installed at a time when gas was the greener option – that is no longer the case and households should be incentivised to replace gas with renewables.’
- During the height of the pandemic, Florida became one of the most sought after destinations for home seekers across America
- But the housing boom now appears to be waning, with home values in the Sunshine State flatlining for the first time since 2011
- One Tampa real estate agent warned that the decline could be being fueled by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ public war on woke
The housing boom that sent Florida’s real estate market into a frenzy has finally started to wane, following a pandemic-era spike that saw millions of Americans flock to the Sunshine State.
The last three years saw single-family home prices in Florida climb by almost 50 percent, as blue-state residents raced to land a property down south.
But now, for the first time since 2011, home values have flattened, and fewer home seekers are opting for Florida due to a noticeable decline in affordability.
‘The fact that Florida is getting more expensive is making it less attractive to homebuyers,’ said Daryl Fairweather, Redfin Corp chief economist, to Bloomberg.
One Tampa real estate agent said while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ anti-Covid lockdown policies were once attractive, his recently-launched run for the White House and public push against woke politics could be driving clients away.
One of the reasons for Florida’s flatlining housing market is soaring mortgage rates and insurance premiums, which has eroded the state’s attractive levels of affordability.
For years, would-be residents have been lured south by Florida’s lack of a state income tax.
This was coupled by a desire to escape what many saw as over-the-top, woke pandemic rules in many states including mask mandates and business restrictions.
But while locals accepted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ push to insert the state into national culture wars debates when prices were down, the 2024 hopeful’s platform has been noted as a reason behind the recent decline.
Vanessa Charles, a real estate agent in Tampa, told Bloomberg she saw a spike in business during the pandemic, but hostile politics are seeing this dwindle.
‘People are looking at Florida differently now,’ she said. ‘A lot of families who moved here called and said “We have to leave”‘.
So far in 2023, 56 percent more people migrated to Florida than moved out, according to data from United Van Lines. In comparison, this figure stood at 62 percent at the height of the pandemic in 2021.
The covid-fueled housing boom also hit the single-family home value market, which saw a significant spike in recent years due to the significant influx of new residents.
According to data from Florida Realtors, median home prices skyrocketed by 27.7 percent at their peak in May 2021 – but dropped to just 2.1 percent by March 2023.
Insurance premiums have also ballooned in the Sunshine State, as a series of devastating natural disasters alongside high fraud rates have seen home insurance bills hit $6,000 on average – almost four times the US average.
Data from the Insurance Information Institute found the average premium in the state has risen 100 percent over the past three years.
In Miami, which became the most desired destination for New Yorkers as woke pandemic policies drove them from the Big Apple, the decline in affordability has been especially evident.
The influx of new residents has seen the hotspot become the most unaffordable city in the US, according to real estate tracker RealtyHop.
While out of reach for most, some of the most lavish homes on Miami’s housing market show why it has earned a reputation for opulence.
According to Zillow, one of the most expensive mansions on the market is available for a stunning $85 million. Situated in the exclusive Indian Creek neighborhood, the palatial estate has been up for sale for less than a month.
Complete with 14 bathrooms and seven bedrooms, the terraced property is fitted with lavish marble finishes, a home cinema, and several pools.
And while many home seekers are set to be turned away from Florida’s housing crisis, another $76 million mansion is still on the market for those feeling flush.
Situated on the prestigious North Bay Road by Miami Beach, the estate has everything a megarich homeowner could ask for.
The seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom estate boasts panoramic views of the coastline, with west-facing vistas offering year-round sunsets.
In nearby Ocean Blvd, a $77 million lakefront estate is also up for sale – and it even comes with a private yacht dock.
The stunning property offers six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and a gourmet private chef’s kitchen with island views.
With inflation bleeding our wallets dry, mortgage rates show no sign of diverting from their upward trajectory and the economy continues to teeter on the edge of recession. It’s enough to make all of us – old and young – nervous about the future.
Sadly, yesterday’s news on house prices poured yet more gloom on the pile labelled ‘financial misery’.
The one thing that has kept the spirits up of this country’s army of homeowners since the dark days of the 2008 financial crisis looks like it could be coming to an abrupt end.
Yes, a golden age of house price growth, turning our homes into the foundation stone of our wealth, may be drawing to a close.
Yesterday’s house price data from Nationwide Building Society was as depressing as it was rather shocking.
The average price of houses sold last month, it said, was 3.4 per cent lower than a year ago.
Not a large percentage in its own right, but when taken in the context of what has gone before, it’s massive. It represents the sharpest drop in UK house prices for nearly 14 years.
