I love the fact that this  doom and gloom thread started way back in 2006. I may have missed something, but I didn't witness a collapse of any description in our local property markets in that time. A few specualtive areas have gone down, so has the high end of town, but that was always going to happen. Dunno, maybe I am blind.

Yes, Yes, I know the 2011 situation is different to 2010,2009,2008,2007 and 2006.

On a related tangent;
I recently went back to some "hotspot" predictions in API from Feb 2009 to see how the hotspots faired up until the latest figures. From what I can see, 70% of them grew at around 4.5-5% p.a. based on median house price comparisons. 10% grew at around 7.5% p.a. and 10% fell less than 2-3% p.a.
Out of interest, I randomly compared suburbs out of the indexes at the back  of the API over the same time period and found almost identical figures.

For the record, I am perfectly happy if my property portfolio grows at 5% p.a. As long as I can keep an 80% LVR and sustainable cashflow while I wait for the occasional, largely unpredictable 8%+ growth spurts that push me along faster. Super bonus points if I get the occasional random 10%+ boom.

I feel sorry for those folks that cite bank interest rates of 6.5% as a comparison to annual growth of 5% in property. I ain't gonna try explaining it to people that have already made their minds up. And vice versa, of course.

As a repeat customer of BMT, I was quoted a similar $1500 + GST figure for 3 villas on one title. 2 of the villas were absolutely identical and the third was the same with an extra garage. The original quote they gave me was over $2200 before I mentioned the words "competition" and "shop around".

I shopped the quote around and consistently got cheaper (and faster) from some other companies – DEPPRO and The Depreciator were a couple that come to mind.

I eventually went with DEPPRO for ~$950. Report was doen within 2 weeks with minimal fuss and the quality was almost as good as the BMT one I had done previously.

VERY disappointed with BMT. They treated me like an uninformed idiot. I am most certainly not uninformed, albeit I may be an idiot

Pays to shop around.

FYI – Vero and Terri Scheer are Suncorp brands. As is AAMI and a whole bunch of others. That said, they have different policies, terms, sales and support teams.

Fair dinkum, some of you folks have lots of money. $610k median house price!

What sort of buy were you thinking? Unit, House, Renovate?

Keen to understand what sort of strategy you have investing in an area like this. Mainly because it is the opposite of anything I think about. The holding costs must be very high and the yield super low, so your Capital Growth Crystal Ball must be pretty darn good!

I use Suncorp and Calliden (through a broker).

Haven't had to claim on either, which I reckon is the real test of quality and customer experience.

Nice one Anthony.

Can you please add a commentary on the use of the right investment structures? I am continuing to get massively conflicting advice from experts on the use of trusts.

FYI – I am an active equities and property investor with 4 IP's (well, 2 becoming 4 after a strata title)

Yeah, I saw a heated debate on another forum about this. Some folks presented reasonable evidence to suggest that there actually wasn't a shortage and there wasn't a real rise in rents.

Seems to be some very angry people out there that hate property investors. They think we are all rich land barons crushing the will of our poor "serfs" through our unbridled greed. Angry little people.