Seasons Greetings!

Clichéd though it sounds, I can hardly believe the Christmas Season is upon us, this year has flown past!

The year has been one of change for many of us - the economy has changed dramatically since the beginning of the year, affecting consumer confidence and all types of business and industry. The latest RBA cut to interest rates will significantly reduce the outlays required to own an investment property. Therefore, from an investment point of view, this is a time of opportunity to visit the Gold Coast & view our range of fixed price Turn-Key House & Land Packages currently on offer.

On another note, I am please to announce that our Property Management Division has continued to grow & flourish over the past 12 months.

We are looking forward to working hard throughout 2009 & continuing to build wealth for our clients.

Buyers' Paradise

Gold Coast house prices have dipped to a more affordable level, according to the latest Real Estate Institute of Queensland sales data.

REIQ figures show the median house price on the Gold Coast fell 4.8 per cent to $466,500 over the September quarter.

Despite the recent fall in median house prices, over the year to the end of September, the Gold Coast recorded healthy median house price growth of 9.8 per cent.

Landlords Save but Renters Squeezed

Once again, the media has recognised the ideal economic environment that investors are currently enjoying.
The severe undersupply of investment properties has resulted in median prices per week rising, whilst interest rates (& therefore outlays) have been slashed.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland chairman Peter McGrath agreed the interest cuts were unlikely to lower rents. “There is still high demand & short supply & in the foreseeable future I can’t see that equation changing,” he said. But he warned Landlords not to make housing completely unaffordable.




Landlords save but renters squeezed
By Kathleen Donaghey

Gold Coast rents are expected to continue rising despite four successive interest rate cuts which have saved landlords an average $525 a month.

Real estate agents and tenant advocates have warned that demand for housing continues to outstrip supply while investors, spooked by the financial crisis, are holding on to their money or selling up.

Meanwhile, the local Tenant Advice and Advocacy Service has been flooded by 1000 people unable to keep up with high rents and other problems.

Advocacy co-ordinator Julie Bray said some investors had been selling their rental homes, further depleting supply, while tenants were losing jobs or working hours.

Ms Bray said despite the rate cuts, some rents had been pushed up significantly and she feared prices were going to continue rising because of demand.

“In Queensland, the cost of rentals is dictated by demand and that’s going to worsen with the financial crisis because people are putting their properties on the market to recover income lost from super,” said Ms Bray. “There’s definitely a lot of financial stress. People are falling into arrears and we’re trying to maintain tenancies.”

The latest September quarter figures show the median weekly rent for a three-bedroom unit on the Coast is $360, which increased from $330 last year and $300 from 2006.

The median rent on a three-bedroom house is now $390 a week, up from $360 last year and $335 in 2006.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland chairman Peter McGrath agreed the interest rates cuts were unlikely to lower rents.

“There is still high demand and short supply and in the foreseeable future I can’t see that equation changing much,” he said.

But he warned landlords not to make housing completely unaffordable.

“Rent increases are no necessarily good for the investor because if you push rents over the realms of affordability then the tenant will move out,” he said.

“The biggest issue with landlords on the Gold Coast is unemployment.

“My members have to be conscious when giving advice to landlords to balance the economic circumstances on the Gold Coast.”

News: Apartments Feel Crunch

Squeeze on high-rise sales
Apartments feel crunch
By Mike Bruce chief reporter

High-rise apartment sales on the Gold Coast have plunged to their lowest level in more than nine years, according to a recent property report.

Just 37 Gold Coast high-rise apartments were sold in the three months to November, compared to 215 in the same period last year, making it the quietest three months since September 1999, according to Bill Morris, author of the November quarter Midwood Queensland Investment Report.

The November quarter was equally dire when compared with the three previous quarters in 2008 – in August 142 units were sold, in May. 268, and in February, 345.

“The market is abysmal because people can just see prices falling and in that declining market people won’t buy – they will only buy in a rising market,” said Mr. Morris.

His research showed that there were 1383 high-rise apartments for sale on the Gold Coast, which at the November quarter sales levels would take almost nine years to clear.

