Property bust not here yet … worse to come

This is how it will play out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgoBb8m1eE

That's a disappointment.  I have been reviewing the planned infrastructure spending in Doha in the near term.  It is a phenomenal budget and my company only want a small slice of it.  We are going to put a manager in country and after reading about the net worth of it's residents and knowing how much is going to be spent up there, I was toying with the idea of volunteering for the role. But if you cant buy houses then that is a major negative for me.

I just came back from Qatar after spending another week there. Unless it tickle your fancy, it's is not a pleasant place to leave. In the way, that lifestatyle is very different. I am not talking about 38C winter temperatures but outside world instead. All life is really indoors. Go out, and its sand and concrete.

On the positive note, crime is basically zero. You can leave you car running with the key in ignition and valuables inside and go shopping for 2 hours. When you came back, the AC keep the car cool and no one would touch it. You can leave your mobile/wallet on the table in the coffee shop and go to the bathroom. When back, it's where you left it. Extraordinary experience!

Real Estate there is interesting topic. A lot of it build, all to high specification by the regional standard. Prices are high and vacancy low. I do not know a way to own RE in Qatar, law say only Qatary can own the land. Maybe you can purchase apartment without the right of land? You will need to investigate.

They are preparing for FIFA 2020 I think. They will do what ever it takes to get the contract. The proposed expenditure on infrastructure and related services is extraordinary. They are budgeting to build a bridge for example, 50 km long. They are already opened up areas to practice alternative religions, sell pork and alcohol in selected places. 

It is interesting time there…

I see. What services you/your company provide?

We are in water treatment/distribution segment.

Our company is in trench less construction, specifically tunneling. So we are also in the water/wastewater distribution as well as electrical, communication and oil and gas.

bardon wrote:

simple wrote:

A lot of dancing there, but we are not going anywhere!

So are you saying that there wont be a property bust and that there isn't worse to come?

There is definitely no crash happening here. Some pain out there, but no bust.

It's 8 years in to this thread, prices still where we was in 2006. Went up/down and sideways now.  Starting to look like there will be no 'bust', just a prolonged stagnation instead?!

Disregarding my view on what it will do, I am active investor, with last IP purchased in 2011. Current situation created some nice opportunities out there.

Hey all – long time no post.

It does look very much like stagnation at this stage. Japan in the 90s = Australia in the 2010s

This means, though, if you haven't entered the market, saving is a better option than buying. If you are in the market, selling will be subdued for quite some time.

The test is still going to be BB retirements – no income means no NG. Those who have their IPs paid for can hold on, those who do not may have to sell.

I wont have long to wait at all with Europe.  I will be in a nice boutique hotel in Old Rome right on the south bank of the Tiber and immediately across from the Castle St Angelo on the 4th December 12.  Then of to a converted convent in Venice and then a hotel right in the middle of the old city of Munich.  After that going up market a bit and staying in a hotel at Place Vendome in the 1st Arrondissement section of Paris followed by a Eurostar to London it only takes two hours from central Paris to central London on my birthday, which is fecking unbelievable in my books.  So all in all I am looking forward to seeing first hand how tough they are doing it and capitalising on my strong AUD.

The only set back is that when I was showing my mate that my hotel in Paris was only two mins walking distance to Bar Hemingway on google maps, i clicked on it, only to find that it is closed for a major reno.  I guess you have to take the good with the bad in life and I will just have to make up for that massive loss of amenity in another way.

Wife was in Rome last year with our daughter-in-law (Maltese), her mum and my wife's friend. Rome is horrendously expensive as is much of Europe. If your going with your wife she'll love the clothing stores. The quality of their clothing makes ours look like rags. And according to the wife very reasonably priced given the quality. 

The downside is that Rome retailing is struggling;

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

Wednesday 15 August 2012

“The sales have not gone well,” said clothes shop manager Fabio Anticoli. While the eternal city usually draws tourists from all over the world who spend their cash on Italian designs, “this year, it’s an impoverished tourism.” The sales have gone “very badly” compared with 2011 according to the shopkeepers’ association Confesercenti, which reports a 20 percent drop in turnover in central Rome, a figure that rises to 40 percent in outer suburbs.

http://www.arabnews.com/crisis-hit-rome-shops-await-tourists-amid-closures

Cold weather that time of year should be interesting….. brrrrr!

Anyway have a good trip. I'll be interesting to hear your impressions when you get back.

and….

If one takes the chart above showing the absolute level in Corporate debt, and assumes this is a valid proxy for total leverage growth across all other sectors, one can say, with a straight face, that if all Chinese debt on and off the books, including shadow leverage, were to be pooled, it would make America's grand consolidated debt (excluding the $100 trillion in entitlements) of 345% appears quite modest.