Rental conditions begin to ease following ‘incredibly challenging' period
REA Group Senior Economist Eleanor Creagh claims rental conditions are beginning to ease from the 'incredibly challenging conditions' over the past few years.
'Certainly, we are seeing a bit of relief for renters,' she told Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood.
'We have also seen that investor activity has picked up over the past couple of years, and actually rental investor activity is sitting close to a decade high.'
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ABC News
23 minutes ago
- ABC News
Qantas gears up for a price war with rivals Virgin and Air New Zealand
The airline pendulum once again is about to swing. After a golden run for Qantas investors in the past 18 months following the unceremonious exit of Alan Joyce, it appears the Flying Kangaroo is now gearing up for a major onslaught against its competitors. That means, for a brief time at least, travellers are likely to reap the rewards of what is poised to be a three-way tussle to attract domestic and trans-Tasman travellers, and those looking towards Asian havens. Qantas, Air New Zealand and a rejuvenated Virgin Australia have already begun putting the pieces into play, for what is shaping up to be a torrid summer of competition as each attempt to grab new, and defend, existing market share. The aggressor is Qantas. A fortnight ago, it announced a 20 per cent lift in trans-Tasman flights over summer — that equates to around 60,000 additional seats for December and January. According to aviation expert Neil Hansford, it isn't just the Tasman where Qantas is expanding. Capacity is increasing in flights to Singapore, Bali and down Australia's east coast. "They're now operating directly from Hobart and Newcastle to Perth, and they're operating from Newcastle now to Bali," he told ABC News. "They're using their equipment very well to be able to provide services and it's getting more and more convenient for [consumers]." Call it a coincidence, but in the next six weeks, Virgin Australia will relist on the Australian Securities Exchange. And suddenly, the pressure is on. Last week Qantas pulled the pin on its Singapore-based Jetstar Asia offshoot, which will deliver an extra 13 aircraft into the domestic market. Established almost 20 years ago, it was part of a move to push the Jetstar strategy through the region, with independent operations in Singapore, Vietnam and Japan. In recent times, Jetstar Asia has become victim to intense competition from Air Asia and Singapore Airline's budget offshoot Scoot, racking up losses and soaking up resources. Deploying those jets to the domestic, trans-Tasman and holiday markets like Bali will put a newly listed Virgin under pressure, forcing it to offer more seats at lower prices to retain market share. That's good for consumers but ultimately will restrict the airline's earnings growth. According to Mr Hansford, the extra seats will tip the balance towards consumers as pricing becomes "more competitive". "If you put on the capacity, you will fill it," he said, noting the flip side scenario would be restricting capacity to drive prices higher. The rush to more seats ultimately could restrict earnings growth and profits for Qantas, Virgin and Air New Zealand shareholders. The stars aligned for Virgin's owners in the past year. The collapse of Rex and brief upstart Bonza reduced airline competition just as consumers began returning to the skies. Virgin, which struggled for more than a decade to turn a profit before its collapse five years ago, has seen a huge financial turnaround. It abandoned international routes, concentrating on major domestic and holiday destinations. Finally, after missing a brief window of opportunity last year, American private equity group Bain Capital decided the time was ripe to offload a 35 per cent stake in the airline to the public. It already had sold a 25 per cent stake to the well-heeled, state owned Middle Eastern carrier Qatar. The Doha-based airline has struck fear into Qantas management. Two years ago, Qantas successfully lobbied Canberra to restrict extra Qatar flights into Australia but is now watching with trepidation whether Qatar exerts pressure on the domestic market. Qantas has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the airline industry turnaround. Its share price has doubled in the past 18 months, soaring to a record $10.87 close in early June on the back of lower fuel prices, reduced competition and healthy demand. Airlines are among the most volatile stocks on global markets. Hugely capital intensive, subject to the whims of consumers, fuel price variations and health scares like SARS and COVID, they oscillate between huge profits and massive losses. While Qantas appears to have hit a sweet spot in recent times, there are headwinds aplenty. Funds manager Roger Montgomery told The Business that Qantas has one of the oldest fleets amongst its peers and is facing huge costs in replacing those aircraft, that won't make much profit. "If you look at the business over the last 15 years, what you discover is that the company has lost about $110 million and that's despite the fact that debt increased substantially and that the government supported the company with about $2 billion worth of assistance," he said. The purchase of further aircraft will see those losses mount, he argued. The last time Qantas and Virgin went toe to toe in an all out war for market share, it nearly up-ended the Flying Kangaroo. A decade ago, then-chief executive Alan Joyce drew a line in the sand, declaring Qantas's share of the domestic market would never drop below 65 per cent. The two airlines sold tickets at below cost — with Virgin then backed by four major airlines, including Singapore and Etihad — and eventually Mr Joyce had to raise the white flag after Qantas plunged deeply in the red with losses approaching $3 billion. Under new Qantas boss Vanessa Hudson, that is unlikely to be repeated. Her capacity for a protracted war is constrained by the airline's desperate need to upgrade the ageing fleet left to her by her predecessor. But she clearly is moving the pieces into position to put the squeeze on the competition. That's been welcomed by the broader travel industry — cheaper flights are likely to boost tourism more generally. Flight Centre Leisure chief executive James Kavanagh has forecast passenger numbers to increase by 4 per cent in December, and by 6 per cent in January. He argued more people will travel because there's "more competition" which means "better pricing" and "more flexibility". That has also been welcomed across the Tasman. While Air New Zealand is understandably wary about the potential impact of extra seats on the route, the Kiwi travel industry is ecstatic. Daniel Painter, managing director of New Zealand travel agent Wild Kiwi, argued this kind of move could be just the tonic to restore travel to New Zealand back to pre-COVID levels. A win for travellers that might just test the patience of investors.
