API Blog :: Have your say!

April 4, 2012

Why in the world is there a property boom in Cuba?


There are some things we just take for granted. Like the ability to buy and sell a car or a home.

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY

Sure we sometimes complain that properties are expensive, but we just expect to be able to buy or sell something we own.

However, it’s not that way everywhere in the world.

When Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959, he placed a ban on property sales, which has been in effect until late last year, when the purchasing and selling of private property was legalised by President Raul Castro in a bid to keep the struggling Communist state afloat.

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Is the magic of Moranbah over?


Every investor who bought in the mining boom town of Moranbah last year seemed to be doing very well. I watched as prices went up, rents skyrocketed and average mum and dads hit the jackpot. Then, last month, the bubble finally burst.

BY LAUREN CROSS

I wrote a blog about a month ago, asking if mining towns are really that risky.
Well, as it turns out – they are!
And it’s the seemingly safe and mighty mining town of Moranbah that has come crashing down before anyone even saw it coming. Who would have thought that a town with at least five future planned mines, (see page 24 of this document for details) would currently be a place where landlords can’t get rent. Before Christmas, properties were achieving up to $3000 per week in rent. Now, a standoff between landlords and mining giant BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) is resulting in dozens of vacant homes (there are currently 121 listings on realestate.com.au).
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April 3, 2012

When one real estate agent blows the whistle on another


Some agents seem to delight in making it difficult for novice homebuyers, as the story below reveals.

BY TIM O’DWYER

The whistle-blowing agent here was not known to me and his detailed account (slightly edited) arrived completely unsolicited. I subsequently phoned him and suggested that, for what it might be worth, he should personally report the whole matter to the Office of Fair Trading. But don’t hold your breath, I added. Here is the letter;

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