Spud

Both Melbourne and Brisbane commenced the upturn phase of this new property cycle in mid 2006 – so there is still some way for them to go yet.

Sure both cities have had tremendous capital growth in the last year, in fact too much for my liking at this early stage in the proeprty cycle, but there is still lots of upside in both cities.

Remember both cities are running a 3 tiered, divided proeprty market . The inner and more affluent suburbs are out performing which substantial capital growth – double digit in most cases and over 20% in some suburbs over the last year.

The middle ring suburbs are now moving forward as part of the ripple effect. And the oute suburbs are not performing well.

If you waat to know my thoughts on where we are in the property cycle and my verison of the property clock check out this article by clicking here

You say it needs a pergola – but does it really need one? You've survived without one.

It's very unlikley you'll get $10,000 more for having a pergola so why bother?

Ben

I did not mention any specific municipality, but I do know that many inner Melbourne suburbs have exhibited 20%+ growth in the last year while most middle and outer suburbs have only had 9% or so growth. Other outer suburbs have had little growth.

Our experience from doing feasibility studies in many Melbourne suburbs is that projects stack up much better in areas where prices are higher.

There's more flexibility with end values as opposed to some of the less affluent suburbs where prices are capped.

So one of the least importnat criteria we look at when looking for a potential development site is which council is it in. We only look at this to see what their development policy is and how that impacts the potential site.

Parts of the Brisbane market are booming, but the stats won't reflect it yet – but our Brisbane office has noticed a huge surge in demand for owner occupiers and investors and good properties are selling within days of being put on the market and receiving multiple offer.

Brisbane has definitely shown good long term growth -in fact its been the best long-term performer in real estate among Australia’s capital cities.

Since 1970 (when you could buy a median price house for $8,500) it has averaged 11% growth each year.

This means over the past 35 years Brisbane prices have doubled every 6 years or so.

Of course the growth has not been even. There was a long period during the 90's when prices went nowhere despite strong populaltion growth.

But it has huge short term and long term growth potential. It's time to buy – but buy selectively While the official REIQ figures show that medium house prices have risen by 9.5% in the year to June, the Brisbane market, like most property markets around Australia, is running at two speeds.  Some suburbs, particularly those in the more affluent lifestyle regions or suburbs going through transition are out performing. While those suburbs that are traditionally where younger families or first home buyers live are languishing, as these areas are more affected by interest rates and petrol prices. "There are a handful of suburbs that had growth in excess of 20% and some in excess of 30% over the last twelve months. For example, Manly has had growth of 25.7%, Mt Gravatt has had 20% growth over the last year, Ash Grove (24.1%), Greenslopes (20%), Kelvin Grove (20.4%) and Belmont (32%) and Auchenflower (29.7%).  On the other hand there are many suburbs that have under performed with growth of 2%, 3% or 4% in the same time period. Currently owner occupiers and astute investors are all vying for the same small group of quality properties as they come onto the market and many are paying considerably above the asking price within days of the property becoming available.

No you didn't ask a "stupid" question – just one that won't be answered the way you want.

Metropole Buyers Agency is Australia's biggest and busiest Buyers Agency – buying more properties than any other property advocate – It's been a  long, long time since we found anything that is +ve cash flow.

Good properties in top locations are highly sought after, get good capital growth put have poor cash flow.

I understand why you may be looking for cash flow – but today you can only find them in secondary proerties in very poor locations – something buyers agents tend to avoid

Hi

Thanks for the kind words.

We do try hard to looka fter our clients

You are correct – sometimes they are not – but in this case these guys  at C&N specialise in property investment and are more knowledgable that the "average suburban accountant".
 
Many of our clients use C&N and they are generally very happy with them. And by the way – they do not charge "by the minute" – I think it is every 10 mins – I'm told they are not that expesive

I must declare that:
1. I am good friends with the partners of C&N
2. I do not use them as accounants – I've been using someone else for over 20 years – who charges even more more "per minute" than C&N

There is no simple answer – the price differential will be greater in a high priced inner suburb than in a cheaper outer suburb. The differential will be greater in Sydney than in Launceston.

To work out the value of your proeprty check out sites like http://www.domain.com.au ot http://www.realestate.com.au and look for properties similar to yours – this will give you an indication of its value plus you can look up prices achieved for properties recently sold.

By the way – the value will have very little to do with retntal potential – that's not how residential proeprties are valued.