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More than one in five Aussie homes sold for 1 million or more in the year to March
28 June 2022
By Serena Seyfort

A record high number of Australians spent at least million on buying a home in the past year, according to new data.
A staggering 23.8 per cent of the 596,733 residences sold across Australia in the year to March went for million or more, according to CoreLogic's annual Million Dollar Markets report.
There were also almost 20 per cent more homes sold in the year compared to the 497,923 sales recorded in the previous year.
CoreLogic Research Analyst Kaytlin Ezzy said Australia's bullish economic and property performance during latter part of 2021 had led to a record result number of sales and proportion of million-dollar sales.
"High consumer sentiment, tight advertised supply, and low interest rates fuelled strong home value growth throughout 2021, resulting in a new record high annual growth rate of 22.4 per cent over the 12 months to January," she said.
Sydney suburbs made up 26.3 per cent of the new million-dollar markets, with the city's median residence value having sat above million since May 2021.
More than half of all Sydney sales over the 12 months to May transaction went for above million.
However, with national house values beginning to fall in May due to high inflation and rising interest rates, Ezzy said some of the houses that just reached the million-dollar mark would likely fall below million in value in coming months.
"As the market moves towards the downward phase of the cycle it's likely a number of the recent entrants to the million-dollar list will see their median values decline below the million mark."

https://www.9news.com.au/national/more-than-one-in-five-aussie-homes-sold-for-1-million-or-more-in-the-year-to-march/eeedab8f-e1d5-467a-9332-610f0ce723e1
Melbourne Airports busiest period in more than two years to begin tomorrow
23 June 2022
By Serena Seyfort

Melbourne Airport staff are preparing for the airport's busiest period in more than two years, with the winter school holidays set to begin tomorrow.
More than 2.1 million passengers are expected to pass through Melbourne Airport between Friday and July 17, marking an increase on the 1.7 million passengers who travelled through the airport during the three-week Easter holiday period.
Melbourne Airport CEO Lorie Argus said airport management had been working to put extra support into the system ahead of the busy time.
"We've been preparing for school holidays for some weeks now," she said.
However, Argus said there were still staff shortages at the airport, as was the case around the world.
She said passengers should leave plenty of time to be processed at the airport, but also warned against them arriving too early.
"We encourage people to allow time to get to the airport, check in and go through security, as there may be queues, particularly at peak travel times.
"Equally, we'd ask people don't arrive too early, because some airlines don't open check-in until two hours before a domestic departure and threes hours prior to an international flight."
Argus said people arriving too early for flights just created congestion at already busy times.
She said passengers on domestic flights should arrive one to two hours before their flight and those on international flights should arrive two to three hours beforehand.
In response to questions about an increase of bags being lost in transit in recent months, Argus said passengers should be prepared to live without their luggage for short period of time.
She said measures to improve congestion at the airport in coming weeks had involved scheduling busier flights at the closest gates, increased shift coverage at security screening points, extra technicians around for infrastructure issues and extra cleaning services.
While Melbourne Airport is set to be busy in the coming weeks, Argus said the airport was still only at 80 per cent of its capacity when both domestic and international flights were taken into consideration.
Of the 2.1 million people who will use Melbourne Airport in coming weeks, 1.6 million will be travelling domestically, with just 447,000 taking international trips.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/melbourne-airports-busiest-period-in-more-than-two-years-to-begin-tomorrow/aad18872-457f-470b-a8f8-ed319ed54d5e
Australian voters deliver strong message on climate ending conservative governments 9year rule
22 May 2022

By: Hilary Whiteman

Brisbane, Australia (CNN) Australian voters have delivered a sharp rebuke to the center-right government, ending nine years of conservative rule, in favor of the center-left opposition that promised stronger action on climate change.

Australian Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese claimed victory Saturday, though it was unclear as counting continued if his party would have the 76 seats required to form a majority.

Early counting showed a strong swing towards Greens candidates and Independents who demanded emissions cuts far above the commitments made by the ruling conservative coalition.

Amanda McKenzie, CEO of the research group the Climate Council, declared climate action the winner of the vote.

"Millions of Australians have put climate first. Now, it's time for a radical reset on how this great nation of ours acts upon the climate challenge," she said in a statement.

Other than climate, this election focused on the character of the leaders. Incumbent Scott Morrison. was deeply unpopular with voters and seemed to acknowledge as much when he admitted during the last week of the campaign that he had been a "bit of a bulldozer." He was referring to making hard decisions during the pandemic and severing a submarine deal with France, but it reflected claims about his leadership style as being more authoritarian than collaborative.