Potentially, it’s a confidence breaker – economically and at a household level – and increases the risk of the recession that the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, seems happy for us to suffer if it helps quell inflation.
Although some property experts, wearing vested interest hats, were keen to play down the significance of Nationwide’s figures, others were brutally upfront (and honest).
Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, talked of strengthening headwinds facing the housing market while David Hollingworth at L&C Mortgages said ‘choppy waters lay ahead’.
Think-tank Capital Economics said prices could fall another 8 per cent (earlier in the year, it had talked about a 20 per cent market correction).
Yet others mentioned the word that all homeowners fear – ‘crash’. Nicolas Mendes of mortgage broker John Charcol said the ‘vote is still out on whether we see a housing crash’. Brokers aren’t usually so candid.
For homeowners who are mortgage-free or have vast amounts of equity tied up in their property, a correction in home prices will not be too damaging if it is short and shallow.
But for those with mortgage deals to renew or with little equity in their home, it presents a big concern.
For the former, it means they will pay a higher rate for a new deal on the basis they have less equity in their home.
For the latter, it raises the spectre of negative equity with a loan they can’t refresh and a home they can’t sell.
Figures out today showing that property sales in the first quarter of this year were 58 per cent down on last year confirm that the omens for the housing market are bleak.
Add in even higher mortgage rates to come, as the Bank of England tries to win its battle with inflation, and the spectre of a sharp house price correction looks more likely than not. I hope I’m wrong.
By Peter Vincent For Daily Mail Australia
16:53 30 May 2023, updated 17:00 30 May 2023
- Almost 900,000 fixed rate home loans to expire before 2024
- Many of those homeowners face much higher repayments
- Many will be forced to sell, pushing prices down
Homeowners weighing up selling should act fast and list their properties to avoid prices ‘falling off a cliff’, a leading property expert has warned.
The expiry of fixed interest rate terms on an estimated 880,000 Australian home loans this year means many borrowers will be forced to sell because they cannot afford their new, higher repayments, Anna Porter told Daily Mail Australia.
Repayments based on loan terms of around two per cent, dating back several years, will be recalculated by lenders at on variable rates of six or even seven per cent.
That would add up to $1,400 a month on a modest $500,000 home loan.
‘When fixed rate loans come off between now and end of the year that will push a lot to households to sell,’ said Ms Porter, a valuer for 15 years who now runs property investment advice service Suburbanite.
‘If a lot of people hit this affordability crunch and put their homes on the market in quick succession it will oversupply the market.
‘They might be people who have to sell quickly and need to take a lower price. Cases like that will put downward pressure on pricing and home values.’
Ms Porter advises now is the time to sell, not in six to 12 months, because the number of listings is so low that sellers are more likely to get close to their asking price.
New listings in most markets are down compared to the same time a year ago, including Melbourne (down 20 per cent), Brisbane (down 32.2 per cent) and Sydney (down 18.4 per cent).
‘National listings are still down 22 per cent on the same time last year and it is this lack of competition that is currently boosting prices,’ Porter says.
‘There is less competition across the board in the market making it the perfect storm for sellers to capitalise and get a better price.’
While house prices have cooled, they are still higher than at the start of the pandemic for this reason.
Corelogic reported national house prices were 14.8 per cent higher in March 2023 than they were in March 2020.
The median house price in Kogarah, in Sydney’s south-west, was $1,163,750 in April 2020 and is now $1,570,000.
In Melbourne’s inner eastern suburb of Prahan, the median price is now $1,713,500, compared to $1,575,000 in April 2020.
Higher interest rates on home loans have been one of the biggest costs households have tried to absorb as the cost of living spiralled in the past year.
The Reserve Bank of Australia steadily raised the cash rate for 11 of the past 12 months.
The rate was 0.1 per cent in April 2022, but by the start of May it was 3.85 per cent.
With every monthly increase, lenders passed the rate rises onto customers.
- Selling a home won in a prize draw may create a tax liability if it is sold at a profit
- The tax due can run into tens of thousands of pounds if the profit is significant
- We calculate the tax on a £2.5million house prize that is being sold for a profit
Winning a multi-million house in a competition may seem like a dream come true for many people.
But it can also create a tax burden if you go on to cash in and sell the property rather than move into it as your main home.
We spoke to leading accountant Nimesh Shah, of Blick Rothenberg, about the tens of thousands of pounds that could be due in capital gains tax in such circumstances.
It follows a couple putting their ‘dream’ Kent property on the market for £2.65million after winning it in a prize draw only last year.
The Midlands couple won the £2.5million luxury home via a draw on the website Omaze in the autumn last year.
