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Change the only constant say Congress thought leaders

  • October 20, 2015

Change the only constant, say Congress thought leaders

In a world where change is the only constant, Australia’s property industry is well-placed to weather the storm, is the message from thought leaders at The Property Congress 2015.

Setting the scene for over 700 delegates at this year’s record-breaking Property Congress, former mayor of Christchurch Sir Bob Parker, revealed how 25 seconds is all it takes to change a city forever.

The man who led New Zealand’s second-largest city in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake pointed to rapid urbanisation occurring around the world – which will see three quarters of the global population living in cities by 20. Parker said “cities are more than places for people to live. They are wealth creators.”

This made their growth “inevitable” Parker explained – and this means planners, policy makers and the property industry must balance the “innate desire of communities not to change, and the pressing need of cities to change”.

Change was also at the heart of discussions around the megatrends driving the retail sector. A panel of shopping centre titans, including Scentre Group’s chief executive officer Peter Allen, agreed that technology had reimagined the retail landscape. 

“The big retail reveal is that everything has changed and nothing has changed,” Allen said.

The challenge is to “do what we’ve always done – create extraordinary retail experiences” but to integrate this into the “digital ecosystem that defines the world today” he added.

Susan McDonald, Mirvac’s group executive for retail, agreed. “Consumers won’t accept the continuation of sameism,” she said, adding that the “department store of 8000 (sqm) GLA no longer defines good retail”.

Changes to the tax system were flagged by numerous speakers over the course of the conference. Lendlease CEO Steve McCann argued that stamp duty was a “tax on mobility that drives inefficiencies” while Frasers Property chief Rod Fehring said “fundamental tax reform was absolutely necessary” for Australia’s future.

Peering into the future of the residential market revealed a number of radical shifts – from new regulation and climate change to foreign buyers and economic transition – while the property leaders in the ‘View from the Top’ session all agreed that the commercial sector is experiencing unprecedented transformation.

For Louise Mason, AMP Capital’s managing director for office and industrial, the landlord is no longer king – instead it’s all about the customer.

Adapting to changing tenant preferences is a big challenge for the office sector, she said.

“The retail sector has always had to keep pace with consumer preferences, but the office market hasn’t had to do that in the same way,” she said.

Flexibility is the future, said DEXUS chief executive and former Property Council President Darren Steinberg. The “old days” of signing a 10-year lease are behind us, as the “rate of change is so rapid that tenants don’t know where they’ll be in a few years’ time,” he said.

But just as change is certain, so too is the underlying strength of Australia’s property industry, with the nation’s best and brightest property leaders agreeing that jobs, prosperity and growth were on the horizon.