Curtis Associates in Ultimo, New South Wales | Consultation agency

Curtis Associates

Locality: Ultimo, New South Wales

Phone: +61 2 9267 7373

Address: Suite 808, Lvl 8, 185 Elizabeth Street 2000 Ultimo, NSW, Australia

Website: http://www.curtisassociates.com.au

Likes: 204

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25.01.2022 Just correcting the record Adrian Bo. While we bought 20 Pine Street, Randwick for our clients last Saturday for $3.561 million, we had not missed out on quite a few properties recently. In the case of these clients: with us they missed out on just one property after which they upped their budget by $500,000.... By last Saturday, we had found 13 pre and off market opportunities for them in half as many weeks despite the so-called ‘shortage of supply.’ 20 Pine Street, Randwick was one of only two on market properties to make our cut during that retainer. That’s 85% pre and off market which is bang on par with our long term average: https://www.domain.com.au//families-push-prices-above-res/

25.01.2022 Cracker article: https://www.thefifthestate.com.au//tim-williams-we-need-t/

24.01.2022 Don’t let this La Niña distract you from appreciating the seriousness of climate change. Life threatening to our beautiful Pacific neighbours and one of the least appreciated ‘known unknowns’ for #Sydneypropertybuyers. Scotty and Albo, listen up. While COVID let both of you run and hide from the issue in 2020, it could take out both of you in 2021: https://amp-smh-com-au.cdn.ampproject.org//australia-trail

23.01.2022 Never a truer word. What is happening to the tertiary education sector, one of our biggest ‘exports’, is a national disgrace. Unless addressed and soon, it has massive ramifications across the board and for property: https://www.smh.com.au//australian-universities-cower-as-d

23.01.2022 Turbulent times like these and the GFC illustrate how and where the Unknown Unknown, Known Unknown and Known Known silos can help property buyers put buying risks and opportunities in perspective and organise their thoughts. Take for example, the Pyrmont Metro Station discussed in this article whose history has been: Under consideration for years but not confirmed (Known Unknown) > ... Confirmed and appearing on official route map (Known Known) > Not confirmed behind the (political) scenes (Unknown Unknown) > Under consideration (Known Unknown) ie: back to silo one. A well advised property buyer should then ask who will use the Western Aerotropolis from where this Metro starts if there are no ‘planes (Known Unknown) and will anyone use it in a pandemic wary and decentralised new world (Known Unknown)? Instead of looking for the answer in the fourth and mind warping Unknown Known silo, we suggest you at lest engage a property expert: https://www.smh.com.au//push-for-extra-metro-station-in-sy

22.01.2022 Terrific article with lots of embedded links also worth reading as are their embedded links. All links illustrate why we advise our Sydney residential and commercial property buying clients to rely on the Known Unknowns and Unknown Unknowns constructs when deciding what property to buy. Often driven by vote winning or knee jerk (eg: COVID-19) politics devoid of evidence based thinking, many of these public infrastructure decisions oscillate from being Unknown Unknowns to... Known Unknowns and back again creating huge medium and long term risks for residential and commercial property buyers. Building a cycleway in College Street, Sydney to rip it out five years later and re-build it in the next two makes the point. Also, one size doesn’t fit all property buyers. For example, while more cycleways might be great for a younger cycling family in Paddington or Manly, the loss of parking spaces that result could be a problem for older right sizers and the businesses along the routes they patronise. Interesting also that the planned Oxford Street centre cycleway might eat up parking on the privately owned south side but not on the largely Council owned north side... https://www.theguardian.com//sydney-cycling-has-the-city-t

21.01.2022 Tim Lawless is right to say in this useful article that part of the reason is the current speed of the market. In the past week alone, we’ve dealt with three off market sellers who decided to buy before selling - one at $4.5 million in Fairlight, another $3 million one in Paddington and a $1 million one in Toongabbie. That’s neither an arbitrage nor a hedge. ... It’s pure speculation. Regardless of the low interest rates driving this trend, it’s risky and self defeating even in the short run: those selllers still have to find a willing seller to them by which time buyers from them will have retreated until the heat goes out of the market and/or regulators will have stepped in to cool that heat as they did two years ago leading to those sellers either copping a loss or getting caught with two properties, double moving and/or paying hefty bridging loan interest. Even if we’re wrong, such sellers should (a) ask themselves if the return on such a strategy justifies all those risks and (b) stop running with the herd: https://thenewdaily.com.au//02/01/supply-demand-house-pri/