Speaking to his supporters late Saturday night, Morrison said he had called Albanese and congratulated him on his election victory. "I've always believed in Australians and their judgment, and I've always been prepared to accept their verdict," he said.

Just before midnight, Albanese walked out to to cheers from his supporters and said he would seek to unite the nation. "I will work every day to bring Australians together. And I will lead a government worthy of the people of Australia."

He added: "I can promise all Australians this no matter how you voted today, the government I lead will respect every one of you every day."

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/21/australia/australia-election-results-morrison-albanese-intl-hnk/index.html
PPKM All Indonesia Ends Today
09 May 2022
Jakarta, CNN Indonesia -- The implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM) based on levels to deal with the corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic both in the Java-Bali and outside Java-Bali areas ends today, Monday (9/5).
The previous PPKM Java-Bali was valid for three weeks or started last April 19, while PPKM in areas outside Java-Bali which only started on April 26 and is valid for two weeks until May 9, 2022.

In the Java-Bali PPKM three weeks ago, no area was included in the level four PPKM category. There are only 2 regencies/cities at level three, level two areas totaling 97 regencies/cities, and level one regions totaling 29 regencies/cities.

Meanwhile, in PPKM outside Java-Bali which took effect two weeks ago, the number of regions at level 1 increased from the previous 84 regions to 131 regions. Meanwhile, the number of regions at level 2 from the previous 259 regions fell to 216 regions.

A similar decrease in level occurred in PPKM Level 3 areas from the previous 43 regions to 39 regions. The government also noted that there were no regions outside Java-Bali that had entered PPKM level 4 in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, based on data compiled from the government's daily report, there has been a downward trend in positive confirmed cases of Covid-19 and cases of Covid-19 deaths in the last three weeks. The decline also occurred until D+7 Eid al-Fitr 1433 H.

It was recorded that during the April 18-24 period, the cumulative number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in a week was 4,277 cases. Meanwhile, in the period from April 25 to May 1, the weekly addition of Covid-19 cases decreased to 2,890 cases. And it decreased again in the third week or the period of May 2-8 to 1,391 cases.

A similar decline occurred in the number of deaths due to Covid-19. During the 18-24 April period, the cumulative number of Covid-19 deaths in Indonesia was 234. Then in the period from April 25 to May 1, weekly cases of deaths decreased to 173 cases, and fell again on May 2-8 with 108 cases.

https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20220509071318-20-794350/ppkm-seluruh-indonesia-berakhir-hari-ini/amp#origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&prerenderSize=1&visibilityState=visible&paddingTop=32&p2r=0&csi=1&aoh=16520734527938&viewerUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Famp%2Fs%2Fwww.cnnindonesia.com%2Fnasional%2F20220509071318-20-794350%2Fppkm-seluruh-indonesia-berakhir-hari-ini%2Famp&history=1&storage=1&cid=1&cap=navigateTo%2Ccid%2CfullReplaceHistory%2Ceducation%2Cfragment%2CreplaceUrl%2CiframeScroll
Hunger Games situation Rental vacancies at record lows as tenants do it tough
04 May 2022
Written by: Melissa Heagney

Tenants are facing tough competition for a rental across the country, with Australia’s vacancy rate remaining at an all-time low in April, new data shows, as rents rise at the same time.

The national vacancy rate remained at 1 per cent after reaching the record low in March, Domain’s latest Rental Vacancy Report revealed.

It is down by almost a percentage point since April last year, when tenants were kept out of the Australian rental market due to COVID-19 border closures.

But property managers, including those in Sydney and Melbourne, say the market has changed from “night to day” this year, as demand is added from international students returning to school and local workers returning to the office.

Sydney recorded its lowest ever vacancy rate of 1.4 per cent, down by almost half since April last year, while Melbourne’s beleaguered rental market also showed further signs of improvement with the rate falling to 1.7 per cent, down from a massive 4 per over the same time period.

Other capitals saw vacancy rates rise marginally or remain steady in April, still proving incredibly difficult for prospective tenants.

