ummester wrote:
It will be alive and kicking until the ineviatable return to long term price vs wage ratios are again met:)

Don't count on it! Then again, either you or I could be right. Take your pick, 50-50 chance!

Wonderful. I'm already in for the ride!

Milliet wrote:
I am thinking somewhere in Geelong?

At that price bracket, look into areas like Norlane and Corio. If you can stretch a little more, look at North Geelong. I'm a big fan of the beachside northern suburbs of Geelong and think there's much potential here. Only time will tell, but Geelong is becoming a 'mini-Melbourne'. There's a…[Read more]

simple wrote:
Nice summary going back a long time! Would be good to see 'affordability' plotted against wage/price ration…. The way the chart stands, it represents one-sided view,  expensive house may still be affordable IF say interest rates are low. So we need to also see how much % of the wage take up repayments, not just wage/price…[Read more]

This might be stating the obvious and if so I apologise. I personally know of friends and even relatives who are generally not very careful with what they read and sign, and going through things with a fine-toothed comb is not everyone's forte. If it is too much for you to read ALL the documents before you sign them, then look for a personal…[Read more]

casanovawa wrote:
Similarly i know a female friend who had bought a 3bed/2bath unit…  She now has two other people staying with her which is helping her bottom line considerably…

Just advise your friend that there could be tax implications come time to sell. But I suppose if she was weighing it up between being able to live under her own…[Read more]

Doesn't have to be fancy, but near the beach and amenity with unobstructed views to the ocean, with the sunset visible from the deck. This one:http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-brighton-109638341'Nuff said!

Paullie wrote:

dachopper wrote:
That is my point…. It looks as if guys bought too high, the market is still too high, but the sellers won't sell at market price, but they can afford not to sell….. I can't see how that, would give growth. I just payed 330 for a 1 bed unit that gives 450 a week rent in NSW. 450-500 a week for a house in…[Read more]

bumskins wrote:

fWord wrote:

simple wrote:
Let's see if trend continue: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/6416.0Main+Features1Dec%202011?OpenDocument

-6.1% for Melbourne from Dec 2010 – Dec 2011. That's not so bad. I lost more money in shares!

Depends really. There is a lot leverage in property. So if you looked at say…[Read more]

simple wrote:
Let's see if trend continue: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/6416.0Main+Features1Dec%202011?OpenDocument

-6.1% for Melbourne from Dec 2010 – Dec 2011. That's not so bad. I lost more money in shares!

No offense to anybody here. But if you choose to buy one of the squillions of new, off-the-plan apartments within the CBD area, then good luck to you anyway. People might buy these apartments for the 'stamp duty savings' and the 'guaranteed rental return', plus the impression that they should be easy to rent. However they do this without…[Read more]

LAWL'Paid property spruiker'? Look at me, I do it for free.This is just hilarious! In life, people with a brain and a backbone can and will do the thinking by themselves. People hoping for a get-rich-quick scheme are taking a short cut to getting poor. There's no easy way to make money. It's just plain and simple. If it were *that* easy to become…[Read more]

A fall in prices of houses by up to 60% and a fall in land prices of 80-90%? Boy, I'd like to see that.

Yeah, for the people who missed the Norlane boat, Corio is well worth looking at.

Von Krumm wrote:
This is what has me worried. With all the bears in the market at the moment I am not sure what to start investing in?I have finally finished uni and got a decent salary but not sure if I should go back and get  an Economics degree just to decipher all the information in the current volatile climate.Australia’s house prices are r…[Read more]

For me, the period of acquisition is over for now. I'm focusing on paying down debt maintaining my investments and letting time work its magic.

Andrew_A wrote:
…and locations (1m+ coastal) getting hammered, always a good time to be making money, mostly from value adding presently as the capital growth has been absent.

Coastal is where I'd be buying now if I had the cash. Then again I've always been partial to properties near the sea.

Thanks for the information Andrew. At first glance it may appear house prices are falling through the floor. However, taken in perspective, even the negative 5.51% for Brisbane ain't bad. I live in Melbourne and have personally seen the median prices in some suburbs increase by 20% or so within a 12 month period. A 4-5% drop in prices isn't…[Read more]

"Rather than capping rents in the private rental market, we need to be focusing on increasing supply in both the public and private rental market."Fully agree. The final statement in this article is arguably the most important, highlighting a pertinent issue best described by the dreaded 'S' word.

DWolfe wrote:
Well you would have quite a few people selling an unencumbered property worth 1.1mill for $995k. The tax would then be avoided, and you would get a drop in property prices.

As a form of tax evasion, yes it's conceivable that this could happen, and we'll get a temporary drop in median prices in suburbs where most of the houses are…[Read more]