The grim news came in a week when Mr. Morris predicted the Gold Coast property market would fall a further 20 percent on top of the 3.7 percent drop in the median house price in the three months to November.

Mr. Morris said while the November period for high-rise apartment sales had been heavily battered by the collapse of Surfers Paradise’s Pacific Resort project in October which saw the cancellation of 199 contracts, the paltry November result was an accurate reflection of the property market in general.

But unlike property busts of the past, the market was not falling due to rising unemployment or falling wages but rather the global liquidity crisis.
“People just can’t borrow money, that’s the biggest influence on prices at the moment,” said Mr. Morris.

“It’s not as if demand has fallen by the wayside either . . . it’s a classic credit squeeze which we haven’t seen the likes of in Australia since 1961.”

In the 16 ‘low-rise’ developments across the Coast, project marketers sold only 29 units.

And medium-rise apartment sales fared little better with only 40 unconditional sales across 26 projects the three months to November.

Mr. Morris said the high-rise market had been particularly affected by the downturn because it was a market with a greater degree of discretionary spending and apartments and holiday units were often the first assets to suffer in tough times.

“High rises are generally seen as discretionary assets,” he said.

“It’s the same as the prestige boat market or the luxury car market.”

December 08 Podcast

Rate cut will lift Coast

Interest rates could drop to 3 per cent by June next year, reigniting the property sector & dragging the Gold Coast economy out of the doldrums.
Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe yesterday said many analysts predicted the current Reserve Bank of Australia cash rate of 5.25 per cent would hit a historic floor of just 3 per cent.
The cost of cash at that level would not only be good news for home loan borrowers but for a city needing capital investment to get moving again.
Colliers International special projects director Darrell Irwin said investors would be unlikely to leave their money in a bank if the interest rate was only a few per cent. They would be looking at other investment options such as property.

Sustaining migration to the Coast means there is a steady demand for investor-owned rental properties.
Forecast’s for Queensland’s population growth have just been revised & more than 6.5 million people are expected to be living here by 2047, up from the current 4.5 million & 200,000 more than previous forecast’s. That will continue to stoke the region’s economic fires.

“The demand for real estate, commercial property, government expenditure will be higher,” said Mr Blythe, who was guest speaker at a Property Council of Australia luncheon at Royal Pines Resort yesterday. He also joined a question-and-answer panel with Mr Irwin & Colleen Coyne, a property research expert.

Ms Coyne said the Gold Coast did tend to fall harder & the city was in for a rough 12 months.
But in the ‘medium term’ of the next two or three years, there would be opportunities for excellent commercial investment & good rental returns, she said.

The Commonwealth Bank has already factored in an anticipated two 0.25 per cent cuts by the RBA in the next few months, one in December & another in February.
But others had been more bold & suggested there were more to come.

Mr Blythe said this was part of a coordinated approach across the globe to stimulate economic growth despite it being ‘to late to avoid a recession in the major advanced economies of the world’.

“Nobody is immune to what’s going on but some countries will do better than the rest of them,” said Mr Blythe.

Australia – and particularly southeast Queensland – was in an enviable position to withstand the worst of the financial storm.

Mr Blythe’s upbeat outlook was based on hard data that he shared with the 120 Property Council guests.

“Firstly, Australia is not America,” he said. “Our housing sector is in a vastly different situation than the US."

Australia’s exposure to the subprime crisis was about 1 per cent of the overall housing market.

Excerpt from The Gold Coast Bulletin 20.11.2008

Interest Rate Cut October 7th 2008

Ascent Property Podcast Sept 25th 08

State of Play at Week's End

This article was published by the Gold Coast Bulletin on Sept 20th/21st 2008

Subbies Back on Site At Raptis "Take Over Tower"

This artilcle was published by the Gold Coast Bulletin on Sept 17th 2008

Analysist says buy Sunland over Raptis!

