One of the more infuriating ideas that seem to have more followers than it deserves is the notion that “tiny houses” are part of the solution to the housing affordability (and availability) challenges being faced in large Australian cities. “Tiny houses” are variously defined, but Wikipedia offers a useful description: “The tiny-house movement is an…
For more than a year the Reserve Bank hiked interest rates to the highest level in decades and there were lots of warnings about an imminent collapse of the Australian housing market. And these warnings came from banks and institutional economists as well as the usual property pessimists! Not many people expected interest rates to…
Most of us have heard about the concept of compound growth, the snowballing effect caused by growth upon growth. You know the kind of thing: – If you could fold a piece of paper 42 times it would reach the moon; or – 24 rabbits in Australia became 2 million in only a decade; or…
If you invest in residential property, how can you be sure that it’s going to work out for you? The media talks about a property boom or even a bubble, whether the government should abolish negative gearing, the RBA’s warning banks to not be too exuberant to lending money and so on. There’s lots of…
We know inflation is coming under control, but it’s happening much more slowly than the Reserve Bank would like. And part of the reason for this is that it’s fighting an uphill battle with demographics according to leading demographer Simon Kuestenmacher. Today I’m going to chat with Simon and ask him to shed light on…
As a property investor have you asked yourself, what is it you really want? I speak with hundreds of investors each year and their initial response is that they want a property. Perhaps it is their first property or possibly the next property to add to their portfolio. But that can be a very superficial…
Want to discover the tricks some sellers use when marketing a flawed property and learn the simple detection methods that expose their sneaky cover-ups? Well…before listing a property for sale, it’s not unusual for a seller to give the home a fresh coat of paint, maybe rearrange the furniture, lay down a nice rug and…
Australia’s rental market plunges further into crisis, with national vacancy rates falling to a new record low of just 1.1% for August. PropTrack’s latest Market Insight report shows that the national vacancy rate recorded its largest drop in over a year (0.14%) over the month, which means that there are now 54% fewer rental properties…
We all know that we shouldn’t allow our emotions to rule when making property decisions. But let’s be honest… It’s hard not to let your heart rule your head when buying your investment property, and even harder when buying a home That “gut feel” isn’t usually perspective- it’s often fear or excitement. A while…
High property prices, escalating construction costs, and rapidly rising interest rates have pushed Australia’s housing affordability to the worst level in over 30 years, according to a new PropTrack report. The PropTrack Housing Affordability Index shows that in 2023 households across the income distribution could afford the smallest share of homes since 1995, when records…