It looks like the Australian housing market will be a ‘tug-of-war’ this year with low interest rates pulling hard on one end of the rope and economic uncertainty joining forces with subdued prospects for economic, income and employment growth at the other.

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
I expect the economic side of the equation to win out in the near term, influenced in the first half of 2012 at least by continuing global financial turbulence. This is likely to cause the Reserve Bank of Australia to drop interest rates once or twice in the first half of the year and this should underpin our property markets.
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If our economists are armed with all the research available in today’s information age, why can’t they agree on where are our property markets are heading? In fact a better question would be – why do so many get it wrong?

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
The simple answer is that market movements are far from an exact science.
The fundamentals are easy to monitor. Things like population growth, supply and demand, employment levels, interest rates, affordability and inflationary pressures. However one overriding factor that the experts have difficulty quantifying is investor sentiment.
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Why are some property investors able to grow significant wealth while others who have the same information, the same opportunities and the same resources are just not able to make a success of their investments?

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
Here’s why… while certain knowledge, techniques and strategies are critical in becoming a successful property investor, it’s just as – if not more – important to have the right mindset.
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I’ve heard it said that investing in property i s
simple, but it’s not easy.

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
Now this is not a play on words.
Let’s face it… each year hundreds of thousands of Australians turn to property investment as a way of developing financial freedom, getting more choices in their life or building a retirement nest egg. But very few achieve their goals.
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I predict that this is going to be a boom year!

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
But before you start wondering what I’m ‘on’ to make a comment like that, let me explain… I believe this is going to be a boom year for fright!
There’s no shortage of scary stuff in the media, with headlines such as ‘House prices are unaffordable!’, ‘Property prices will crash’, ‘Which economy will topple next?’ and ‘Britney Spears does it again!’
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At this time of year it’s customary to look at the year that’s just passed and make some forecasts for the year ahead.

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
Well… 2011 will be remembered as the year the property market slumped. It didn’t crash like many property pessimists predicted, but it stalled in some areas, dropped a little in others and prices fell significantly in a few spots.
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Supply and demand are important factors in the performance of our property markets and currently we have subdued demand and an oversupply of properties.

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
This means that our property markets are likely to remain flat for much of 2012.
Recently RP Data reported that based on the current rate of sales and total number of homes being advertised for sale, the Australian residential market has 7.4 months of effective housing supply overhanging it.
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What’s the most important economic question in the world today?

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
While many of us are concerned about the collapse of the euro or whether the US will fall back into recession, closer to home a more important question could be: will the China bubble burst?
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Over the years I’ve seen many people think about getting rich. They proclaim affirmations, visualise and meditate, yet they don’t get rich.

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
Let’s be realistic… to get ahead in the real world you have to take action.
Why is it that most people don’t take action?
Sometimes it’s lack of knowledge, but more frequently it comes down to fear that stops people from living their dreams.
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Recently there have been protests around the world against the richest one per cent.

BY MICHAEL YARDNEY
The protesters say they’re opposed to “the fundamental inequality in society – social, economic, ecological – and want to change the ways that our society is structured and run so that way, the vast majority of people – the 99 per cent – have their interests accounted for, their voices heard, their needs represented.”
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