Free bump. It’s been few months. Anyone made any observations of the market lately?
I can only add that renting out houses becoming more difficult. Took us 3 months to find tenant for waterfront house, had to drop rent from $1,200 to $850/week.

Guys, I think we have fundamentally two completely separate topics here.
First one raise by Freckle, that AU economy and RE are more than likely to be visited the recession of some severity.
Second is what 'sciencesurf" is talking about, that money to be made on RE.

In regards to recession, I would agree with Freckle, we will see it, we actually…[Read more]

I would call this scenario you have painted 50/50 chance. If you think that will come true, buy gold/silver and make a killing.
Otherwise, housing in AU seem to be now well and truly in stagnation phase. May spend another lot of 5-6 years there as I can see it.  Fascinating variable is interest rates.

Thanks for the link, missed it!

Source: http://blog.residex.com.au/2011/10/19/regional-australia-7/

2007- 2011 prices are flat for greater Brisbane. 2011 – 2014, slight improvement evident over last 12 months:
Source: http://www.allenrealestate.com.au

So a summary would be we are in the flat market from 2007 till 2014. That is 6 years of no growth. Considering 3% CPI, than…[Read more]

If I would be looking to spend $450K, I would travel down for few weekends few times to get the feel, visit open homes and talk to agents. Hire push bike and ride lots in the area of interest, get the feel of the suburb.
Then you leave and decide if you are comfortable to make a purchase yourself or need an agent. Remember, it's your money.…[Read more]

Interesting to observe such a separation between action in prices in mid/low end of the market versus high end and luxury properties. They act almost totally independent to the eyes of the observer. 
Agree about the crash. What makes it a muddy waters is that some commentators pick pockets of the market and state 'strong activity', or observe…[Read more]

Time for short update.
Been observing number of specific properties around Brisbane for the last 4 years. Areas of interest Ascot, Hamilton, Wynnum, Bulimba, Hawthorn.
In Ascot, house on the hill, valued at $3.5M sold for $1.9M after 12 months on the market (bank sale). Second house valued at about $3.5M (at best times) still on the market. Had…[Read more]

Good advice by Freckle.
It's a mixed bag at the moment. We have property that is within 10km from CBD purchased for about $650K in 2009 still worth $650K according to sale next door in December. On the other hand, we got property under the contract few weeks back for $1.4M that was 1.95M In 2009.
So, in mine view high end is folding but is hot as…[Read more]

Same property now was listed for $950K

G'day,
Nice to see that you been so active in investment so early, you will do well.
I like your strategy, about having paid out PPOR. Maybe because we are the same, it provides a fall back plan if something goes wrong.
One advice is to watch your cash flow!  Your returns are in the range of 6.5% meaning that you are running at the loss on your…[Read more]

SOURCE link

NEWS: Gold Coast home cost $21.44m, sells for $5.3m

ONE of the biggest homes on the Gold Coast has sold for less than a quarter of what it cost to buy the land and build.

The huge unfinished house on the elite Sovereign Islands was put on the market by mortgagee, ANZ Bank after court action in Australia and Singapore to evict owner…[Read more]

god_of_money,
I can, have few charts saved. But I do not consider them reliable as per se. Knowing how it is calculated and how the data sourced, I do not like to use them.
Instead I pick properties in areas I like and watch them over time. With few dozen properties on the my 'watch list' I get reasonable feel of how the area or segment is…[Read more]

Interesting flip side to above post:
Few houses in the range of $500k are getting sold fast. If it is a clean house and investors material, they go under contract n the matter of few weeks.

Another 6 months passed, recent observation:

A house (good area, 20 min from CBD) purchased in 2007 for 1.1Mil, valued at 2011 at 1.5Mill but did not sold in 2011. On the market again, trying to sell for 1.3Mil. No offers at this point in time. People are looking but noone willing to offer over 1Mil.
So from 2007 till 2013 no price increase.

Karley12 – Welcome to the propertyinvesting! Some fresh blood is always welcome.

First post and right on the hot topic of Perth market, supporting biggaz13 view? If I had so much luck today, I would go out and buy Gold Lotto ticket

Back to the Brisbane, I find that rents are becoming increasingly difficult to increase over last 12 months. Boarding houses are now been flat on rent for 24 months, top end property ($1000pw) are stagnant. Only middle priced housing still can go up some 2-3% this year (assuming that it was priced correctly in 2012).

There seem to be inflow of…[Read more]

Do the calculations, see what works for you. Different people have different goals.
For me, aim of the game is income, so I would reduce the debt so it start to be positive and sink income back in to it accelerating repayment.  
Some 'try to stay' as negative geared to reduce TAX on income. It's a choice they make, so strategy is different.
Others…[Read more]

Mine are: Hope for the best, plan for the worst!

Been to the Auctions today. 
600K Property, 5Km from the CBD Brisbane. Mortgagee sale. Started at $600K,got to $635 with 3 people out of 30 active. One out of three was employee of the real estate agency (by my observation) who ended up with highest bet. No sale I guess.

1.5Mil property (reserve), about 6-8 buyers. No offers at 1Mil Passed…[Read more]

@ xdrew

I will add to the above that with some creativity and bargaining you can get positive cashflow in areas of reasonable/good CG. Even more so lately, many vendors are discounting and some are under pressure.
I am also big supporter of the idea of leaving some 'buffer' as XDREW mentioned. Our calculations of risk include loss of main income…[Read more]