Why tenants should buy.
Now the official interest rate has been cut to 1.5%, the argument for a tenant to buy rather than rent has never been more compelling. Let’s take a typical 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment around Carlton, Richmond, South Yarra, or South Melbourne with a capital value of say $650,000 and rental value of $600/wk ($31,285 pa). That…Read More→
Is Airbnb OK in apartments?
“Would you lease your apartment through a short stay group like Airbnb?” “Yes – No – Maybe…” “Well are you OK for everyone else in your building to lease their apartments via Airbnb if they wish?” “Well that would be up to the collective group of owners (owners corporation) to decide wouldn’t it?” “Actually No…”…Read More→
The 7 Laws of apartment buying.
After inspecting hundreds of apartments and dealing with aparmtent buyers and sellers for 25 years here are my 7 Laws of apartment buying. The laws are the same for buying an existing or “off the plan” apartment. And even if you are an investor and won’t live in the apartment, a tenant will pay you…Read More→
Should I sell now?
It’s the big question many apartment owners are wrestling with right now… “With many new apartments being built, should I sell mine?” There are also other things impacting the market, like banks tightening the rules on residential lending, and potential changes to superannuation. The latest pain vs gain report from CoreLogic which compares all sales…Read More→
At last!!! The country killer might go.
You know that feeling like screaming into the wind. Experts for years have been advising any government that will listen that stamp duty is a major drag on the economy. Most recently the Henry review said stamp duty has no place in a modern tax system. This morning’s AFR reports that as part of the Federal…Read More→
Is there a better property tax solution?
Surely there must be a better property tax solution. Previous sentiment of “no change”, is stating to thaw. It is interesting to see the arguments run, all of which may now be superfluous (including this one) however as we know, things change quickly in Canberra and State politics. There are actually four property taxes that…Read More→
China and Melbourne Apartments
There were several good news stories for Melbourne’s apartment market this week although you had to strip back the media penchant for a bad news bent to find them. Also remember if you own an apartment, anything that limits future supply is good news for you. I wrote about the Chinese stock market and its impact on the…Read More→
4.8% Vacancy… not 20%
You may have seen this article in The Age suggesting nearly 20% of investor owned homes in Melbourne are vacant. I just can’t let this go unchallenged.If you didn’t see the article, it quotes a report by Prosper Australia that analyses water usage and calculates a residential vacancy rate based on the amount of water used over…Read More→
7 reasons to buy…
The purchase of “off the plan” apartments continues to carry favour with domestic and foreign investors and for good reason. A recent SQM Research report also quoted Melbourne as a preferred place to buy. Some of the drivers are less obvious than others and here are 7 of them. Like any market, if it softens there…Read More→
Property doesn’t always go up…
While there is much coverage about the seemingly endless and meteoric rise in real estate values, it may be a shock to some people to hear that occasionally property is sold at a loss. In fact the recent “pain vs gain” report from CoreLogic RP Data, for June quarter 2015, shows 1 in 5 (20%) of…Read More→
2 signs of a turning market
Two leading market indicators on the apartment market are vacancy rates and settlement failure. These will usually both start to rise before new sales slow. The good news is we are not seeing worrying levels of either of these two signs at the moment. However while vacancy rates are regularly measured, settlement failures are not…Read More→
A new wave of apartment buyers…
The apartment market is enjoying a recent swing toward apartment living by owner occupiers who are now willing to buy off the plan. People who have lived in a traditional house all their lives, are buying off the plan, which shatters the well held view that owner occupiers would not buy a home they could…Read More→