They described the win as ‘beyond their wildest dreams’ and went on to say that it had changed their lives forever.
However, what they may not have known when they made the decision to sell the property is there was a potential capital gains tax liability.
Capital gains tax is a tax on the profit when you sell an asset – such as property – that has increased in value.
Mr Shah explained: ‘When someone acquires the property through a raffle in this way, their capital gains tax base cost is considered to be the market value of the property at the time they acquired it.
‘Assuming the market value of the property when it was won is £2.5million – as advertised in the raffle -, that becomes the prize winner’s capital gains base cost.
‘If they subsequently sell the property for £2.65million, they will make a capital gain of £150,000. This is calculated by taking £2.65million and subtracting their capital gains base cost of £2.5million.’
Mr Shah went on to calculate the tax due on this capital gain, saying the capital gains annual exemption would need to be deducted, which is currently £12,300. This reduces to £6,000 from April 6, 2023 and £3,000 from April 6, 2024.
He added: ‘It would be possible for the seller to deduct any associated costs of sale, such as agent’s fees or legal costs to calculate the taxable gain.
‘If the seller is a higher rate tax payer – income over £50,270 – , the capital gain is taxed at a flat rate of 28 per cent.
‘Based on the capital gain of £150,000, the taxable gain is £144,000 – ignoring any associated costs of sale and after deducting the capital gains annual exemption of £6,000, assuming the sale takes place after April 5, 2023.’
It means that the associated capital gains tax is £40,320 – which is 28 per cent of £144,000.
The seller would need to report to HMRC and pay the associated capital gains tax within 60 days of the sale of the property.
Downtown office vacancy rates across Canada jumped to 17.7 per cent at the end of last year, from 10.2 per cent before the pandemic, according to Capital Economics.Graeme Roy/The Canadian Press
The commercial real estate market, especially in the office building sector, is about to enter a perfect storm of declining occupancy rates, lower rents, high interest rates and less access to credit. This in turn will challenge banks and other financial firms that lend to the industry as well as pension funds that have significant exposure.
There is a narrative that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates until they “break something.” Well, with their rate hikes, the Fed has put at risk not just breaking the commercial real estate industry – but shattering it.
Over the next five years, more than US$2.5-trillion in commercial real estate debt will mature, according to The Kobeissi Letter, which tracks and comments on global capital markets. Some US$1-trillion of that debt is believed to be in need of rolling over in the next two years.
Much of this debt was financed when interest rates were almost zero. Now, it needs to be refinanced at much higher rates and in a market with less liquidity.
If rising interest rates and a huge impending rollover of debt were not foreboding enough, the industry is facing radical societal changes of a magnitude not seen since the development of the modern skyscraper.
The Toronto market provides an illustration.
Skyscraper after skyscraper rose over the past several decades, changing the city’s skyline. There had always been a willingness for banks, corporations, law and consulting firms to pay a hefty premium to be located in the financial district.
These days, the advent of new technology has lessened the need for a highly concentrated financial district. In the meantime, workers have enjoyed sticking to their home offices.
These are global trends, and the declining rates of commercial real estate occupancy can be seen across Canada. Downtown office vacancy rates across the country jumped to 17.7 per cent at the end of last year, from 10.2 per cent before the pandemic, according to Capital Economics.
Commercial real estate is a deceptively simple business. There are a few parameters that make the difference between success and failure.
First, occupancy levels. The higher percentage of space one can rent the higher the revenue. Second, how much rent being charged. This is subject to supply and demand.
Next, since most commercial real estate is financed largely by debt, the level of interest rates is critically important, too. Like financial institutions, commercial real estate companies must be conscious of the maturity profiles or their assets and liabilities. The second to last thing a commercial real estate company wants is to be caught in long-term leases while their debt has a short average maturity while rates skyrocket. The last thing they want is to have tenants leave and rents fall while rates soar.
Unfortunately, nearly everything seems to be going wrong right now.
All this suggests the industry is entering a cyclical bear market. Vacancy rates are rising and will continue to rise as the economy weakens, putting downward pressure on rents and top-line revenue. As debt matures, interest costs will explode. Companies that became addicted to cheap interest rates will have to adjust.
Lenders such as banks and pension funds will see their collateral values decline as the value of buildings plummet. Loan-to-value ratios will drop, making lenders unwilling or even unable to refinance borrowers. This will put further pressure on the financial system.
Commercial real estate booms and busts aren’t anything new.
Between the fourth quarter of 2009 and the last quarter of 2022, the Fed’s commercial real estate index, which reflects the value of buildings, rose by 128 per cent, or about 6.5 per cent annually. During the financial crisis, the index dropped almost 40 per cent from the third quarter of 2007 to the 2009 bottom. In the previous bear market from the end of 1989 to the end of 1993, the index fell by 26 per cent.
