Feature Articles

Feature Articles

Price data shows "boom" confined to select areas

The residential property boom and price “bubble” proclaimed by Australian media never existed in most areas of the country, based on my analysis of price data from three major sources.&n… Read More »

Feature Articles

Foreign investment rules tightened to stop “over-heating”

Tough new measures will in future allow foreign investors to buy Australian residential property only if that investment adds to the housing stock. Another important change ensures that established pr… Read More »

Feature Articles

Sydney’s fastest-growing suburbs – take a cut lunch

Those whose idea of a Sydney "suburb" involves pictures of cute little terraces and cottages in Newtown or Annandale could be in for a shock when reading about a new survey, which shows subu… Read More »

Feature Articles

Property investors using equity to fund purchases

Investors are favouring the use of their equity inexisting properties to finance additional acquisitions, a mortgage broker survey has found. Mortgage Choice says its property investor survey establis… Read More »

Feature Articles

Interest rates on hold again – but for how long?

Seventeen economists can't be wrong, can they? The Australian polled 17 such analysts in late May and all concluded that the Reserve Bank would hold interest rates in June. That forecast has prove… Read More »

Feature Articles

Hand-outs for property owners and home buyers in State Budgets

There's not much for property lobby groups to grumbleabout in various Federal and State budgets handed down in May and June, withfirst-home owners once again the winners.Valuation and advisory fir… Read More »

Feature Articles

First-home buyers overlook “cheapest all round” loans

First-home buyers displayed some worrying traits when responding to a survey on what motivates them to choose a home lender.According to Mortgage Choice, 78% of first-home buyers choose reasons other … Read More »

Feature Articles

Henry Review aims to broaden Land Tax base

Despite efforts by the development lobby to have land tax abolished, the Henry Tax Review contains four key recommendations which suggest the concept could not only be kept, but broadened, eventually … Read More »

Feature Articles

Top end distorting the real situation with home prices

The top end suburbs of our biggest cities are creating the false impression that residential property is raging nationwide.   In reality, most of the nation’s sub-markets are s… Read More »

Feature Articles

Brisbane journo adds to the misinformation mire

Feature series: Non-experts writing badly on real estate   Paul Syvret, like most of the writers who misrepresent the real estate market, is not a property expert. He has no credentials to p… Read More »

Feature Articles

RBA governor is acting on bad property advice

I become more concerned about RBA governor Glenn Stevens every day. His public utterances suggest he’s misreading the property market, over-stepping the boundaries of his role and inflicting u… Read More »

Feature Articles

Economists need to explain: why should we keep listening?

Many of the biggest names in the economic community, as well as our major newspapers, have some explaining to do. They need to tell us why we should continue to listen to them in the light of t… Read More »

Feature Articles

Bubble brochure: lots of emotion and very little substance

Lunatic fringe Australians worried about a non-existent house price “bubble” are delivering 20,000 brochures in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s electorate to mark Australia Day. … Read More »

Feature Articles

Builders warp reality with 'research' on housing costs

The housing development industry has published suspect data which purports to show that it’s cheaper to build a new house than to buy an existing one.   The Master Builders Associ… Read More »