2019 was a huge year for the property industry. For our last Expert article for the year, we asked 16 industry experts what events characterised 2019 most significantly. Some were positive, and some less so, but all agreed that 2020 holds exciting prospects.

Architecture

Nigel Morris – SJB Architects

“Was 2019 the year that the climate debate finally started to make commercial sense as well as moral sense? Clients are increasingly responding to residential purchasers and commercial tenants who want to know what real sustainable initiatives their homes and offices harness.”

Building Surveying

Shane Leonard – Phillip Chun & Associates

“Construction defects and the cladding issues – state and federal governments are avoiding it and building surveyors and certifiers are the scapegoat for the disputes. The impact on PI insurance also characterizes 2019 – we have seen increases of up to 500% with ridiculous excess fees (i.e. $200,000 for each claim).”

Consultancy

Neil Slonim – theBankDoctor

“2019 saw bank debt for property deals become far more difficult to attain. Fortunately, non-bank lenders are filling the gaps with more responsive and flexible offerings. But they are more expensive. Banks remain committed to offering top quality, lowly-geared transactions. Outside of this, non-bank lenders are becoming the ‘go-to’ lenders.”

Development

Christian Grahame – Grocon

“Build-to-rent is a rising sector which brings a much-needed quality to the supply of apartments. For developers, a lack of supply and an improvement in lending and consumer confidence promises improvement in trading conditions in 2020.”

Finance

Matt O’Halloran - Merricks Capital

“Residential development markets slowed during 2019 on economic uncertainty. The non-bank finance sector evolved beyond residential development as a result, extending into commercial asset development and regeneration projects. Interestingly, senior lending up to $25 million debt was increasingly competitive as more investors moved from mezzanine lending to first-mortgage lending”

Planning

Frustrated Contributor

“2019 was another *&#$ing mental year of poor leadership from the state government, senior government officials and VCAT. Once again, the minutiae, politics of self-interest and indifference prevailed over the big issues confronting one of the world’s most liveable cities and Australia’s premier state. We can only hope that 2020 will bring revolution; the breaking of the crushing yolk of communism and a return of greatness. #MAGA”

Project Management

Tynan John & Josh Whiteley – APP

“The success of 2019 was characterised by emerging thought leaders and world class development in the mixed-use sector, the rise of build-to-rent and retail development which holding strong against the odds. The anxiety over the implementation of the cladding levy added significant costs to already-diligent developers which overshadowed some of the year’s positives. Hopefully 2020 will see a resurgence of the residential sector.”

Property Law

Briget O’Callaghan & Jeffrey Pinch – MD Law

“Stamp duty – SRO continues to be aggressive it its pursuit of duty and will often take matters through to appeal before acknowledging the incorrectness of their position. This is particularly so in dealing with respect to acquisitions by charitable institutions and also in the area of commercial and residential property.”

Quantity Surveying

John Cross & Arif Uzay – Rider Levett Bucknall

“2019 showed increases in building activity across the board. With building approvals and work yet to be done above the decade’s average, activity should continue to be strong in the short term. The value of work done and projects under construction sat at their respective decade highs on June 30, 2019. Hopefully, strong building activity continues in the near future.”

Real Estate

Paul Burns – Fitzroys

“Melbourne’s CBD and city fringe markets continued to experience historically tight vacancies and strong rental growth. The biggest challenge this year was funding – alternative lenders have filled the void created by strict lending criteria and the fallout following the banking royal commission. Hopefully the lending becomes less restrictive as market confidence rises.”

Recruitment

Rohan Christie – Kingfisher Recruitment

“Commercial sectors, like the industrial property market, have been very active as developers and investors attempt to profit off tight yields. Residentially, however, investors are nowhere to be seen. Finally, like good properties, good people remain in high demand.”

Retail

Mark Upton — Coles Property Group

“2019 saw property-related taxes underpin the Victorian State Government’s ‘spendathon’, and local governments readily followed their lead. The year also saw the retail sector rising steadily online and retreating from the traditional bricks and mortar market. Interestingly, this has resulted in massive automated warehouses beings established as second tier retail investments for companies.”

Debuilt

Paul Abrahams & Daniel Burger – Debuilt

“2019 threatened to be the perfect storm for property; already decreasing prices were compounded by structural and cladding issues, the banking royal commission and the threat of further property taxes from a potential Labor federal government. Whilst apartment pre-sales continue to be challenging, the property market in general appears to have recovered. We have an optimistic outlook for 2020.”

Note: Some contributions have been adapted to suit the format of this post.