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
More than one million Aussie homes at risk from fires, floods as housing crisis deepens
More than 1000 homes have been left uninhabitable by devastating floods on the NSW Mid-North Coast, a report has found, amid fears the climate crisis could put millions more at risk. The report by the Housing, Homelessness, and Disasters National Symposium last week found 1153 homes were left uninhabitable by the floods. Another 1831 homes were damaged. Some 23,000 Australians are displaced by floods, bushfires, and cyclones each year, with the report finding 5.6 million homes are at risk from bushfires as climate impacts accelerate. Homeless Australia CEO Kate Colvin said as climate disasters become more regular, there was a risk of a 'two-tiered society' in which housing security determined disaster survival. 'There is a gap between people who are best able to protect themselves and people who are least able to,' she said. Ms Colvin said renters were often limited to cheaper properties in more flood-prone areas and were less resilient to climate-related disasters, compared with higher-income earners. Renters also often had less access to government support and faced a 'superheated' rental market. 'They can't compete because all those people who had insurance often also get a special payments system to afford rent during the time when their home is not available,' Ms Colvin said. 'They then can't get a rental because you've got this superheated market, so you have another wave of homelessness just because of the housing market impact'. Ms Colvin called on the federal government to make renters or people facing homelessness a priority in future disaster responses, and include disaster resilience in its 10-year housing plan. 'In the planning phase, include the homelessness sector, include strategies around housing resilience … (and) in the response phase, be inclusive of people who are facing homelessness.' The symposium brought together more than 100 professionals across the housing, emergency management, and governmental sectors to examine how 'secondary crises' affect NSW. Factors included the prevalence of construction workers who flood disaster zones in the wake of climate events, inadvertently driving up rents for already struggling locals. The symposium found that in Australia, some 953,000 homes were vulnerable to flooding and 17,500 were at threat from coastal erosion, with 169,000 people on the public housing list. HowWeSurvive UNSW Sydney academic and co-author of the symposium report, Dr Timothy Heffernan, said climate disasters were already hitting 'housing-vulnerable' communities. 'When you have 6.5 million homes at risk from bushfires, floods or coastal erosion, and a housing system that can't meet demand, every disaster becomes a humanitarian crisis,' he said. 'Hotels and motels fill up immediately, caravan parks are often in flood-prone areas … We're asking an already strained system to absorb sudden surges of thousands of displaced people.' Social Futures general manager Martelle Geurts said the Northern Rivers housing system was 'already fragile' when it was hit by the 2022 flood disaster, damaging more than 10,000 homes. Despite extensive recovery efforts, the Northern Rivers accounted for about a third of rough sleepers in NSW in 2025. The most recent NSW Street Count - an annual audit of people facing homelessness - found 346 people sleeping rough in the City of Sydney. In the Northern Rivers, there were 654 people. 'Climate events are becoming more frequent and severe, and they destroy homes. So, climate change and homelessness are inextricably linked,' Ms Geurts said. 'People can't recover without stable housing. 'Disasters displace people and can cause lasting trauma. Some people experience PTSD, and the impact of that can be lifelong. 'What we know is that people can't recover psychologically unless they have a secure place to live.'
News.com.au
7 hours ago
- News.com.au
Anthony Albanese to hold first bilateral with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney ahead of G7
Anthony Albanese is set to discuss the impact of Donald Trump's increasingly aggressive trade war and conflict in the Middle East in his first bilateral meeting with newly-installed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Following a brief visit to Seattle on the United States' west coast - where it was confirmed Australia had secured a meeting with Mr Trump - the Prime Minister will depart for Calgary on Sunday afternoon local time (Monday morning AEST). He will then head to Kananaskis, Alberta to attend the G7 Leaders Summit. Mr Albanese is also expected to conduct bilateral meetings with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. He has also confirmed an all-important face-to-face meeting with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, where Mr Albanese is set to make his case for a tariff exemption and spruik AUKUS. Mr Albanese's bilateral with Mr Carney - their formal talk after meeting at Pope Leo XIV's inauguration in Rome - will instead canvas how the two leaders can deepen existing co-operation, plus topics such as defence industry, climate change, and critical minerals. In the wake of the Trump administration's tariff onslaught, the OECD's June Economic Outlook said attempts to 'harmonise regulations' between peer countries such as Canada and Australia 'could support stronger trade and productivity growth'. The G7 Summit will occur in the tinderbox backdrop of brutal tit-for-tat strikes between Israel and Iran. On Sunday, missile strikes near Israel's capital of Tel Aviv killed at least three people, including a 10-year-old boy, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning of further attacks and appealing to the US for support. Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine will be another focus area, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attending the talks. The global ramifications of America's increasingly isolationist trade policies will also dominate talks at the summit, with the event's key themes to focus on global economic stability and threats to international peace and security among other transnational issues. Speaking about his highly-anticipated meeting with Mr Trump, Mr Albanese said tariffs and the value of AUKUS would be key discussion points. While he would not 'make declarations' on negotiations, Mr Albanese said he would 'put forward Australia's interests respectfully'. 'It is also in the interests of the United States for Australia to be treated appropriately. Tariffs across the board, of course, impose an increased cost on the purchases of those goods and services,' Mr Albanese said. 'I will enter into those discussions constructively – the discussions that I've previously had with President Trump were constructive, but those 10 per cent tariff supports have been the minimum … that have been applied across the board.' Sussan Ley has welcomed the meeting wished the Labor leader 'success' in representing Australia's interest. 'It's in the interest of every Australian this meeting is a success and we want the Prime Minister to do well,' the Opposition Leader posted on social media. 'It's important the PM gains a reassurance on AUKUS and protects Australia from tariffs.'
