For decades we’ve lived with a range of accepted truisms around city planning, urban development and infrastructure planning. Then along came a virus. Some suggest the long-term impacts of the current pandemic will turn fundamentals on their head. Others – myself included – are more sanguine. But changes there will be and, as Bowie sang,…
Gosford has taken out the No.1 spot in RiskWise’s 2020 list of Top 10 Danger Zones. The NSW suburb topped the list due to a number of factors including the recent bushfire risk, oversupply of units (at more than 72 per cent of existing stock) and that units unsuitable for families were not in high…
Who gets the final say in how much your property is worth? It’s not your property manager. It’s not your real estate agent. And it’s definitely not your mortgage broker! So who does get the final say as to how much your property is actually worth? As a property owner, even if you aren’t looking…
Scams, get rich quick schemes and self-styled gurus abound in the property industry, and many a hopeful investor has seen their financial security go up in smoke when they’ve fallen victim to the latest real estate fad. So how can you tell if you’ve stumbled upon a genuinely fantastic opportunity… or you’ve simply crossed paths…
Those of us interested in the Australian property markets have seen it all over the past 12 months. 2019 started with significant negative sentiment with the Sydney and Melbourne housing markets continuing their slump causing the property pessimists to predict real estate Armageddon, concerns about the Haynes Royal Commission into Banking causing tighter lending restrictions…
There are so many common misconceptions that people just don’t question. In fact, there’s so much misinformation surrounding wealth creation, that in today’s episode, I’m going to debunk 15 common myths. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you shouldn’t allow these kinds of blanket statements to hold you back. In this episode we’ll…
The difficulty of finding out about building defects creates an information deficit that threatens public confidence and stability in the apartment market. The litany of defects, poor building standards and regulatory failures has serious implications for apartment owners, occupiers and buyers alike. Fears of a loss of confidence in the sector have unfortunately come true….
Are you planning to buy an investment property in 2020? Or maybe you’re planning to buy a new home? Well you’ll be in good company because 68% of the respondents of a recent survey believe now is a good time to invest in residential real estate. And 20% of respondents plan to buy a new…
I keep a careful eye on housing finance numbers as they are an important leading indicator to what’s ahead for our property markets. The good news is that owner occupier loan commitments jumped as rate cuts and relaxed mortgage serviceability requirements boosted demand for housing credit even as investor loans retreated. But the upturn in…
The latest housing finance figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that the slashing of the cash rate has had an immediate impact on home loans. It looks as though credit is beginning to flow again, with owner-occupier commitment up 11.9% the 3 months to August, and investor commitments up by 11.6% But…