This artilcle was published by the Gold Coast Bulletin on Sept 17th 2008

Market Ripe for Buying

Market ripe for Buying

Home buyers are being urged to move quickly, with house prices across Queensland defying predictions of big drops and poised to take off again on the back of cuts to interest rates and stamp duty.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland figures for the June quarter, released today, show the industry weathered the effects of interest rate rises and big petrol price increases.
Median prices were steady across most of the state for the three months. Some areas – including the Gold and Sunshine coasts, Townsville and Mackay – registered falls, but Brisbane, Ipswich, Moreton Bay and Redland continued to grow.

A 1 per cent rise in Brisbane took the median price to $495,000 for the quarter, overtaking the Gold Coast which had a 2.4 per cent dip tip $490,000.

“These results fly in the face of some commentators who had predicted doom and gloom and substantial price drops for property markets across the country,” REIQ chairman Peter McGrath said.

“Brisbane particularly, was an extremely pleasant surprise.”

“Considering what the consumer had to go through during that quarter – two interest rate rises and the filtering down of earlier interest increases, massive spiked in petrol prices and general negativity about the economy – the market has shown a lot of resilience.”
“It’s set a very important platform for the market to ease forward late this year as interest rates begin to come down. The message is simple: the market has bottomed in real terms, interest rates have stabilised. So if people have the financial capacity to enter the maker, now is the time to start looking to go forward.”
In the southeast Queensland the median house price for Ipswich was up 1.6 per cent to $320,000, Moreton Bay rose 0.7 per cent to $379,000 Redland was $450,000 (up 0.2 per cent) and the Sunshine Coast dipped 1.2 per cent to $464,500.

Mr McGrath said figures for the current quarter, up to the end of September, would also be flat or marginally lower due to a lag effect, but four “building blocks” were now in place for growth by year-end:

• The Reserve Bank’s decision on Tuesday to reduce the official interest rate by 0.25 per cent – the first cut in seven years.
• Major bank’s passing the cut on immediately to customers.
• The removal of stamp duty on the properties worth up to $500,000 from the start of this month should encourage first home buyers back. The proportion of first-time purchases, usually about to 20 per cent of the total, had slipped to 17 per cent.
• The flattening of prices in the June quarter had given prospective buyers some breathing space.

“They haven’t been chasing their tails with big price increases as they tried to save,” Mr McGrath said.
The continuing mining boom and strong migration, especially from overseas, to Queensland underpinned the ability to escape the big falls that had been feared.

And results for the 12 months to end of June show strong growth, with prices across most of SEQ and major regional centres climbing between 10 and 20 percent, Logan 17.5 per cent, Moreton Bay 15.6 per cent, Gold Coast 13.6 per cent and Sunshine Coast 12.3 per cent.
With superannuation funds reporting their worst losses in two decades and the share market down 25 per cent for the year, Mr McGrath said the rise in house values was impressive. In the past decade, the Queensland median house price has almost tripled from $135,000 to $390,000.
Property analyst Michael Matusik says returns on residential houses have outstripped all other major investment options over 10 years and he predicts property prices will grow 8-10 per cent per annum over the next three years.

We are in Perth this friday!

Just a reminder to all our clients in Perth we are coming this Friday. If you have not yes sent us an RSVP, Please call Sianne on 1300 789 599 Now!

