Gold Coasters can take some comfort from estimates showing this city has the hottest property market in Australia.
Queensland property prices rose fastest at 3 per cent in the December quarter and it is believed the Gold Coast is doing even better than Brisbane.
The surge of the value of Gold Coast housing is not unexpected, given that it flat-lined for almost 10 years before the turn of the century and was constantly in the shadow of Sydney and Brisbane markets.
But then it found a life of its own and in recent years prospered while Sydney's market actually shrank.
So for investors and first-time buyers who were lucky enough to hitch a ride on the Gold Coast market, it's been a great journey.
Not so lucky are thousands of young people who could only watch as the possibility of home ownership slipped from their grasp and drifted well out of reach.
They may be the first generation that will not be able to afford the Great Australian Dream of a family house on a suburban block.
There are plenty of banks willing to lend them money, but the burden of a mortgage loan is just too heavy for many of them.
Their wages simply won't sustain repayments of between $600 and $800 -- or more -- each week
Their confidence is further weakened by high accounting fees for small savers and by the HECS fees many of them have to repay when they are starting out.
And, it must be said, the stability that young people need to build a solid financial base is not what it used to be.
They enter adult life with the brutal truths that one in three marriages or partnerships is destined to fail and that severe financial hardship often accompanies the fracturing of marriage bonds.
For men there is the perception that an anti-male bias in the Family Court system will cause them to be financially burned in the event of a marriage breakdown.
No wonder many people are timid about the 'c' word -- commitment -- when the time comes to buy a house.
So with a bag of disincentives swung their way when the possibility of a housing loan arises, many members of the X and Y generation simply opt out. They either go overseas working casual jobs, submit themselves to the rental market for life or even go back to live with their parents.
The only way many of them will know what home ownership is all about is when their parents die and they are left an estate.
Politicians, lending institutions and developers should be considering ways to solve the housing affordability for the rising generation. There has to be a way -- through a combination of stamp duty relaxation, new styles of housing estates, larger home loan grants, tax breaks and partially deferred repayments -- to get these young people into their dream houses.
Source: Gold Coast Bulletin
Friday, February 23, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Rent relief for tenants, pressure to release more building land and property investment support possible as Australia caught in a housing shortgage
The Federal Government is considering assistance for people struggling with the rising cost of renting homes.
Prime Minister John Howard said today that he was "conscious that rents have got up in different parts of the country ".
"I am aware of that, and I know there is some additional pressure because of the very strong economic conditions," Mr Howard said.
"Other people have put views to me about rental assistance ... we are considering those things."
Some observers have blamed changes to superannuation for turning investors away from property, causing a rental shortage.
But Mr Howard said the slow release of land around the country had contributed to the housing shortage that was pushing up rents.
"In some parts of the country, state governments have been far too slow at releasing land and that has contributed to the shortages.
"The other thing that governments generally around Australia have got to do is to make sure the level of land releases is adequate."
Mr Howard said rising rental prices underlined the "folly" of people who advocated the abolition of negative gearing for housing investors.
Source: AAP
Prime Minister John Howard said today that he was "conscious that rents have got up in different parts of the country ".
"I am aware of that, and I know there is some additional pressure because of the very strong economic conditions," Mr Howard said.
"Other people have put views to me about rental assistance ... we are considering those things."
Some observers have blamed changes to superannuation for turning investors away from property, causing a rental shortage.
But Mr Howard said the slow release of land around the country had contributed to the housing shortage that was pushing up rents.
"In some parts of the country, state governments have been far too slow at releasing land and that has contributed to the shortages.
"The other thing that governments generally around Australia have got to do is to make sure the level of land releases is adequate."
Mr Howard said rising rental prices underlined the "folly" of people who advocated the abolition of negative gearing for housing investors.
Source: AAP
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Property vultures critised for going for easy pickings in the property investment market
The Nsw Department of Fair Trading will investigate a controversial property scheme that capitalises on the misery struggling homeowners in Sydney's mortgage belt in the property downturn.
Property Secrets buys "bargain" properties in Sydney's struggling outer-west suburbs that have been repossessed by banks during the property slump, and former housing commission properties, on behalf of investor clients.
