Revenue Growth

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EXPERT OBSERVER
According to data recently released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) property taxation revenue increased further over the 2017-18 financial year to reach $30.293 billion.
State and local governments collected a whopping $30.293 billion worth of property tax revenue over the 2017-18 financial year. If you were to compare these statistics to what was published last year, the figures would be vastly different.
Previously, the ABS included stamp duties on conveyances as taxes on property however, in this year’s release this has been moved to a different section of taxation – taxes on the provision of goods and services.
Nevertheless, the $30.293 billion in property tax revenue was 5.6% higher over the past year with the annual increase lower than the 7.9% increase over the previous year.
 <img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2019/5/2/Property%20Taxation%201.JPG" alt="">
Within total property taxes, land taxes ($9.153b) increased 9.0% over the year, municipal rates ($18.451b) increased 4.3% and other taxes ($2.689b) increased 3.4% over the year.
Through analysis of the results, it was confirmed that revenues from property taxes are now the highest in the most populous states.
Across the states, total property tax revenue in 2017-18 was recorded at: $8.382 billion in NSW, $8.778 billion in Vic, $5.658 billion in Qld, $2.433 billion in SA, $3.654 billion in WA, $549 million in Tas, $133 million in NT and $705 million in ACT. 
Taking a look at stamp duties, which although they are no longer defined as part of ‘taxes on property’, they are a tax paid when a property when is transacted.
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2019/5/2/Property%20Taxation%202.JPG" alt="">
When the housing market is seeing increased transactions and rises in values, stamp duty generally rises and vice versa. The national housing market started to see values fall late in 2017 and as a result, stamp duty revenue is largely unchanged in 2017-18 from the previous year.
Stamp duty revenue over time across each state and territory shows the most populous states derive the most revenue from stamp duty, however, the chart also shows how volatile revenue from stamp duty can be based on the performance of the housing market. Over the most recent year, stamp duty revenue fell in NSW, Qld, SA, WA, NT and ACT while it rose elsewhere.
With the national housing market now seeing values and transaction volumes continuing to decline, it is to be expected that the 2018- 19 financial year will see a much lower value of stamp duty revenue.
While non-transactional based property taxes provide state and local governments with consistent revenue streams year after year, transactional-based stamp duty is much less guaranteed and harder to forecast for budgeting purposes.
Over recent years as the housing markets in Sydney and Melbourne have boomed, the NSW and Vic state governments have benefitted greatly from a significant increase in stamp duty revenue.
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2019/5/2/Property%20Taxation%203.JPG" alt="">
Stamp duty revenue in NSW is 89.7% higher over the past five years and in Vic it is up 116.0%. By comparison, in WA where the housing market has largely been falling over the same period, stamp duty revenue is down -18.9%.
With the NSW and Vic Governments seemingly going to be hit by a loss of stamp duty revenue over the coming years it would seem that now is as good a time as ever to look to move away from this transactional tax.
Although no one likes additional taxes, a tax on all residential properties is more equitable than a tax on the 4%-6% of properties that transact in any given year. Furthermore, it provides a more guaranteed revenue stream to state government so they can better plan their expenditure into the future.
In closing, it should be noted that the ACT Government announced in 2012 that it was going to remove stamp duty over a 20 year period.
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2019/5/2/Property%20Taxation%204.JPG" alt="">
CAMERON KUSHER is the head of research for the Australian branch of CoreLogic
Kusher regularly posts on the <a href="https://www.corelogic.com.au/taxonomy/corelogic-people/cameron-kusher" target="_blank">CoreLogic website</a>.
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Property tax revenues continue climb in 2017/18 despite downturn: Cameron Kusher

