VENDORS BRACE THEMSELVES FOR HARDER TIMES AS SURGING STOCK LEVELS CONTINUE TO TURN THE TIDE AGAINST THEM. Buyers are being swamped with choice as a record number of properties go to auction in the lead-up to the Christmas holidays. And, if the market’s performance over the past fewweeks is any indication, vendors are in for […]
For many people, their home is their most valuable asset. Chris Vedelago looks at a few strategies to unlock its economic potential. Our homes are sanctuaries, full of precious memories, but also investments and sources of potential revenue. WHEN Neil Morris retired, what he did with his long-time home definitely doesn’t qualify as a mainstream […]
Chris Vedelago reveals just what $1 million will buy and where. To say the property had seen better days would be a gross understatement. The Richmond house had been gutted — the floors torn up, the plumbing and wiring re-routed to feed a massive hydroponics system used to grow marijuana. After police shut the operation […]
The rate rise has triggered concern about the slowing impact it will have on the property market, while those who are feeling it most are the younger buyers. ARE we surprised? Yes. Are we upset? Absolutely. But despite our anguish, you can’t say we weren’t warned. For months economists, investors and columnists have argued about […]
MELBOURNE’S property market has suffered its worst setback since the height of the financial crisis, with the auction clearance rate falling to 61 per cent yesterday. The drop comes as the Reserve Bank of Australia lifted the cash interest rate by 0.25 per cent to 4.75 per cent this week, marking the seventh increase in […]
CLEARANCE PLUNGE AFTER RATE HIKE THE spectre of rising interest rates cast a shadow over Victoria’s auctions yesterday, sending clearance rates to their lowest level since the global financial crisis hit in 2008. Yesterday’s 61 per cent clearance rate was 20 per cent below the corresponding weekend last year. While most agents and buyers advocates […]
“IN AUSTRALIA we work and play hard, but we think soft.” So says futurist and economist BrianHaratsis as he lays out the challenges facing Australia. Housing shortages, social disintegration, severely congested cities, pollution, a moribund planning system, regional decay and a burgeoning older population struggling to survive. Sound familiar? Some of these things are happening […]
HOUSES IN MELBOURNE ARE NOW LESS AFFORDABLE THAN SYDNEY. In the traditional rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney, the harbour city has long held the dubious distinction of being the most unaffordable place to find a home. But not any more. New research from analysts Residex shows that Melburnians now spend more of their income to […]
THE heat may have come out of the top end of the property market, but demand for bluechip rental properties is sizzling. There seems to be no shortage of Victorians willing to pay more than $15,000 a week for the privilege of spending time in someone else’s holiday house. Less than 40 years ago that […]
IT WAS ALL SYSTEMS GO FOR THE CITY’S SUPER (DUPER) SATURDAY BUT THE TRUE CLEARANCE RATE IS YET TOBE REVEALED. As far as tests of the market go, they don’t come much bigger than yesterday. More than 1080 auctions were scheduled around the city, the highest number on a single day since March 2008. And […]
