Archive | June, 2011

Act now or wait until later… regardless if you are buying or selling you need to be across changes to stamp duty and state level Government grants.

By on June 29, 2011 in Housing affordability, Research

Changes to stamp duty and state level grants will affect the timing of when you buy and sell property.  Make sure you are completely across the changes. Stamp duty regulations and availability of grants related to property purchases changed across many of the states in the recently announced budgets, with the changes potentially having a [...]

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Population growth back at 2005 levels

By on June 24, 2011 in Economics, Population growth, Research

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the quarterly Demographic Statistics update for December 2010 this week which tracks changes in population.  Over the 12 months to December 2010, Australia’s population increased by 1.5 percent, its slowest rate of population growth since the 12 months to December 2005.  Despite the lower rate of growth, Australia’s [...]

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Aussie consumers keep their foot on the brake

By on June 17, 2011 in Consumer confidence, Economics, Research

Westpac and the Melbourne Institute released their monthly measure of consumer sentiment this week and it showed that confidence amongst consumers continues to wane.  The consumer sentiment index fell to 101.2 points in June 2011, its lowest level since June 2009. Despite the fall in sentiment, the index remains above 100 points which indicates that [...]

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Is the tide starting to turn for the Perth housing market?

By on June 10, 2011 in Consumer confidence, Rents, Research, RP Data Rismark Indices

Well… not yet based on the fact that home values are still falling, but the underlying fundamentals are starting to look much better compared with other capital cities.  Perth home values have recorded the weakest results of any capital city, down 7.1% over the year to April 2011 (which also equates with the peak to [...]

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Same amount of pie, just fewer slices

By on June 3, 2011 in Research

Times are tough in the real estate sector, transaction volumes are down, listing volumes are up and buyers are scarce.  Not a great combination when you are trying to sell a property. It stands to reason that fewer property transactions mean less commission for real estate agents.  It also means mortgage brokers are establishing less [...]

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