thanks robert, should not use acronyms. Although they are exchange traded, few retail share investors have much interest in them as they are percieved slow & low volatility. I suspect they are sold mainly on advice of investment advisors in a diversified portfolio strategy.

Except that they have been floating on air (and about to drop ?) in the…[Read more]

Robert, Glebe is not a crime spot anymore. Or if it is it doesn’t matter. You cannot get a 2br terrace there for less than 600k. It is now a mega yuppie zone.

I used to live in Redfern, on Abercrombie street, in the 80’s. Crime was MUCH worse then, but even then it was over-rated. I enjoyed living there and had no major problems (ok, my car got…[Read more]

Canberra has good town planning and a higher average income I think (but check on this) then Sydney. Unfortunately it’s very cold and depressing in the winter.

For a period in the early 90’s there was a great fear that as it became self governing there would be less commonwealth subsidisation and it would also suffer economically with downsizing…[Read more]

I have thought about this. I used to think buy the more expensive one. But actually it doesn’t matter. They are both cyclical.

It comes from us confusing return with value. A properties value depends on location, location, location. But actually the % return has little to do with this. If high end suburbs did better by only a couple of % then…[Read more]

redfern has a prime inner city location near the uni, train station, CBD and will probably do better than the rest of sydney. It will slowly get gentrified like newtown, camperdown, glebe etc. I think most people who have lived in the area know this and it has run in the last couple of years a bit already. There are still some interesting…[Read more]

I read a funny article on top 10 stressful events rated by people. They had a stress index, 100 was spouse dying, next was child dying, next was being retrenched, then divorce and then…number 8 was christmas (with the whole family)!

Unfortunately it has become a big marketing thing for retailers and there is all this pressure on people. Well,…[Read more]

I never found anything particularly insightful in AFR even when I was a trader. There is a whole lot of routine news which you get off bloomberg anyway. If you are a property investor you are going to find a lot of this very boring.

There are a lot of resources on the internet (cnbc, cnnfn, bloomberg, fiendbear, daily reckoning, motley fool, this…[Read more]

it is indeed hopleless to try to save the world’s problems singlehandedly. But if you encounter someone who has a car accident on the street where they are unable to themselves call for help or in some other situation where there is an obligation to help someone else (as a decent human fellow being) then you should. There is no obligation to…[Read more]

completion date late 05, Big E should send the top end of the market down. The bottom and medium range bottoms started to fall out already, but 700-1.5M appartments still holding up well. This should sort that out (along with domain, QV, vic point, milano, freshwater, all MASSIVE & sched for 2005 completion). Strata fees probably through the roof…[Read more]

this baby bonus is a joke and the most inefficient handout ever.

A better way to encourage people to have babies is to have affordable housing. It would be interesting to know what the fertility rate in Sydney is and what it will be in the future. I reckon it will drop like a stone. Young paople cannot afford an average home in Sydney (or in fact…[Read more]

tassie probably has had it’s run. Most of the inflow of funds is from melbourne but will be less as that cools down or even gets icy.

The scenery and resources will be worth something one day, but who knows how long that will take. Weather too cold to be a retirement mecca.

That said, there are still some +CF prospects like georgetown with alcoa…[Read more]

Canada has a 50% CGT rebate as in aust (for residents and non residents) but I thought there was no neg gearing deductability allowance. If this is not the case how do you account for the high relative yields compared to even the US ??

hrmmm… you may do well out of it, but what is your strategy ? It sounds like you will get no CG and it is a depreciating asset. The only positive is the +CF.

If you have small equity have you thought about a listed property trust type investment on a margin loan ? That too could be +CF (depending on the LPT you choose) and you would a) have…[Read more]

also take a trip to the place, talk to the locals, why has pop growth been happening, is there a mine nearby ? Go for a drive. Also talk to people in your city who know the place as well. I meet a lot of people in my work, so when they mention they are from a place I am not famillira with my interest is piqued. Recently I met a guy who ahd just…[Read more]

Canada has no negative gearing tax deductability. Hence less speculative component. Funadamentals are strong. Nice ski fields too.

Overseas property is worth looking at but risky if you are not a local. Still a small foray can surprise on the upside. China and S/E asia have been going gangbusters recently. I visited Vietnam 10 years ago and was…[Read more]

net debt per head underestimates the average mortgage as it includes people who rent (who have no debt)

gen x, far from being lazy layabouts are a hardworking group. I feel sorry for them that they are laden with debt from high prices.

The other half of the recent increase in debt hasw been BB’s. Far from being wealthy as supposed, they have…[Read more]

It is illogical to bid against the vendor.

You are giving away information (for free).

‘In 2002-03, average (mean) equivalised disposable household income for all persons living in private dwellings (i.e., the income that a single person household would require to maintain the same standard of living as the average person living in all private dwellings in Australia) was $510 per week (table 1). There were approximately 19.3 million…[Read more]

Not sure whether your property is retail or industrial but both are hot at the moment, particularly indutrial. The agent probably doesn’t need to be keen on you. It is not uncommon to lob in very low offers as some of these proprties are on the market for ages. I spent years negotiating to buy out my next door neighbour. But the market was not so…[Read more]