There’s a saying in property circles that you make your money on a piece of real estate when you buy it. The gist of this is, that if you can negotiate really well and buy the property at the right time in the cycle, you’ll instantly manufacture some profits. This myth has caused people to…
Australia has won the geographic lottery. Few nations have been blessed with such an extraordinary combination of advantages. We have abundant natural resources, vast agricultural capacity, world-class cities, strong institutions, proximity to Asia’s growing economies, and a stable political system that continues to attract global capital. For decades these advantages have generated enormous wealth. We’ve ridden…
Playing monopoly was a tradition in our family for a long time. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t come out as often these days – I guess I don’t play board games much anymore. In the good old days, I played Monopoly with my parents when I was young, with my children when they were young, and…
Every now and then in life, we find ourselves nodding along, agreeing with decisions, following plans, or chasing goals that – if we’re brutally honest – we don’t actually want. Not because we’re weak. Not because we’re confused. But because we assume everyone else wants it. That’s the Abilene Paradox in action – a strange…
If a picture paints a thousand words, then this collection of charts should do a pretty good job of painting the landscape as it affects our economy and our property markets. Each month the RBA summarises macroeconomic and financial market trends in Australia by providing a detailed chart pack. World Economy Australia’s economy doesn’t operate in…
There is more conflicting information about property right now than at almost any point I can remember. Turn on the news and you will find someone warning that prices are about to fall. Scroll a little further and you will find someone else forecasting another year of growth. Somewhere in the middle of all that…
You can spend all day debating interest rates, immigration, building approvals, auction clearance rates and what the RBA might do next. But if you want to understand what really drives capital growth in the medium term, you need to look past the property headlines and follow the money. And in a city or region, money…
Turn on the news or check out social media morning and you’d be forgiven for thinking the property market is on borrowed time. Interest rates, housing affordability, cost of living pressures, geopolitical tensions and now the budget change – the list of worries seems to grow faster than property values. Yet, after watching markets move…
For years, we’ve been told that property investors are the big winners when it comes to tax breaks. I’m sure you’ve heard the narrative: investors get negative gearing, capital gains tax discounts and all sorts of incentives that ordinary Australians don’t receive. But when you step back and look at the numbers objectively, that story…
Most Australians think short term. They’re wondering what they’ll do this weekend, what’s for dinner, or how to stretch the next pay cheque. And most beginning property investors aren’t much different. They obsess over today’s interest rate rise, this week’s media headline, or whether their investment property will be cash flow positive right now. But…