September 08 Podcast

STATE POPULATION TO HIT 8 MILLION

STATE POPULATION TO HIT 8 MILLION
Darrell Giles
POLITICAL EDITOR
Queensland’s population is expected to double to eight million within 50 years.
New State Government figures show Queensland will continue to attract record numbers of interstate and overseas migrants and remain the nation’s economic powerhouse.
Population Projections to 2056: Queensland Statistical Divisions also reveals that our population is ageing, which will put further strain on an over-burdened health service.
Premier Anna Bligh said the data suggested more than four million people would be living in the southeast corner by 2031.
“The number of people on the Gold Coast is expected to rise from 12.7 per cent of Queensland’s population to 14.1 per cent,” Ms Bligh said.
“Significantly, while western areas of the state are expected to have small growth, Mackay’s population is expected to rise to more than 255,000.”
Ms Bligh said Queensland has seen unpredicted growth in business, infrastructure and productivity in the past decade.
And it would continue to boom.
“It’s never been a secret that Queensland is a great place to live and work,” she said.
Treasurer Andrew Fraser said Queensland’s population would increase from 4.1 million in 2006 to almost six million within 20 years and reach a milestone of eight million by 2056.
“This is a growth rate of between 2.2 per cent and 2.3 per cent each year to 2011,” Mr Fraser said. “Along with having record low unemployment levels – making the state attractive to interstate and international migrants – we are also in the midst of a baby boom.
“The number of children in Queensland is projected to increase by 33 per cent to 1.1 million.”
The number of older Queenslanders was expected to double by 2031.
Mr Fraser said the changing demographic would have implications for the make-up of the Queensland workforce.
“Both of these factors need to be taken into account when planning for the future – and the future of our workforce,” he said.
Ms Bligh said the population projections pointed to strong growth in Brisbane, although an increasing number of people wanted a “sea change” or “tree change”.

Gold Coast property sales to stay slow: report

5 August 2008 - 9:37am | Source: ABC

A report on the Gold Coast property market says sales are likely to continue to be slow for the next year.

In its latest monthly review, Herron Todd White valuers say demand has eased and looks set to remain subdued.
One of the firm's directors, Paul Jones, says neither buyers nor sellers are rushing into the market.
"Activity is certainly down, auction clearance rates are reduced and certainly the number of instructions for valuations have decreased," he said.
"It has slowed down since the beginning of the year and we think it is going to be a slow market for the next 12 or 18 months."

© 2008 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.

Bargain Buys as Home Market Goes off the Boil!

This news article appeared in the Gold Coast Bulletin Saturday 4th of August 2008

Growth goes on despite gloom!

This was an article that appeared in the "Gold Coast Bulletin", Tuesday July 22nd 2008

Strong fundamentals for Gold Coast property

By Martin Rogers July 16, 2008 09:24am



* 141 new homes are needed a week to meet demand in the Gold Coast
* Capital growth prospects are good over the medium and long term
* More information at the Gold Coast Bulletin

WHILE the most enthusiastic and optimistic apologists for Gold Coast real estate accept that the market is doing it tough, most insist the outlook is bright.

That is a message echoed in The Gold Coast Bulletin Property and Suburb Guide which is out today.

The guide looks at every Gold Coast and Tweed suburb and explains the rises and falls in property prices for houses, units and land.

It's all about fundamentals, according to RP Data national research director Tim Lawless, one of the nation’s top property analysts.

"Despite the current soft conditions, the solid fundamentals are likely to remain a positive driver of capital growth over the medium and long term,'' he told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Over the past calendar year the population of the Coast increased by 18,000 new residents, creating a demand for 7360 new dwellings - 141 new homes a week.

"The centrally located suburbs positioned along the Pacific Motorway account for over half the total population growth,'' said Mr Lawless.

"With such a strong rate of growth, demand remains exceptionally strong and is a positive sign for the market.''

The overall performance of the Coast, the best locations and bargain buys are all analysed in depth in a publication that has established itself as the investor and home owner’s bible over the last few years.

Government fast tracks regional growth plan

The State Government has fast-tracked the review of it's plan for managing growth and development in the southeast corner
Gold Coast Bulletin 23/05/08

Toil and Tourism go Hand in Hand!

Coast Rents Top Sydney!

Our Sky is the Limit!

Visitors in 3 Billion Spree!

Population Boom Heads to 600,000

The Gold Coast has attracted an extra 400,000
permanent residents in the past 20 years
Gold Coast Bulletin 15/03/08

12% Lift in Land Values

Land values on the Gold Coast have risen 12% in the past year
Gold Coast Bulletin 13/03/08

Experts Buoyed by 6pc Growth

Gold coast unit prices increased steadily but
the region was out performed by Noosa Toowoomba and Logan
Gold Coast Bulletin 13/03/08

Coast's Housing Market Resiliant!

Rents Run Rampant!

New Legislation Under Scrutiny!

The Gold Coast!