The group then undertakes renovations on the properties and obtains rproperty valuations that come in well above the investor's outlay, encouraging clients to reinvest the difference in more depressed properties.
"Fair Trading Minister Diane Beamer has looked into the scheme to see if there are any breaches of the Fair Trading Act or any acts relating to property purchases," said a spokesman yesterday. "On the surface it seems that while it may not be illegal, there are moral questions you have to ask about this."
Property Secrets operates twice-weekly property investment tours of depressed suburbs such as Mount Druitt in Sydney's struggling western growth corridor, where home owners have been squeezed by the double-whammy of rising interest rates and plummeting house prices.
Property Secrets founder Paul Giezekamp would not respond to questions from The Australian yesterday. In a written statement the group said the company's conduct was in "strict compliance" with the Fair Trading Act.
"It is true that Property Secrets intends to purchase cheap properties in a depressed market from motivated sellers, but there is no public utility served by Property Secrets and investor clients staying away," the group said.
"The result is a rejuvenation of some of Sydney's poorest and most disadvantaged suburbs."
During a Property Secrets tour on Tuesday, attended by The Australian, Property Secrets consultant Jennifer Reeves told potential investors: "Nobody works out here so there's nothing else to do except breed and rent houses."
After Ms Reeves made the remark, The Australian was approached by a fellow Property Secrets consultant and told not to publish the statement.
Ms Reeves's comments, published yesterday, sparked debate on talkback radio, with Ms Beamer also weighing in on the controversy.
"As minister for Western Sydney I was extremely offended by the quotes attributed to this gentleman's property consultant," Ms Beamer said yesterday.
In a written statement from Property Secrets, Ms Reeves denied making those statements.
Later during Tuesday's Property Secrets tour - as printed in The Australian - Ms Reeves also said to investors: "Okay, so out here we put our blinkers on - we might not like what we see but it's okay, we're not living here and we get a nice tenant to move in."
Real estate consumer advocate Neil Jenman said buying properties for less than they had sold for was simply "opportunistic" and wise investing.
Source: The Australian
Property Secrets buys "bargain" properties in Sydney's struggling outer-west suburbs that have been repossessed by banks during the property slump, and former housing commission properties, on behalf of investor clients.
The group then undertakes renovations on the properties and obtains rproperty valuations that come in well above the investor's outlay, encouraging clients to reinvest the difference in more depressed properties.
"Fair Trading Minister Diane Beamer has looked into the scheme to see if there are any breaches of the Fair Trading Act or any acts relating to property purchases," said a spokesman yesterday. "On the surface it seems that while it may not be illegal, there are moral questions you have to ask about this."
Property Secrets operates twice-weekly property investment tours of depressed suburbs such as Mount Druitt in Sydney's struggling western growth corridor, where home owners have been squeezed by the double-whammy of rising interest rates and plummeting house prices.
Property Secrets founder Paul Giezekamp would not respond to questions from The Australian yesterday. In a written statement the group said the company's conduct was in "strict compliance" with the Fair Trading Act.
"It is true that Property Secrets intends to purchase cheap properties in a depressed market from motivated sellers, but there is no public utility served by Property Secrets and investor clients staying away," the group said.
"The result is a rejuvenation of some of Sydney's poorest and most disadvantaged suburbs."
During a Property Secrets tour on Tuesday, attended by The Australian, Property Secrets consultant Jennifer Reeves told potential investors: "Nobody works out here so there's nothing else to do except breed and rent houses."
After Ms Reeves made the remark, The Australian was approached by a fellow Property Secrets consultant and told not to publish the statement.
Ms Reeves's comments, published yesterday, sparked debate on talkback radio, with Ms Beamer also weighing in on the controversy.
"As minister for Western Sydney I was extremely offended by the quotes attributed to this gentleman's property consultant," Ms Beamer said yesterday.
In a written statement from Property Secrets, Ms Reeves denied making those statements.
Later during Tuesday's Property Secrets tour - as printed in The Australian - Ms Reeves also said to investors: "Okay, so out here we put our blinkers on - we might not like what we see but it's okay, we're not living here and we get a nice tenant to move in."
