Check out in Melbourne
Facing a move from Sydney to Melbourne because of her husband's job, Wendy Lacy imagined flats costs would be much cheaper. Instead, she was surprised to discover there wasn't much difference.
Wendy and Paul Lacy found the only option that was going to provide them with real savings was if they built their own house on a block of land.
"That was cheaper for us," says Wendy, 35, who moved with Paul, 39, and their three children, aged 10, seven and four, from Sydney's Castle Hill to Cranbourne South in Melbourne's east just after Christmas.
In the process they swapped an area with a median house price of $649,000 for one with a median price of $789,950, according to RP Data. "The advantage is that you end up with a house that suits you and that you like," she says.
The disadvantage was that the couple, both missionaries, began their new life in Melbourne living in a caravan for three weeks to wait for the house to be finished until they could finally move in at the beginning of February.
When asked how Melbourne compares with life in Sydney, Wendy doesn't like to commit. "We haven't been in Melbourne long enough yet to know what it's really like," she says.
"But we've been told Melbourne is a good place to live. We miss our friends in Sydney but Melbourne feels a little more relaxed."
S&P launches Asia Property 40 Index
Standard & Poor’s on Monday launched the S&P Asia Property 40 Index, which will provide liquid exposure to leading publicly-listed companies in the Asian property and real estate markets.
S&P Asia Property 40 Index comprises of 40 leading listed Asian property companies that meet size, liquidity and local listing requirements, with no single market having more than 15 stocks in the index or representing more than 40 per cent of the index. It will be used by banks and asset management companies to create retail investment products.
The index is aimed at providing investors with diversified; invest able exposure to the Asian property market. The index is a subset of the S&P/Citigroup Global Property Index, which is comprised of more than 400 stocks from the S&P/Citigroup Broad Market Index.
The top 10 index companies by market capitalization are: Mitsubishi Estate, Swire Pacific, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Mitsui Fudosan, Cheung Kong (Holdings), CapitaLand, Country Garden Holdings, Sumitomo Realty & Development, Guangzhou R&F Properties, Hang Lung Properties.
Flats 4 Fun ? Flats 4 You & Me
Indian developers eyeing overseas realty market
More and more Indian realtors are planning global. And the Middle East, especially Dubai, seems to be the most preferred destination. Reversing the trend of international investors flocking to India’s booming reality sector, domestic players are foraying into the foreign market.
One of the first Indian developers to look beyond Indian shores was Parsvnath Developers, which last year began setting up development offices in Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Singapore, Britain, and, of course, the Middle East. It has now tied up with the Al-Hasan Group in Oman.
Over the past year, at least six real estate companies, big and small, have lined up a number of overseas development projects, mostly in the Gulf region. “What attract the developers to the Gulf market are low cost and high profit margins,” Anuj Puri, India head of global real estate management and services firm Jones Lang La Salle Meghraj, told reporters.
Who wants to live for ever? Me!! I dont want mortgages for my children! Flats 4 everyone!!! Cheers
When it does turn, what's in store?
It has to fall at least as far as the US market will, and probably a lot more. Some conservative pundits think US prices need to fall another 25 per cent to restore pre-bubble valuations, and they've already fallen 8%.
That means a 33% decline from a peak that's 30% lower than ours. Given that our economy is in slightly better shape than theirs, it still puts a minimum on the price decline needed of about 33%, and a maximum of 50% could apply if the China boom comes to an end.
In China there are not as flats as here mates, In China there are beehives...
Cheerio & take care!
How tight are loans?
Lenders usually don't announce the fact that they're tightening their lending criteria but analysts are unanimous in saying that this is happening.
"We are definitely seeing lenders tightening up their lending standards and lending criteria," says Mark Hewitt, the general manager of sales and operations with Australian Finance Group, which describes itself as Australia's largest mortgage broker.
"In the credit crunch, with the difficulty of raising money, lenders are looking for assets to be much cleaner."
That said, Paul Dowling, the principal analyst with banking research firm East & Partners, says talk of "credit rationing" is overstating things.
"There's a general move towards more conservative lending but I wouldn't quite describe it as credit rationing," he says.
"The banks have money to lend - it's a question of the [borrower's] credit profile and the [profit] margin."
Observers say all lenders are tidying up their credit processes to varying degrees, with the most marked changes coming from smaller lenders, which now have difficulty raising funds on wholesale markets at a reasonable price due to the global credit crunch.
WoW, Let´s try to buy a couple of flats, or a dozen...
Annoying... Cheerio!
Your nightmare or... your DREAM
You've seen your dream house and it's on sale for a knockdown price. You had your own home valued late last year for a surprisingly good figure. So snapping up the new place, then selling your own, looks like a no-brainer.
Property analysts beg to differ. It's total madness.
Some people would say buying before you sell is all right in a hot market, but in today's poor market, you risk a double bad whammy.
You can buy first, then if it takes you a long time to sell your property, that's when you risk having to go for bridging finance to tide you over, plus you watch the value of your property decrease, which will also eat into your equity. It's not a good idea at all.
The prickly art of price predictions
The Office of Fair Trading action has cast a shadow over the work of real estate agents.
Agent Pam Collins (above) had been looking forward to the auction of one home she's selling - a renovated three-bedroom, two-bathroom penthouse on the beachfront - but now her heart is filled with dread.
"It can be so hard to estimate what certain properties will sell for," she says.
"This is the perfect example. There aren't any comparable properties around, it's a complete one-off. As a result, how can you hope to accurately predict the price?
"There's nothing like it in Freshwater and similar places in Manly have roads in front of them, between them and the beach."
The property, for auction on June 14 through Richardson & Wrench Freshwater-Manly, and with a price guide of $1.9 million-plus, was built 37 years ago but, in all that time, has changed hands only twice, so has little sales history to fall back upon.
"It can be very hard for agents in this kind of situation," says Collins, who's been an agent for 20 years. "There could be a huge difference in the market at any time."