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Acting Premier James Merlino has announced Victoria will be entering a seven-day lockdown from 11.59pm tonight, Thursday 27 May, until 11.59pm, Thursday.
Victoriaâs build to rent investment at risk: Greystar
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US build-to-rent investor Greystar has warned that land tax increases in Victoriaâs budget undo last yearâs halving of the tax rate and could drive more than a quarter of its planned $4 billion pipeline north to NSW.
Greystar, which earlier this year raised $1.3 billion for a build-to-rent (BTR) fund â the countryâs largest to date â that could eventually house more than 5000 dwellings, said the higher land taxes and stamp duty, worth an estimated $473 million next year alone, slashed the viability of some projects.
Chris Key. Â
Dominic Lorrimer
âThis closes the gap with NSW and, depending on project to project, that marginal dollar could now well flow to NSW as a result of the land tax change and stamp duty changes as well,â Greystar Australia managing director Chris Key said on Thursday.
Developers Threaten to Stop Building Over New Victorian Land Taxes
A major Melbourne-based property developer is warning it will stop looking for new construction opportunities until the Victorian government releases the details of its plans to raise land and property taxes for the ninth time.
Sam Tarascio, managing director at one of Australia’s largest developers, Salta Properties, told The Australian that the company would put the assessment of future developments that involve rezoning on hold until they thoroughly understood the proposed tax.
“Until we see that detail, we cannot quantify the new costs associated with the tax,” Tarascio said, referring to the new windfall taxes where up to 50 percent of land value uplift as a result of rezoning will go to the government.
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Office occupancy falls again as Melbourne feels bite of circuit-breaker lockdown
Melbourne’s office occupancy fell to 24 per cent in February, as the city’s circuit-breaker lockdown stalled confidence in Victoria’s return to office plans.
The Property Council of Australia’s February Office Occupancy Survey released today, shows a decrease from 31 per cent in January, although the figure has risen from 12 per cent in December after reaching a low of 7 per cent in October.
Despite a fall in the number of people returning to the office in the face of the most recent outbreak in January, the Government restarted the safe and progressive roadmap to reopening offices, with up to 75 per cent of public and private sector employees now able to return to the office from 1 March 2021.