Real estate consumer advocate Neil Jenman said buying properties for less than they had sold for was simply "opportunistic" and wise investing.
Source: The Australian
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Housing Construction activity slows for the fourth month straight
Building activity in Australia's construction sector deteriorated last month, underpinned by a reduction in new business, but stable interest rates this year should provide some support to the housing sector.
The Australian Industry Group/Housing Industry Association (HIA) performance of construction index (PCI) fell 3.7 points to a reading of 48.4 in January, below the 50.0 points level separating expansion from contraction.
Ai Group economic and research associate director Tony Pensabene said the reduction in new business is consistent with reports by companies of a decline in customer enquiries and fewer invitations to tender.
"With new orders having now fallen for four straight months, weakness in the industry is set to continue, pushing any recovery out to at least the second half of 2007," he said.
"On top of this, interest rate uncertainty, low housing affordability and land supply shortages are among the factors having negative influences on demand.
"Under these conditions, industry needs stability in the interest rate environment."
Of the sectors surveyed, only commercial construction expanded in January, having risen seven consecutive months.
The house building and apartment sectors remained in decline, while work on engineering construction projects fell for the first time since April 2006.
The result follows the moderate growth in total construction activity recorded in December 2006.
HIA housing and economics executive director Simon Tennent said the combined effect of the three interest rate rises of 2006 had taken the wind out of the sails for Australia's builders.
"It is hoped, however, that with the inflation cycle now easing, and with house prices still edging up and rental markets tightening, housing demand will return in 2007," Mr Tennent said.
AAP
The Australian Industry Group/Housing Industry Association (HIA) performance of construction index (PCI) fell 3.7 points to a reading of 48.4 in January, below the 50.0 points level separating expansion from contraction.
Ai Group economic and research associate director Tony Pensabene said the reduction in new business is consistent with reports by companies of a decline in customer enquiries and fewer invitations to tender.
"With new orders having now fallen for four straight months, weakness in the industry is set to continue, pushing any recovery out to at least the second half of 2007," he said.
"On top of this, interest rate uncertainty, low housing affordability and land supply shortages are among the factors having negative influences on demand.
"Under these conditions, industry needs stability in the interest rate environment."
Of the sectors surveyed, only commercial construction expanded in January, having risen seven consecutive months.
The house building and apartment sectors remained in decline, while work on engineering construction projects fell for the first time since April 2006.
The result follows the moderate growth in total construction activity recorded in December 2006.
HIA housing and economics executive director Simon Tennent said the combined effect of the three interest rate rises of 2006 had taken the wind out of the sails for Australia's builders.
"It is hoped, however, that with the inflation cycle now easing, and with house prices still edging up and rental markets tightening, housing demand will return in 2007," Mr Tennent said.
AAP
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
War babies fade into history as the bay boomers bloom
In many respects they are the forgotten generation. They were born in the years between Wall Street's implosion and Hiroshima's explosion. Some know them as Depression kids; to others they are war babies; to others again they are the silent generation.Their birthplace is the rarely explored windward side of the baby boomer mountain. This generation claims, and is afforded, no defining letter of the alphabet. They are most popularly known as the diminutive pre-boomer generation, where "diminutive" refers to their number rather than to the scale of their cultural contribution. And yet, of all God's generations it is the pre-boomers who have perhaps most profoundly shaped today's Australia, especially at the political level.
Much of this generation was too young to participate in World War II and the Korean War; by Vietnam they were too old.
Either through skilful navigation or by damn good luck these kids, born after and before calamitous events, morphed in the 1950s into the world's first teenagers.
The first incarnation of this bold new life form is thought to have been the "bobby-soxer" - girl fans of Frank Sinatra who in the late 40s boogied and bebopped dressed in full skirts and short white socks and with hair in ponytails.
Richie Cunningham was a teenager from the pre-boomer generation. But then so too were James Dean, Elvis Presley and Prime Minister John Howard. (Although - and there is no firm evidence to support this theory - I suspect John Howard as a teenager was much closer to Richie Cunningham than to James Dean.)
Not that pre-boomers were white-bread teenagers.
