2014 a "remarkable real estate year": Ray White

Last year saw a mortgage broking milestone, a record-breaking December and inner-city markets cracking along at a "blistering pace", according to the latest Ray White White Paper.

Ray White Group's Brian White noted the group transacted $3.37 billion of real estate in December, a result he said would be a stand out any month of the year, "let alone one dominated by vacation and family time".

In December 2014, the group's New Zealand arm bested its previous efforts, selling $704 million worth of property. According to White, the agency has never set a record in December, in any of its many markets. The group operates in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, China, the Middle East and the United States.

However, White wrote that Australia is lagging behind the New Zealand branch:

"Australia is at least one year behind – still short of its second anniversary of market revitalisation."

He noted the generational shift taking place in Sydney, with buyers previously moving to the suburbs, rather than clamouring to access inner-city markets, as they do today.

White confirmed the ongoing trend of Chinese investment in rural land, pointing to two large sales secured by Ray White Rural Sydney principal Bruce Gunning.

"With a total value of over $40million, these properties have been purchased by Chinese investors, showing the continuing foreign interest in Australian rural real estate," White wrote.

"The properties have had contracts exchanged in late December 2014 and are expected to settle in the first quarter of 2015."

Commercial property was a strong performer in 2014, with the business writing 65% more transactions last year than in 2013. White, however, did note that the regional markets "were a long way behind the capital markets and did not get the traditional flow-on effect from capital city activity".

Ray White Group's joint chairman, who is a third generation leader of the company (founded in 1902), also raised the strong performance of the mortgage broking industry in 2014. He noted that brokers were responsible for 51.5% of all residential loans in the September quarter.