Adelaide’s 0.3 per cent was the tightest vacancy rate in the country, while Hobart’s 0.4 per cent and Darwin’s 0.5 per cent were also tight. Perth sat at 0.6 per cent and Brisbane and Canberra recorded a 0.7 per cent vacancy rate over the month.

https://www.domain.com.au/news/hunger-games-situation-rental-vacancies-at-record-lows-as-tenants-do-it-tough-2-1135945/
Thousands of Units Handed Over This Apartment Sets a Record
13 April 2022
Writer: Wahyu Ardiyanto

RumahCom – Agung Sedayu and Salim Group as the developer of Tokyo Riverside Apartment PIK 2 have successfully handed over 1,595 apartment units. This achievement was finally rewarded by the MURI record for the most apartment handovers in one month.

The completion of the project to the unit handover process is tangible evidence that is felt directly by consumers and investors. Therefore, a good developer will continue to encourage the progress of his project to pursue a predetermined time schedule so that the project can run well according to plan.

Developers Agung Sedayu Group and Salim Group encourage the handover of their apartment projects to be handed over on a large scale (bulky) at Tokyo Riverside Apartment located in the Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) 2 area in the development of New Jakarta City as a result of the development of the two companies.

Not just units, tens, even hundreds, since the end of March 2022, Tokyo Riverside Apartment has directly handed over 1,595 units to consumers and will continue to do so. This achievement made Tokyo Riverside Apartment won the Indonesian Record Museum (MURI) record as the handover of the most apartment units in one month.

According to Deputy Director of MURI Osmar Semesta Susilo, MURI really appreciates the achievement of the handover of up to thousands of units in one month and this proves that the Covid-19 pandemic does not prevent us from doing business well.

"Hopefully the success that can be achieved for this apartment project can be an inspiration and a whip for other companies to continue to work and be able to carry out the entire project process to carry out the handover properly," he said.

Ishak S. Lopung, Strata & High Rise Management General Manager of Tokyo Riverside Apartment said, there are two towers, namely Akihabara and Beppu which began to be handed over in March following Chikusei and Dotonburi Towers which were also handed over in April 2022.

"With this good progress, we continue to schedule the handover process for the other towers, namely Edogawa and Fuji. We also thank all supporters and especially consumers who have supported and participated, especially for this handover activity," he said.

Tokyo Riverside Apartment is conceptualized as a Japanese-style residence that provides various facilities such as a club house, retail area, Tokyo Market, and Tokyo Hub. Currently, another product is being prepared, namely Sapporo Residences, which is offered with prices starting at Rp. 1.8 billion. The Japanese concept is presented because it has a great interest with a compact design and adapts to urban needs.

https://www.rumah.com/berita-properti/2022/4/204522/ribuan-unit-diserahterimakan-apartemen-ini-catat-rekor
Singapore to reopen borders to all fully vaccinated travellers on Apr 1 existing VTLs will be retired
24 March 2022
Written by: Vanessa Lim

SINGAPORE: Singapore will reopen its borders to all fully vaccinated travellers, removing all existing vaccinated travel lanes (VTL) and unilateral opening arrangements from Apr 1, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore announced on Thursday (Mar 24).

Instead, it will transition to a new simplified travel framework - the vaccinated travel framework - where countries and regions will be classified into two categories - general travel or the restricted category.

Under the framework, all fully vaccinated travellers, as well as children aged 12 and below, will be able to enter Singapore with just a pre-departure COVID-19 test from 11.59pm on Mar 31.

They will also no longer need to apply for entry approvals or take designated VTL transport to enter Singapore quarantine-free. In addition, there will be no more quotas on the number of daily arrivals.

While they will continue to be subjected to a pre-departure test within two days before departure for Singapore, they will not be required to serve a stay-home notice or undergo an unsupervised antigen rapid test (ART) after arriving in Singapore.

As for long-term pass-holders and short-term visitors aged 13 and above who are not fully vaccinated, they are generally not allowed to enter Singapore, with a few exceptions. This includes long-term pass-holders who are medically ineligible for vaccines as well as those who have valid entry approval such as compassionate reasons.

For this group, they will be required to take a pre-departure test within two days before departure for Singapore, undergo a seven-day stay-home notice, and take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test after their isolation period.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-reopen-borders-all-fully-vaccinated-travellers-apr-1-existing-vtls-will-be-retired-2582986?cid=internal_sharetool_androidphone_24032022_cna
Calm down VAT Rises House Prices Not Sure
23 March 2022
Writer: Emir Yanwardhana, CNBC Indonesia

Jakarta - The planned increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) to 11% from 10% as of April has not affected house prices. According to the Country Manager of Rumah.com, Marine Novita, this is because there is still an incentive for VAT borne by the government (VAT DTP) which is valid until September 2022.
"Even though the VAT has been added to 11 percent, we are still given a 50 percent discount. Now that doesn't apply until September 2022. Later it should be after September or so until September we don't pay 11 percent, so around 6 percent. Because we still have purchase incentives," he said. Marine in the Rumah.com webinar, Wednesday (23/3/2022).