Perhaps in anticipation of the youth revolution that would follow in the 1960s, pre-boomers invented primitive forms of teenage counter-culture. There were beatniks and bodgies; the latter manifested in a uniquely female form known, delightfully, as widgies. (The 1950s widgie should not be confused with the contemporary wedgie, which you may be assured is a different concept altogether.)
Maynard G.Krebs, subject of the popular television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959-1963), was a self-styled beatnik who, interestingly enough, would later inspire the Gen-Y cartoon character Shaggy in Scooby Doo.
Yoko Ono was arguably the first global beatnik; even today at the age of 74 she remains proudly and defiantly beatnikesque in her fashion and demeanour. (I am sure I have seen recent pictures of Yoko in a black beret.)
Unlike modern genres of urban sub-culture, such as "Goths", the highest and purest form of beatnikism was never defined by youth. While young Goths look cool, Goths who are middle-aged, let alone geriatric, are frankly a bit of a worry.
The pre-boomer generation delivered this nation two prime ministers: John Howard and Paul Keating. The brash baby-boomer generation, for all the big talk of changing the world, has yet to catapult anyone beyond leader of the opposition. (Baby boomers are such political teasers.)
But the fertile generational brine that delivered our most recent prime ministers also yielded colourful mutations: teddy boys, mods and rockers were, with perfect 20-20 hindsight, the necessary building blocks upon which stronger, sharper and edgier sub-groups would be later based.
Academics enjoy musing deferentially about "standing on the shoulders of giants", but then so too must London's late-1970s punks, who could not have manufactured their in-your-face subculture without a rebel heritage stretching back to the bobby-soxers. After all, the punk Mohican hairstyle is surely nothing more than an erect pony tail.
Beyond their teenage years the pre-boomers tackled the 1960s with a style and panache that was, well, decidedly 1960s. Those pesky baby boomers were culturally impotent; they were epitomised at this time by the hapless Theodore (Beaver) Cleaver in Leave it to Beaver (1964).
Fashion and form quickly evolved around pre-boomer tastes. This was the era forensically spoofed by Mike Myers as Austin Powers. Austin's shagadelic world delivered slim ties, popularised the Watusi and the now-famous faux sophistication of "Bond, James Bond".
But the pre-boomer's grip on youth culture came crashing down in the northern summer of 1967. The boomers would wait not a moment longer for their summer of love. Pre-boomers, perhaps content with their lusty fling with cultural power, retreated to the background, happy to watch on as long-haired hippies slogged it out with the frugal establishment over the following decade.
From there the pre-boomers morphed into middle age, where they once again blossomed. By the mid-1980s pre-boomers were at the peak of their corporate power and once again they set the cultural agenda.
The messianic Gordon Gekko delivered what would turn out to be the pre-boomer's parting shot: "greed is good". And at that time greed did indeed seem good. The shoulder pads were big and the hair was even bigger. Conspicuous consumption by middle-aged pre-boomers delivered the perfect antidote to a Depression-ravaged and war-rationed childhood.
Actors Joan Collins and Larry Hagman in Dynasty and Dallas served up, and spiced up, a heady mix of materialism and Machiavellian manipulation to a pre-crash world awash with pre-boomer ideals.
But the pre-boomer's shooting star fizzled out in the late 1980s. It was at this time that circling, cawing, carnivorous boomers swooped and seized control, just as they did with youth culture in that single northern summer more than two decades earlier.
From that point onwards the pre-boomers hunkered down into retirement, where they remain today passively observing and quietly remembering a time when the Watusi ruled the world.
Now aged between 61 and 76 this generation has either actually or virtually seachanged; many are, in either case, wistfully musing on the merits of a wanderlust life as a grey nomad.
Author Bernard Salt, a KPMG Partner in Australia
bsalt@kpmg.com.au
Much of this generation was too young to participate in World War II and the Korean War; by Vietnam they were too old.
Either through skilful navigation or by damn good luck these kids, born after and before calamitous events, morphed in the 1950s into the world's first teenagers.
The first incarnation of this bold new life form is thought to have been the "bobby-soxer" - girl fans of Frank Sinatra who in the late 40s boogied and bebopped dressed in full skirts and short white socks and with hair in ponytails.