20.01.2022 As promised yesterday: https://twitter.com/property_cu/status/1323761740333543424

20.01.2022 Lending for non business property owner occupiers and investors rose sharply in July 2020 - excluding re-financing. Not quite the bearish picture others are painting: https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/5601.0

18.01.2022 No shortage of firepower for quality eastern suburbs assets in the sub $4m bracket. We bid on this high profile offering today. Five others also bid with the winning couple first throwing their hat into the ring against one other party at $3.8m and weren’t sweating when Scott knocked it down to them at $3.856m. ... That was: $256K above the reserve $450K more than 60 Wentworth Street across the road achieved on 22 May 2020 despite this one needing at least $600K to upgrade so as to grow into and not out of it. While the bulls still aren’t roaming in great numbers, bears were nowhere to be seen. More evidence that for many #Sydneypropertybuyers #Covid has been and remains irrelevant: https://m.realestate.com.au//property-house-nsw-randwick-1

18.01.2022 About time! Common sense prevails and so important in this COVID environment to peoples’ mental health: https://www.propertyobserver.com.au//117885-pets-allowed-i

17.01.2022 Interesting to re-read this in the light of then unheard of Covid-19 just a short nine months later: https://www.curtisassociates.com.au//international-studen/

16.01.2022 Succinctly puts a lid on the #wagyuandshiraz episode especially in this Covid environment (paywalled sorry): https://www.afr.com//asic-gives-up-on-its-fruitless-case-o

16.01.2022 No s..t Sherlock. Exactly as we predicted and posted a few days ago: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/news/Pages/20200727_01.aspx

15.01.2022 This has worried us for ages about buying Sydney industrial property: scarce to buy with big yield compressions (especially close to the motorways) yet lease vacancies everywhere with acres of surrounding land awaiting the stroke of a rezoning pen: https://lnkd.in/g2yynmw:

15.01.2022 More known unknowns for #Sydneypropertybuyers and owners. Complying developments represent both risks and opportunities. Not good if your neighbour throws up something and you lose light or views but easier for the neighbour to improve his/her property: https://www.smh.com.au//new-rules-leave-sydney-homeowners-

15.01.2022 No s..t Sherlock. This has been as obvious as dogs’ balls since restrictions were lifted. The shame is that many other responsible venues and brands throughout this great #Sydney metropolis of ours have been doing the right thing (eg: Bitton) while many hooray Henry’s, especially in the east, haven’t. ... Shame on you Henry’s. You will shut down what remains of a world as we know it - and yours: https://www.smh.com.au//more-we-could-be-doing-slip-ups-st

13.01.2022 We follow this chap as with Prof Richard Holden. Two economists who talk sense and as with us, back their opinions with evidence. This article shows the big silver linings coming out of Covid for all real estate asset classes including industrial. While chit chat around a staff bubbler (when did you last see that?) is nice, do those and other chats other than in mentoring environments like Law, really add to the general productivity we all need to survive and thrive? ... How many random encounters in a lift really added much value per se and when measured against the millions and more hours wasted getting to and from those encounters and the rent paid for the pleasure. As always, the answer we think will be found somewhere in a hybrid middle. But one thing’s for sure: Covid has changed our relationship with real estate: https://theconversation.com/have-we-just-stumbled-on-the-bi

12.01.2022 CoreLogic’s just released macro figures make for interesting reading especially when compared to our daily experiences at the #Sydneypropertymarket coal face. The one big anomaly is mortage approvals which completely contradicts not only what we’re seeing at that coal face but also the 15 January 2021 ABS lending statistics. The one big consistency is the drop in listings. ... What those listings drop numbers don’t reveal is what’s happening where we spend most of our time which is off market where there are plenty more sellers than the listings numbers suggest: https://www.macrobusiness.com.au//Weekly-market-update-wee