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Domain Group trading in the FY20 March quarter saw a small revenue increase of 1% for the quarter, and 10% in the month of March.
Digital revenue also increased, 3% for the quarter and 15% for the month of March despite the shutdown being introduced.
Domain has strengthened its liquidity position by reaching agreement with its banking group for a new debt facility of $80 million, with a term of 18 months.
The facility is in addition to the $225 million facilities announced to the market on 8 November 2019, with terms of three and four years.
Domain’s banking group has also agreed to a waiver of the group’s financial covenants as at June and December 2020. Domain’s net debt at 31 March 2020 was $149.5 million compared with $147.9 million at December 2019.
Domain has launched a voluntary staff program to deliver a 20% reduction in staff costs, while retaining employee talent and business momentum for the long term.
Employees were offered the opportunity to participate in a Share Rights program whereby they could receive a percentage of their salary package over the next six months in share rights (Rights), or alternatively elect to reduce working hours.
Both options have the effect of reducing staff costs over the next six months.
The plan has been overwhelmingly supported by Domain employees, with the majority electing to take a percentage of their salary in Rights.
Domain’s Leadership Team has elected to participate at higher rates: 30% for executive leaders and 50% for the CEO and Board members. The plan will take effect for six months from May 2020.
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Domain has announce surprise March revenue growth

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McGrath Estate Agency have posted a revenue rise of 15 per cent over the first half of the 2020 financial year.
Chief executive Geoff Lucas said that, subject to economic conditions, they expect the turnaround of the business to continue throughout the year.
"[This] will manifest in the FY2020 results", Lucas said.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2020/2/24/McGrath%20revenue.jpg" alt="">
McGrath's number of properties sold jumped from 4,862 in the first half 2019 to 5,768 in the first half 2020, up 19 per cent.
Lucas noted this was achieved "in a period where market listings have been consistently below the prior year." The average rise was four per cent across markets.
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2020/2/24/McGrath%20properties%20sold.jpg" alt="">
Lucas still cited the "challenging property environment".
"As the market conditions improved in Q2 of FY20, we were well placed to capitalise on these positive tailwinds", Lucas said.
“We have seen a strong start to activity in January 2020 with an increased number of vendors who have gone to market early and benefitted from strong demand and continued rising values during the last quarter of CY2019.
"We believe this will have a positive impact on vendor sentiment for the second half."
McGrath noted that an uplift in market sentiment and strong clearance rates, notwithstanding the market’s lower listing numbers has contributed to the business performing significantly better in the first half of FY20. 
Over 32 of McGrath staff who had previously left the company have returned over the last 18 months.
McGrath shares opened trading at ¢30 on Monday. They rose to ¢34 in morning trading.
 
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McGrath revenue up 15 per cent, with "business turnaround expected to continue"

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REA Group has reported a 6% decline in half year revenue to $440 million despite the rebound in house prices over the last few months.
Its management warned that it is the listing volumes that remain challenging, for them and intending buyers.
REA noted that Australian residential volumes were down 13 percent in January, with declines of 7 percent in Sydney and 5 percent in Melbourne.
It came after national residential listings declined in the second half of 2019 by 14 per cent, with a 17 per cent dip in Sydney and 16 per cent in Melbourne. New project commencements declined 30 per cent over the half-year period.
REA Group’s net profit from core operations sat at $152.9 million, a 13 percent decline on the prior corresponding period.
The company’s CEO, Owen Wilson indicated he was pleased with the resilience of the REA Group business.
“Our results demonstrate the underlying strength of our business given the unprecedented market conditions.
"We now have a record number of customers committed to our premium listing products across both buy and rent.
"Customers see clear value in our product offerings, designed to deliver the highest quality leads to help their businesses grow.”
The REA CEO remains optimistic on the future.
“Key indicators show that the Australian property market is recovering.
"We anticipate that more favourable listings conditions in the second half of FY20 will deliver a stronger revenue outcome,” Mr Wilson advised.
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REA Group report continued listings decline into 2020

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The listed real estate agency McGrath have signalled their expected revenue for the FY18 to be half their forecast.
Their latest trading update put the revenue within the $5 million to $5.5 million range.
The incoming chief executive called it "the right baseline financial position."
McGrath shares closed at 43 cents on Monday, no change from the Friday close, and opened Tuesday at 42 cents.
The announcement comes just two months after the then board suggested they would be targeting between $10 million to $10.6 million.
CEO Geoff Lucas, who is back at the agency having left in 2016 just after the company floated, cited the impact of reduced sales volumes.
 “It is important that the market is aware of the right baseline financial position that appropriately reflects the current status of the McGrath business and trading conditions.
"The impact of reduced sales volumes has affected the company more significantly than the prior forecast contemplated.
"We are pleased that this period is behind us, and are encouraged by current activity levels generating improved results.
“At the core of the McGrath business is a high quality and well respected real estate agency with a market leading position.
'The new Board and CEO are harnessing the capacity and skills of the existing management team which has injected a revitalised energy into the business and we are encouraged by the support, enthusiasm and momentum of team members.
“The cost cutting program put in place late last year is starting to generate the financial benefits expected, and we are seeing an uplift in performance so far this month, with expectations of continued rebuilding to the end of this financial year.”
McGrath have lost a number of key staff to various agencies over the past two years.
The review comes after Lucas, who was previously the COO before his 2016 departure, undertook an initial review of the company's accounts and operations.
The company says it generated underlying EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) for the eight months to the end of February of $720,000, before $3.2 million of one‐off costs. 
Last month John McGrath revealed his new board of directors, with Andrew Robinson and Peter Lewis.
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McGrath halves 2018 forecast earnings 