Richie Cunningham was a teenager from the pre-boomer generation. But then so too were James Dean, Elvis Presley and Prime Minister John Howard. (Although - and there is no firm evidence to support this theory - I suspect John Howard as a teenager was much closer to Richie Cunningham than to James Dean.)
Not that pre-boomers were white-bread teenagers.
Perhaps in anticipation of the youth revolution that would follow in the 1960s, pre-boomers invented primitive forms of teenage counter-culture. There were beatniks and bodgies; the latter manifested in a uniquely female form known, delightfully, as widgies. (The 1950s widgie should not be confused with the contemporary wedgie, which you may be assured is a different concept altogether.)
Maynard G.Krebs, subject of the popular television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959-1963), was a self-styled beatnik who, interestingly enough, would later inspire the Gen-Y cartoon character Shaggy in Scooby Doo.
Yoko Ono was arguably the first global beatnik; even today at the age of 74 she remains proudly and defiantly beatnikesque in her fashion and demeanour. (I am sure I have seen recent pictures of Yoko in a black beret.)
Unlike modern genres of urban sub-culture, such as "Goths", the highest and purest form of beatnikism was never defined by youth. While young Goths look cool, Goths who are middle-aged, let alone geriatric, are frankly a bit of a worry.
The pre-boomer generation delivered this nation two prime ministers: John Howard and Paul Keating. The brash baby-boomer generation, for all the big talk of changing the world, has yet to catapult anyone beyond leader of the opposition. (Baby boomers are such political teasers.)
But the fertile generational brine that delivered our most recent prime ministers also yielded colourful mutations: teddy boys, mods and rockers were, with perfect 20-20 hindsight, the necessary building blocks upon which stronger, sharper and edgier sub-groups would be later based.
Academics enjoy musing deferentially about "standing on the shoulders of giants", but then so too must London's late-1970s punks, who could not have manufactured their in-your-face subculture without a rebel heritage stretching back to the bobby-soxers. After all, the punk Mohican hairstyle is surely nothing more than an erect pony tail.
Beyond their teenage years the pre-boomers tackled the 1960s with a style and panache that was, well, decidedly 1960s. Those pesky baby boomers were culturally impotent; they were epitomised at this time by the hapless Theodore (Beaver) Cleaver in Leave it to Beaver (1964).
Fashion and form quickly evolved around pre-boomer tastes. This was the era forensically spoofed by Mike Myers as Austin Powers. Austin's shagadelic world delivered slim ties, popularised the Watusi and the now-famous faux sophistication of "Bond, James Bond".
But the pre-boomer's grip on youth culture came crashing down in the northern summer of 1967. The boomers would wait not a moment longer for their summer of love. Pre-boomers, perhaps content with their lusty fling with cultural power, retreated to the background, happy to watch on as long-haired hippies slogged it out with the frugal establishment over the following decade.
From there the pre-boomers morphed into middle age, where they once again blossomed. By the mid-1980s pre-boomers were at the peak of their corporate power and once again they set the cultural agenda.
The messianic Gordon Gekko delivered what would turn out to be the pre-boomer's parting shot: "greed is good". And at that time greed did indeed seem good. The shoulder pads were big and the hair was even bigger. Conspicuous consumption by middle-aged pre-boomers delivered the perfect antidote to a Depression-ravaged and war-rationed childhood.
Actors Joan Collins and Larry Hagman in Dynasty and Dallas served up, and spiced up, a heady mix of materialism and Machiavellian manipulation to a pre-crash world awash with pre-boomer ideals.
But the pre-boomer's shooting star fizzled out in the late 1980s. It was at this time that circling, cawing, carnivorous boomers swooped and seized control, just as they did with youth culture in that single northern summer more than two decades earlier.
From that point onwards the pre-boomers hunkered down into retirement, where they remain today passively observing and quietly remembering a time when the Watusi ruled the world.
Now aged between 61 and 76 this generation has either actually or virtually seachanged; many are, in either case, wistfully musing on the merits of a wanderlust life as a grey nomad.
Author Bernard Salt, a KPMG Partner in Australia
bsalt@kpmg.com.au
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