The VAT incentive for DTP itself is given at 50% for house sales with a maximum of IDR 2 billion, and 25% for sales of houses with prices above IDR 2-5 billion. This is stated in the Regulation of the Minister of Finance (PMK) Number 6/PMrK.010/22 concerning Value Added Tax on the Delivery of Landed Houses and Flats Borne by the Government for Fiscal Year 2022.

The amount of incentives has also been reduced from 2021. Where the previous year's house and apartment tax discount was 100% for residential with a price of up to IDR 2 billion, and 50% for property at a price of IDR 2 - 5 billion.

In addition, Marine sees that the interest in landed houses is still the highest at the moment, apartments. According to survey figures, more than 70% of housing seekers are still looking for landed houses. Even though as of September after the DTP VAT incentive runs out, the developer will adjust the price.

"Developers will adjust prices for this 1% increase. But landed houses are still far from the advantage of apartments. Landed houses have good prospects from marketers and demand," said Marine.

https://www.cnbcindonesia.com/news/20220323114918-4-325232/tenangppn-naik-harga-rumah-belum-tentu
On board the first flight to Bali as quarantinefree travel reopened to Australia
15 March 2022
By A Current Affair Staff, Chanel 9 News

A Current Affair joined the first flight over to Bali from Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport as quarantine-free travel reopened to Aussies.

Melbourne resident Keith Baker was among those who boarded the first Jetstar flights to Depensar in two years.

"I love it and I'm going to go stay there for six months to a year now and see what happens and sell my house up," Mr Baker told A Current Affair.
"They like to look after you, you know what I mean, and that's why I like to be here."

Sandy Hollingworth from Ballarat couldn't wait to get back either.

"I love the Balinese people, always have. I think they're beautiful people," Ms Hollingworth said.
"You can go and lay in the beach, the pool, but the Balinese people make you feel better."

The holiday island, which relies economically on tourism, has taken an absolute battering over the past few years. While Bali has been a well-known destination for Australian tourists and schoolies, it's now a completely different place after taking a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.

But while travel has restarted again this week, so far it's still been a little quiet.
"Very different, there's obviously a lot closed and everything but yeah it's pretty quiet," Ruby from Victoria's Mornington Peninsula said.

The Bintangs are cold, but the bars are still empty. Although there are tourists arriving there are barely any Australians there yet.

Among some of the first Aussies to arrive were social media stars and self-proclaimed "influencers" Erin James, Bailey Scarlett and Christie Lucic, who travel the world for the perfect shot.
"I'm just excited for my first holiday without my parents ... I think 'yeah ... first time without my parents' so I think it's going be very interesting," Ms Lucic said.

"Hopefully we all stay nice and safe … and (we) don't get into any trouble."

"But we will run amok," Ms James said.

While there are fewer tourists, the beaches from Nusa Dua to Kuta appear to be cleaner than usual .
Looking at the once-bustling party strips it's clear Bali has suffered because of the loss of international tourism.

There are for lease signs everywhere and many businesses have closed.

Bali-based chef Kieran Morland, who is originally from Melbourne, said it's been "pretty crazy … especially around Seminyak where our restaurants are such a touristy … place".
He said in the space of a week every single tourist left and "it's kind of been a ghost town for the past two years basically".

He now wants more holidaymakers to choose Bali as their travel destination.

"Come back and enjoy, there's such a large area of Seminyak, Legian, Kuta, at the moment it's a bit abandoned so it needs Aussies back," Mr Morland said.

Despite quarantine requirements being lifted for Australians, there are still rules in place.
Travellers will need to have a PCR test 48 hours before their departure time and another one on arrival, but those tests can be organised at the airport. Visitors will also need to take a PCR test on day three of their stay in Bali.

But those rules will likely be relaxed further in the coming weeks and as more tourists return, the island should soon start to look more like its bustling old self.

While flights from Melbourne to Bali have resumed, flights from Sydney and Perth will resume next month, and from Brisbane in March.

https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/coronavirus-australians-travel-to-bali-on-board-first-quarantine-free-jestar-flights/00a22569-edf1-4c19-ac6b-fecce62517c8