10.01.2022 Despite the #WFH response to the pandemic pressuring office assets, this excellent critique-especially its last section beginning Despite the commute ... is the best we’ve read so far. The office is far from dead but the future will be a changed hybrid: https://www.economist.com/1843/2020//29/death-of-the-office

10.01.2022 We’ve been quieter than usual lately mainly because there hasn’t been too much worth discussing in a #Sydneyproperty market propped up by a short supply of quality residential and commercial properties (they can be found but it takes effort and skill), government largesse and rock bottom interest rates. That is, until now: if they do at last wean themselves from the stamp duty teat, it’s a game changer for property buyers. As always, the devil will be in the detail: https://apple.news/AVf2i-U6oRuu6UCT4DQj6RQ

10.01.2022 Great idea generally except for those owning and buying on parts of the foreshore. The regulatory risks never end in a retrofitting infrastructure town like Sydney: https://lnkd.in/gWk2_FX

09.01.2022 Sadly, as the situation in Victoria worsens by the hour, this has got to be right and is urgent: https://amp.smh.com.au//premier-close-the-border-with-vict

08.01.2022 Our tweet from Chris’s attendance at last week’s half day API conference on the #Australianpropertymarket. The best such conference he’s attended in a decade. Of the many slides projected, these were the three that most resonated about the #Sydneyresidentialpropertymarket. Remember though, macro analyses like this are often irrelevant to the many micro markets comprising that market.... Tomorrow, we will post the three slides that most resonated about the #SydneyCommercialPropertyMarket: https://twitter.com/property_cu/status/1323465242689429505

08.01.2022 As we said in our last post, discounting is beginning to take hold in some previously robust regions including the northern beaches and eastern suburbs: https://www.domain.com.au//more-than-one-in-seven-sydney-/

08.01.2022 How’s Sydney’s financial core strata office market holding up? Not well. In a rare #COVID19 example, this prime, just renovated suite passed in today with only two -maybe-bidders. Vendor paid $2m in August 2019 so facing a big haircut at a now $2.15m ask: https://www.commercialrealestate.com.au//1004-66-hunter-st

05.01.2022 A long post but packed with valuable insights. One of Martin’s best recently. We agree with every word. While it might be good for our business short term, relaxed credit isn’t in the long term interests of any house or commercial property buyer right now: https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com//never-mind-the-credi/

05.01.2022 As we posted three weeks ago, ASIC wouldn’t be brave enough. They weren’t. Lift a glass of Shiraz while eating your wagyu in self isolation-again: https://www.afr.com//asic-drops-wagyu-and-shiraz-case-2020

05.01.2022 Want an example of MSM talking up the market? Here it is with the Potts Point headline and lead vignette. A meagre price with, literally one buyer apparently handled by the agent, is turned into a beat up. Not hard to nab something no one else wants: https://www.domain.com.au//sydney-auctions-investor-nabs-/

04.01.2022 As always, Harley hits the nail on its head. This is a very different market to the GFC: http://www.afr.com//why-this-real-estate-crisis-is-differe

04.01.2022 This is well worth reading. Beautifully written and researched, loaded with fascinating statistical comparisons and very important to Australia’s place in the new world order - whatever that might be: https://www.rollingstone.com//covid-19-end-of-american-er/

01.01.2022 Sometimes an article comes along that cuts through the noise. This is one of them. Who, in these circumstances and their right mind, wouldn’t wear a #mask especially in a lift?! https://www.smh.com.au//why-are-masks-not-yet-mandatory-in

01.01.2022 Smart thinking as usual from Prof Holden - this time based on a great and data rich study: https://theconversation.com/vital-signs-government-lockdown

01.01.2022 The COVID #Sydneyproperty worm could be turning. To date, a shortage of supply; especially of higher quality residential and (non industrial) commercial properties over $2m, has cushioned those assets from price falls. Recent turnover, however thin, has mostly been at the margins occupied by lower quality stock.... However, for the first time this week many more quality properties are up for grabs both off and on market all over the inner city and surprisingly, in the lifestyle suburbs including the northern beaches. Some are for sale with price guides equivalent to their purchase price three years ago. This is a new phase and one we’re watching closely.