June 2009 Newsletter

Our monthly email newsletter reports on the state of the Melbourne Real Estate market, keeps you informed and up to date on what's happening at JPP Buyer Advocates, as well as presenting some of our recent success stories.

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Market Overview

If we listen to most of the real estate agents in Melbourne and Geelong, we find that there is a dramatic increase in buyer demand. Fuelled by the First Home Owners Grant, Bonus and Boost which, thanks to the Victorian State Government, will be around a lot longer than anyone imagined, as well as our escape from the ‘technical’ recession, demand for property is going through the roof.

The stock markets have had a long sustained rally, and this may been seen as the turning point for the Australian economy. If so, more and more people will want to get their money out of bank guarantees and back into earning better returns. There has already been an upsurgeance of investors into the property market in the lower end around the $300k – $500k range. When you add this to the first home buyers in this range, it has pushed prices up in the vicinity of 5%- 10% this year already.

With the resurgence of the stock market we also expect to see a further push back to the mid range market $800k - $1.5M. Families that have sold their homes in the $500k range, and who are feeling quite secure in their employment future are flooding into this mid range family market. With little exception, throughout Banyule, Manningham, Moreland, Stonington, Boroondara, Port Phillip and Bayside there have been very few times in the last 3 months that multiple family homes have been on the market at any one time in this range. When these individual properties do hit the market, competition is fierce and prices are being driven up dramatically.

Even the market over $2M has come back strongly over the past 3 months. Each property we have gone after that has stacked up as a good property, on good land, in a good location has seen three four and five people vying for the purchase. If we look back twelve months, selling agents were ringing us weekly with properties to sell as they had no enquiry from prospective purchasers.

So where to from here!

We assume there will still be plenty of fallout from the Global Economic Crisis later this year. We assume unemployment will rise above its present level. And we assume people are still nervous about jumping back into the stock market at the moment. That leaves direct property investment still on top of most people’s “safe investment” lists. The FHOG might continue to elevate the new estate prices in the outer suburbs, thanks to the State Government Bonus for first home owners who are building, they will not have the same net effect on the inner suburbs. This will continue to be dominated by buyers of second and subsequent homes and property investors. Whilst we can continue to develop huge tracts of land out past Pakenham, Craigieburn and Werribee, there are no more such divisions happening within 20km of the CBD. Property prices in these areas, whether flats, units, townhouses or large blocks of land must rise and continue to do so for the foreseeable future as the demand massively outstrips supply. It would take a reversal of all of the indicators (stock market, unemployment, growth of our economy) to change this.

Properties in areas such as North Melbourne, Collingwood, Richmond, Prahran, Windsor, Elwood, East Melbourne and South Melbourne will show tremendous growth with small flats in smallish complexes.

Banyule, Manningham, Moreland, Stonington, Boroondara, Port Phillip and Bayside will continue to show a resurgence for $million family homes. However, I see the biggest upward movement to be potentially sub-dividable land in the suburbs that have great infrastructure, parks, gardens, good shopping precincts and public transport. Plenty of families will be buying homes that in 5, 10 or 15 years will be subdivided down to townhouses.

The ABS has shown us the average amount of people per dwelling is down to 2.4 and if there is no change to this trend I can see a lot more townhouses in our future.

If you are thinking of purchasing a home to live in or want to buy an investment property, feel free to give us a call for a no obligation chat.

Ian James

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Should I put an offer on a property before the auction date?

A. My first suggestion is to get help, if you intend on placing an offer on a property prior to the auction date, be sure you are confident of the value of the property. Not the asking price, Not how much money you have to spend, But what is the property worth. If you can not answer these questions, then how will you know what the right price to pay is. There are many other ways to approach this situation which of course we can help with at anytime.

- You need to know if there are other interested purchasers, this will determine also whether a pre offer would be likely to interest the vendors prior to Auction.

- If there are a lot of interested parties the agent would not recommend the vendor accept a prior offer unless it was well over the vendors expectations.

- The price quote prior to auction does not always determine the outcome, the terms of the contract may make a difference to the vendor, they may be looking for a 30 day settlement which some purchases are unable to fulfil, other vendors may be looking for a longer settlement, if you can adjust your offer to accommodate there needs as well as yours then the offer will become stronger.

- More than likely an offer prior to an Auction will need to be unconditional to make it more appealing. Therefore Pest & or Building inspections will need to have been done, All legal's will need to have been done, and any changes needed to the contract will also need to be negotiated into the deal.

