The shift to online advertising in real estate has made life simpler for home buyers, but it’s also created a “fresh is always best” approach. You’ve signed up to have info emailed straight to you when new listings hit the market that fit your search criteria, so now you can sit back and wait for one that suits. And there’s the trap. Guess what every other home buyer is also doing (your competitors for that prized home)? A really notable trend of recent month...

The inner Brisbane apartment market is gearing up for a record sales boom in the second half of 2014, with pre-sale stock levels moving toward the market, Urbis have recently announced.Their Brisbane Apartment Insights report noted that strong demand over the last quarter of 2013 has reduced stock levels for 2014, with demand pushing into this year. Senior consultant for Urbis, Paul Riga, said that they’d recorded at least six development projects selling out ahead of schedule, resu...

Sharp falls in consumer confidence have begun to spill into the economy, with house prices in Australia's capital cities falling for the first time in 12 months, according to property analysts. RP Data - Rismark's home value index showed a 1.9 per cent drop in May - the biggest slide since December 2008. Melbourne led the decline with a 3.6 per cent slumped, followed by Adelaide and Brisbane, which fell 1.8 and 1.7 per cent respectively. Sydney also cooled with a 1.1 per c...

There are 3,111 auctions scheduled across Australia this week with 2,589 expected in capital cities – a remarkable 53 per cent more than the 1,687 auctions held a year ago. Vendors may be concerned about the high volume of competing auctions but should gain confidence from last week’s results when there was a small increase in the clearance rate to 66.6 per cent across capital cities from 65 per cent in conjunction with increased supply. The increase in volumes this ...

Housing market outlook from March results -- RP DataIt’s been a busy time across the property market with the release of the RP Data Rismark March Home Value results coinciding on Tuesday last week with the RBA’s announcement on interest rates.  Fortunately, both results delivered good news; an increase in values of 2.3% in March across the combined capital cities and the RBA announcing that interest rates will remain on at 2.5 per cent for its seventh consecutive month.Senio...

Industry Market Wrap The Australian Bureau of Statistics released housing finance data for January 2013 earlier this week. The data showed that the number of owner occupier housing loans was unchanged over the month however, refinanced loans fell by -1.1% compared to a 0.5% rise in non-refinanced loans. Focussing on the different types of owner occupier finance commitments; commitments for the construction of new dwellings rose by 5.8% over the month, commitments for the purchase of new d...

Valuations are at the heart of property investment – particularly when it comes to getting finance, or being refinanced, with a lender. You might also just be asking ‘What is my home worth?’ and a valuation may appear to be the natural way to answer this question. MUST KNOW ELEMENTS: IT'S NOT AN APPRAISAL THEY'RE NOT AN EXACT SCIENCE THERE ARE MULTIPLE TYPES OF VALUATION COMPARABLES ARE HEAVILY RELIED UPON YOU CAN ASSIST THE VALUE...

REMOVAL OF CAPITAL GAINS TAX (CGT) DISCOUNT FOR EXPAT AUSSIES – WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW By John Leeson
Certified Practising Valuer Non-residents and off-shore owners of Australian property were targeted in the 2012 federal budget, with the removal of the 50% Capital Gains Tax (CGT) discount. John Leeson, of independent property advisors Leeson Valuers, explains that although the discount is currently available to all individuals irrespective of residency, the new rule which took...