Legacy Properties – Sydney, Australia

We fly half way around the world to visit with a guy from Fort Worth…really?  Yes, Armando arranged for us to visit with Legacy Property.  We arrive to a nondescript office but in a building nicely located in Darling Harbor. We were not sure we were on the right floor however, we knocked on the first door that looked as if there were occupants and we were greeted by a tall gentleman wearing cowboy boots and sporting a pair of really nice silver longhorn cuff links…we figured this must be the right place.  We were right; it was Mathew Hyder, the gentleman Armando had arranged for us to visit with.  We went through the normal handshakes but I noticed how intent he was to taking in each of our names, locking eyes and repeating our names after we introduced ourselves.  I was impressed he was able to recall our names later in the meeting but that were the least of my impressions.   Here’s a young, very well educated and experienced in real estate (who fell in love while in Australia on a study aboard program in College) immersing himself in the development business in Australia. Actually, I found our conversation with Mathew one of the best we had.  He gave us a background of his education and career to this point, talked about Development in Australia vs. in US specifically about acquisitions, approval process, design, valuations and tax.  He then wrapped it up with a discussion around Sustainable development namely BASIX for residential development, NABERS for commercial development and Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act 2010.   Some quick takeaways for me were: the acquisition process is 95% by auction not by private treaty; takes 3-4 years for a zoning change, councils have huge power; house are smaller but 2x as expensive; rental market is frowned upon and not much of it; cap rates are much more compressed here; a stamp duty every time a residence is sold; interest rates are higher and are variable and loan terms are much shorter.  Bottom line, I came away with a greater understanding of the real estate market in Sydney and thoroughly enjoyed visiting with Mathew.