- If you are the only person, offer low & play hard ball.
- If there are one or two potential others, then maybe the best course of action is to go to auction.
- If there are 3 or more then offer early & offer strong.

Q. Can you please clarify the first home owners grant?

A. This information is available on the State Revenue Office Website

Below is the table from the First Home owners Website : as current at this point:
(Of course some of these grants are subject to legislative approval.)

Additional Conditions for Bonus and Regional Bonus:

# For contracts entered into up to 30 June 2009, the value of the property must not exceed $500,000.
* For contracts entered into between 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010, the value of the property must not exceed $600,000.

The information provided in the above table is to be used as a guide only.

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If the above table does not answer your questions or relate to your situation, contact the State Revenue office, or give us a call & we will endeavour to answer your questions.....

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*Data taken from the State Revenue Office Website

Spotlight on Melbourne Suburbs

In our regular spotlight section we examine a selection of Melbourne suburbs, highlighting what's happening in these areas right now.

Herne Hill

Municipality: Greater Geelong
Population: 3,190 (2006 census)
Postcode: 3218
Location: Approx. 75km from Melbourne CBD

Herne Hill is a rapidly growing area on the western fringe of Geelong. It is just a short drive to the CBD taking 5-10minutes depending on the time of travelling.

As a suburb which has been established for more than 50 years it is growing in terms of lifestyle. It does not boast a large shopping complex, railway station, etc which we all associate as basic infrastructure for constant growth. It is however close to the Geelong Ring Road and has ready access via McCurdy Road.

The location has become popular with capital growth last year of 7.7%. This is an excellent increase considering the economic climate.

The Median House Price is $259,500 but with the top 25% of sales being in excess of $299,000. Many allotments are in the 700sqm range and offer fantastic add value options for the astute investor. The Median Rental for houses is $255 per week which equates to a 4% plus yield.

Herne Hill is a suburb of Geelong that is well worth considering for lifestyle and also for long term investment.

For more information on recent sales and property availability please contact JPP.

Median House Prices

Median Unit Prices

East Melbourne

Municipality: City Of Melbourne
Population: 4330
Postcode: 3002
Location: 2km East of Melbourne CBD  

East Melbourne is a beautiful area within the City of Melbourne. The streets are not only tree lined but lined with amazing period homes. The homes are generally Victorian Terrace homes, not unlike those you would find in Carlton. The suburb of Jolimont is commonly associated with East Melbourne as both suburbs are so small and they intercept on a very main road.

Jolimont consist of one small block, with 5 small streets lined with apartments, offices and again period homes. Jolimont is best known for the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The MCG is a world renown sporting venue that can hold up to 100,000 people in 95,000 seats with 5000 standing room spaces. Jolimont and East Melbourne’s infrastructure is very well used on game days.

Jolimont Train station sits on the border of Jolimont and East Melbourne on Wellington Parade. This train station is the last station on the Hurstbridge and Epping lines before heading into the CBD. The tram that runs down Wellington Parade may take you straight down Bridge Road or heading straight into the CBD. Transport in and around East Melbourne is very good.

East Melbourne and Jolimont are also surrounded by beautiful and historic parklands. Yarra Park surrounding the MCG turns into a car park on game day and during the week it is taken over by families using it to entertain kids. Walking through the park on Grand Final day you will see many people that set up there picnics, with the radio going while the kids kick the football around. Fitzroy Gardens in East Melbourne is full of history. Whether it is Captain Cook’s cottage, the big conservatory or when the parks come alive each year with the Wind in the Willows. Both of these parks are used by young and old alike and appeal in a way that not many other gardens do.

East Melbourne is a suburb that ticks every box. Its family friendly, it’s great for a young couple that work in the CBD, it’s close to a lot of different services for a retired couple. It just ticks all the boxes. Having said that however it is not easy to get in. This suburb is one of the most tightly held areas in Melbourne. This shows when you look at the demographics, with the suburb having the 2nd largest proportion of people between 45 and 64 years of age in Melbourne. This is 2nd only to South Yarra. With it being so tightly held this is shown in the prices these homes are sold for. Houses start in the millions and only increase from there. The last couple of apartments sold in East Melbourne and Jolimont sold in the $570,000’s. There is some affordability in the Tribecca Complex at the top of East Melbourne for apartments or down in Wellington Crescent, another large apartment community.