But now, the adoption of remote working will make for a particularly challenging period ahead. The days where anyone with enough capital could thrive in commercial real estate are over.
Investors would be wise to underweight commercial real estate investment trusts in their portfolios, or at least be conscious of debt levels and leases coming due relative to loan maturities in the near future. Office REITs are trading at an almost 40-per-cent discount to net asset value, so the market is already signalling problems ahead. Those looking for buying opportunities should seek out names with low levels of leverage.
Be mindful, too, of how much exposure banks in one’s portfolio has to commercial real estate.
We are in for a bumpy ride.
Tom Czitron is a former portfolio manager with more than four decades of investment experience, particularly in fixed-income and asset-mix strategy. He is a former lead manager of Royal Bank’s main bond fund.
While the trouser suit – for men and women – continues to be a staple on catwalks at international fashion weeks, it seems that the old fashioned necktie isn’t quite so in favour with those seeking out business attire.
On Twitter this week, City worker and think tank owner, William Wright, of New Financial, shared a snap that will strike anxiety into the heart of officewear traditionalists…a very pared down tie display.
While the neck tie was once considered so vital to employees wearing a whistle-and-flute to the office that it spawned a whole shop – Tie Rack – dedicated to it, it seems the accessory is no longer on trend.
Even the BBC is now embracing a more relaxed dress code stating that reporters are now allowed to ditch their formal office attire.
Wright, using the Twitter handle @Williamw1 shared the photo following a visit to Selfridges department store, writing: ‘This is the entire tie department at Selfridges in London. The end of days is upon us.’
The photo shows one rack, filled with a selection of coloured ties in shades of blues, greens, pinks and purples. A few striped ties and one bold Versace-style barocco tie also make the mix.
MailOnline has contacted Selfridges for comment.
Responses to William’s post, which has had nearly 825,000 views, acknowledged that fashions have changed.
Traditional variants of the necktie include the ascot, bow, bolo, zipper tie, cravat and knit, all of which seem to have plummeted in the popularity stakes.
@alexander_peel penned: ‘Try finding a self-tie bow tie in a physical store these days. Think I must have tried four shops the other day – even Moss Bros don’t seem to stock them.’
@Nicolas_Colin responded: ‘Ties will go down the way of hats’, while @LdnParris suggested ‘The only people who still wear ties are estate agents.’
@BenWestwoodHG added: ‘I’d put more than that away after the average customer had a brief rummage.
‘A pretty drab display and collection in comparison too. Very sad indeed, little better than a good shirt and tie.’
One person commented that actually the tie had found a new fanbase, with Gen-Z.
@ArthurAndEric wrote: ‘Interestingly (to me anyway) is the resurgence of tie wearing in my son’s age group – they are quietly becoming trendy with 18yr olds as, I suppose, a counter cultural statement.’
It’s been a decade since Tie Rack, which had 450 outlets at its peak, shut up shop.
Tie Rack’s miniature stores became a familiar fixture at train stations and airports since it was founded in 1981 by heel bar owner Roy Bishko.
The explosion of office-based jobs in the City of London financial district helped it expand rapidly, reaching a peak of 450 stores during 1998.
But competition from internet retailers, coupled with high costs, hit sales hard – and the increasing trend for casual attire in offices proved the death knell for the store.
– Finance experts expect the base rate to reach 4% and see no decrease much before the end of 2024
– Variable mortgage rates will continue to rise accordingly through 2023
– Potential homebuyers may be able to lock in a better house price in the next two years
The current turmoil could have been avoided if the bank had raised rates much earlier, according to CMC Markets analyst
The
With potential homebuyers delaying taking out a mortgage at the current record-high rates and lenders pulling many of their mortgage products off the market, the housing market does not appear to be recovering anytime soon. BoE reports that more buy-to-let homeowners are selling their properties, while house prices are slowing down due to the sharp decrease in demand.
Finance experts at
On the factors determining the fluctuations of the base interest rate, Hewson explains: “Recent sterling weakness certainly hasn’t helped when it comes to the inflation narrative for the
While the BoE suggests that it would likely continue to raise the bank rate to achieve a “sustainable return of inflation to target” (i.e. 2%), it admitted that “considerable uncertainties” persist, driving inflationary pressures, in which case the Bank “will respond forcefully, as necessary”.
The BoE forecasts inflation to start falling around mid-2023, reaching 5.2% by the end of next year from its current peak of almost 11%. The
The next meeting of the
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