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Sydney and Melbourne retain the first and second ranks respectively in terms of revenue per available room (revPAR), according to Colliers International’s latest figures.
Sydney’s revPar grew 9.3 percent for the year up to July. The city also leads Melbourne in occupancy rate with nearly 90 percent occupancy rate, while the Victorian capital was in the high 80s.
Sydney also tops in the average daily rate, followed by Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
The hotel market snapshot also noted that Perth took the biggest fall in rankings, from third to sixth place.
Canberra was the biggest mover, from sixth to fourth.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2017/09/11/HotelSnapshot.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2017/09/11/HotelSnapshot.jpg" alt="">
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jonathanchancellor-7SQnKwU6yx

Sydney keeps up strong growth in hotel sector: Colliers 

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Commission-free real estate company buyMyplace has achieved record results in revenue, gross profit and listings, with revenue growth up 111 percent on Q1 2016 and 23 percent on the prior quarter.
Thy suggest its commission-free proposition for Australian property vendors.comes with savings of around $20,000 on commissions and fees.
Despite a total market downturn of 4.9 percent on the same period last year, buyMyPlace had an extremely productive quarter, Paul Heath, chief executive office of buyMyplace said.
<a href="/images/2016/10/24/BMP%20revenue.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a> 
<img src="/images/2016/10/24/BMP%20revenue.jpg" alt="">
“We have essentially doubled the business in just two quarters,” he suggested.
buyMyplace is also heavily promoting its national auction capabilities from October, giving vendors throughout Australia a wider suite of options to sell their property themselves.
“Auctions are an increasingly important element of our services and key to our growth in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast, where auctions are more common”, says Heath. 
“We can provide virtually any vendor in Australia some of the best Auctioneers in their local area who will not only auction the property, but will also oversee the signing of the contracts, once the property is sold’, Heath continues. 
In line with its promises at listing on the ASX in March, buyMyplace has previously announced strategic partnerships with AFG to offer mortgages, finance and insurance, plus Movinghub for utilities connection services.
It has now added <a href="https://beforeyoubid.com.au" target="_blank">beforeyoubid.com.au</a> to the partnership stable, offering vendors and buyers the option to arrange independent pest and property inspections for the property and recover a portion of the cost to other potential buyers requiring the reports. 
From October, buyMyplace launched the “Ultimate Exposure” package to vendors at $1795 which will include professional photography, copywriting, vendor support from one of our licensed real estate agents, professional negotiation and a feature listing on <a href="https://realestate.com.au" target="_blank">realestate.com.au</a> or priority placement on <a href="https://domain.com.au" target="_blank">domain.com.au</a>.
“For under $2,000, we want to provide vendors virtually everything they might expect from a traditional real estate agent, and remove the stress of negotiations, which some people may feel uncomfortable managing alone,” says Heath. “Not surprisingly, we have already had strong interest in this package, as well as sales to a number of vendors.”
BuyMyplace has recorded a 238 percent increase in leads on Q1 FY16 indicating the record breaking quarters it has achieved are projected to continue in the future.
It gross profit is up by 31 percent on prior quarter and more than 3,000 vendors have successfully sold their properties via buyMyplace.
“We are also very pleased with how our increased marketing has performed with unique visitor traffic to our site in Q1 up 88 percent on prior corresponding period and up 17 percent on prior quarter”, Heath advised.
<a href="/images/2016/10/24/BMP%20visitors.jpg" target="_blank">Click to enlarge</a>
<img src="/images/2016/10/24/BMP%20visitors.jpg" alt="">
 
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