We've all seen property prices skyrocket post-COVID, particularly in regional areas such as Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. Exodus from capital cities, increase in numbers of people working from home, and a desire to live somewhere with more space and a greater lifestyle has all been part of this shift. 

In this post, we detail what this shift to the regions - specifically to the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie area - has had on two primary measures of the rental market: rental vacancy rates and weekly rental amounts.

We take a look at how these two measures have changed over the past 12 months across the following broad areas of the region, to provide a snapshot to answer the question "How's the market?":

• Adamstown, Adamstown Heights, Garden Suburb, Highfields, Kotara (Postcode 2289)
• Cameron Park, Cardiff, Cardiff Heights, Cardiff South, Edgeworth, Glendale, Macquarie Hills (Postcode 2285)
• Charlestown, Dudley, Gateshead, Hillsborough, Kahibah, Mount Hutton, Redhead, Tingira Heights, Whitebridge (Postcode 2290)
• Merewether, Merewether Heights, The Junction (Postcode 2291)
• New Lambton, New Lambton Heights, Kotara East (Postcode 2305)

Management of investment property can certainly be complicated. With or without a property manager, you need to navigate a world of legislative requirements, insurances, and for many starting out their investment journey, you need to chart a course through the unknown.

At the same time, finding quick answers to complex questions can be hard, just as it can be hard finding the time to research the questions you have!

So, we've developed a simple resource to help: PropertySnacks. 

While rental yield figures can provide an interesting indicator of a suburb's viability for investment, as is usually the case there is more than meets the eye with this statistic and often the finer detail is not considered. 

​Let's start by understanding what rental yield is.

The NSW Government First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) has provided a great incentive for many to build their new home. 

One of the well-known eligibility criteria for receiving the grant was that the owner must "occupy your first home as your principal place of residence within 12 months of the construction or purchase of your home and the minimum period of occupancy is six continuous months."

Many would-be property investors noted the six month criteria carefully, understanding that to be eligible for the First Home Owner Grant they needed to live in the property themselves for 6 months once it was built. Astute first-time investors saw a future opportunity to turn their new home into a rental property after their required six months of occupancy had finished. 

Now, some time on from the grant first being introduced, many owners who took advantage of the First Home Owner Grant are approaching the end of their six months and wondering what happens next. How do they turn the place they currently live in into a rental property?

As readers within and near the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie area would know, the Hunter region went into COVID lockdown from 5pm Thursday 5th August. 

Following the media announcement from the Premier, we briefed our team and were all up and running working remotely and fully operational from 9:30am the next morning. 

During the lockdown period, our office is closed and our contact page is updated with the best means of contacting us whether for urgent maintenance, non-urgent maintenance, or general enquiries.

While some aspects of business are temporarily paused in the interests of public safety, our ability and commitment to the continued management of our landlords' valuable investments remains ongoing. 

If you'd like to talk to us about the management of your investment, we're still available to reach any time. 

Stay safe
- Natalie, Paul and the team 🏡

In light of the recent heightened COVID-19 case numbers throughout NSW, new temporary measures have been put in place to support both tenants and landlords who are financially impacted as a result of COVID-19. 

Specifically, these measures have been introduced to prevent financially impacted residential tenants from being evicted and to assist landlords who agree to renegotiate rent.

The latest information related to these residential tenancy support packages is found on the NSW Fair Trading website, while a summary is as follows. 

At some time or another, many investors will receive a letter from their real estate agency advising that they are selling their property management interests to another business. That is, that the rent roll (the rental properties they manage) and perhaps other assets including the business itself will be sold to another business who will carry on the relationship with you from there. 

If you've had a great relationship with your existing agency (we hope you've been so lucky!), this news can be quite concerning. In this post, we discuss what happens when a real estate agency sells their property management business and what to consider before signing a new managing agency agreement with any agency.