Median Unit Prices

*There is not enough data for median house prices as yet.
*Map from Melbourne.vic.gov.au

Technology Monthly

This month I will be examining two of the new UMPC's to hit the market: The UMID M1 and The Viliv S5.

First the specs:

UMID M1

• Processor - Intel Atom 1.1ghz

• RAM - 512MB (up to 1GB)

• HDD - 16GB SSD (up to 32GB)

• Graphics - Intel GMA 500

• Wireless - 802.11 b/g

• Keyboard - Foldout

• Screen - Touchscreen

• OS - Various (Linux & Windows)

• Display Size - 4.8" (1024*600)

• Unit Size (W*H*D) -158*94*19 mm

• Additional and optional - 3G modem, Webcam (1.3 MP), Bluetooth 2.0, and Digital TV receiver (only works in some countries)

• Price - EBay - $900 - $1100

• Website - ?

Viliv S5

• Processor - Intel Atom 1.3ghz

• RAM - 1GB

• HDD - 30GB (up to 60GB)

• Graphics - Intel GMA 500

• Wireless - 802.11 b/g

• Keyboard - Virtual

• Screen - Touchscreen

• OS - Various (Linux & Windows)

• Display Size - 4.8" (1024*600)

• Unit Size (W*H*D) -154*84*24 mm

• Additional and optional - 3G modem, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS

• Price - EBay - $1000 - $1200

• Website - Viliv

Obviously the recession isn't hitting the UMPC market with the flood of new units that appear every week, it seems as though the bigger company's have stepped aside and the smaller ones have come out fighting. As you can see these are both quite powerful machines in a very small form factor and are not overly expensive for what they offer, they are both fairly similar in specs, but very different in looks. One of the biggest things these UMPC's are doing differently is that battery life has tripled thanks to the new Intel Atom CPU giving these units up to 6 hours of use between charges (that's actual use time....not sleep time).

The UMID M1 is a clamshell PC with a foldout keyboard (which may be easier for some to use) but the keyboard and screen sit at awkward angles to each other, making it difficult to type and see the screen at the same time...and after hearing the clicking noise it makes after opening the unit, I am not sure how long until the keyboard breaks off altogether. The unit stay fairly cool, produces little noise and will awake from sleep mode within a few seconds.

The Viliv S5 is more of a tablet PC, with only a virtual keyboard, meaning it might be a lot more difficult to type on, but with inbuilt GPS and the bigger Hard drive as well as the faster processor, I would definitely recommend this over the UMID M1, the main reason actually being the build quality, with the M1 feeling a little like a plastic toy, whereas the Viliv feels solid and sturdy. The Viliv also has the same noise levels and wakeup times as the UMID.

All in all, these are both great units and I would recommend both of them, but if I had to pick one, I would definitely go with the Viliv S5...It may lack a keyboard, but that isn't the end of the world as you can pick up a mini keyboard on eBay for $10.

Reviews and videos can be found on a site called JKKMOBILE as well as reviews for other UMPC's.

And Dynamism is now shipping the Viliv and taking pre-orders for the UMID.

Recipe: Chicken And Vegetable Stir-fry

Ingredients:

• 250 g dried thin egg noodles

• 500 g skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into thin strips

• 2 teaspoons finely chopped ginger

• 1 clove garlic, crushed

• 1 small onion, chopped

• 1 red capsicum, thinly sliced

• 1 green capsicum, thinly sliced

• 250 g snow peas, halved

• 1/4 cup plum sauce

• 2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce

• 1/3 cup chicken stock

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• canola or olive oil spray

Method:

1. Cook the noodles in a large pan of boiling water for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain well then toss with oil to prevent them sticking. Set aside.

2. Spray a non-stick wok or frypan with oil and heat. Cook the chicken in 2 or 3 batches over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until browned. Set the cooked chicken aside.

3. Reheat the wok, add the ginger, garlic and the onion and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until soft. Add the capsicum and snow peas and stir-fry for about 3 minutes or until tender but still crisp.

4. Add the sauces and stock and bring to the boil. Add the noodles and toss to warm through.

5. Return the chicken to the pan and reheat.

(Note: This recipe works well using tofu or nutmeat as a vegetarian alternative to chicken.)

Did you know?

Welcome to a new section where every month there will be useless facts, puzzles, jokes and brainteasers.

Joke:

Useless Fact:

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds

Brainteaser:

Kind regards from the team at JPP.

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