July 29, 2011
Backyards, barbeques and big houses have been the norm with Australian homeowners for generations. But what of future generations?
BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
Some demographers suggest we’re so in love with the idea of having big spaces to raise a family that it’s impossible for us to change, even as our population is set to grow exponentially over the next fifty years and many are concerned about where all of these new people will live.
July 26, 2011
You can analyse as much statistical data as you like, and in many cases twist it to argue any point you want to make, but ask the average homebuyer if they’re finding it any easier to purchase property and I doubt the answer would be an out and out yes.
BY CATHERINE CASHMORE
?Bear in mind a homebuyer is not like an investor. An investor can pick and choose the areas they search in. They don’t have to warm to the ‘feel’ of a home. They can be walking distance from any café, not their favoured one. They can purchase close to any good school, not the one their children attend. Investors don’t need to buy until a good opportunity presents itself and for this reason they can step in and out of the market at will while targeting those ‘need to sell vendors’. In such cases, there are often multiple properties that tick the right boxes and we’re currently in a perfect market atmosphere to take advantage of them.
July 22, 2011
If you’ve been following the sharemarket over the past few years you’d know it’s been performing poorly. On the other hand, most segments of the property market have also had minimal growth lately.
BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
So the question I’m posing today is: which is a better investment – property or shares?
If you asked Donald Trump he’d say property is the only road to riches. On the other hand if you asked Warren Buffett he’d tell you that you could become financially free by investing in the right shares. Who is right, and which investment is right for you?
July 20, 2011
The deadly Hendra virus has reared its ugly head yet again in Australia recently, sweeping around Queensland and causing havoc, killing horses and threatening human lives.
What’s that got to do with property you ask? Well, let me explain.
BY VANESSA DE GROOT
My attention was alerted to a letter to the editor that appeared in Queensland’s The Courier-Mail newspaper last week. It was from a citizen concerned about the impact of the Hendra virus on the residents of the Brisbane suburb of Hendra. One of those concerns was the impact on the Hendra real estate market from sharing a name with the Hendra virus. In part, the letter read:
July 19, 2011
A lot of my clients ask me what kind of things are really important to have in your car and available on a building site when getting started with doing renovations. About a month ago I put together the first part of a list for you to consider and now I bring you the second part.
BY ANA STANKOVIC
It’s by no means an exclusive list of what you should have available and this list is likely to grow with the more renovations that you do, but it’s a good place to start and at the beginning of each renovation you should try and have as many of these things available.
July 15, 2011
There has been much talk recently about Australia’s rapid population explosion and our capacity to house the growing number of new residents.
BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
Although immigration has slowed in recent times, the long-term projections for population growth still have many concerned about where all of these new people will live and how our already strained infrastructure will cope.
July 14, 2011
The latest RP Data Market Update provides a mixed bag of data, with both good news and bad news for Australia’s property market.
BY PETER KOULIZOS
Reading some of the newspapers or watching the evening news, you’d most certainly be excused for thinking that Australia was in an economic recession. Much of what we hear in the media is doom and gloom; rarely is there a positive story about the property market nowadays. However, when you dig a little deeper, you can also find some very positive news, which can give us a little bit more confidence in the market.
Yes, it may sound strange, but there definitely is positive news out there!
July 8, 2011
Just in case you hadn’t noticed, the rich are getting richer.
BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
According to the latest survey of the world’s wealthy by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, there are now 192,900 high net worth individuals in Australia, up 11.1 per cent from last year. To get into this rich list you need to have more than $1 million of investable assets – not including your family home, collectible items and super.
July 6, 2011
If you decide to invest in property you’re always taking a risk, be it little or large. Sure, you can take steps to reduce your risk, but at the end of the day you can’t be 100 per cent sure of anything.
BY VANESSA DE GROOT
When we decide to buy an investment property, ideally we do all the necessary research.
July 1, 2011
The Block was a hugely popular television show last year. Three gruelling months of sleeplessness and renovations paid off for three of the four couples competing in 2010 series, who on the face of it, seemed to sell their apartments for a profit.
BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
Not surprisingly it encouraged a new generation of property investors to turn their hands to renovation.
