You’d have to have been living on Mars for the past decade to not be aware that house prices, especially in Melbourne and Sydney, have risen sharply. The combination of extremely low interest rates, a growing population, and in some cases a lack of supply of new homes, has resulted in existing home owners becoming wealthy, at least on paper, and those outside the home ownership club … Read the full post »
In this article Property Professor Peter Koulizos compares apartments and houses as possible investment options, so far as capital growth is concerned. He explains that they differ in performance for a number of reasons.
Demand v Supply
For those of you that have studied Economics you might remember that price is a function of demand and supply. In other words, the price of something is based on how many people want it … Read the full post »
In these times of lower auction results, and tales abounding of property bargains galore it might seem a bit unbelievable to be talking about a housing supply issue.
Many vendors are probably thinking that the only supply issue they have right now is that there’s too many properties on the market. But behind the scenes there’s still plenty of talk about how we’re not building enough houses by number crunchers who … Read the full post »
There are opportunities and dangers when surrendering your cooling off period.
In the heat of the moment, the exhilaration of finding and snaring a jewel in the real estate market can be a buyer’s natural adrenalin. But then you sleep on it. And you start to think… Maybe the place will need a bit more work than expected. And how many extra dollars will that cost?
The timber floors seemed a bit … Read the full post »
When it comes to the sale of a property, Conveyancing is a complex and important part of the process surrounding the a property transaction.
Conveyancing is made up of multiple record searches, legal wrangling and negotiating, preparation of official documentation and preparation of final disbursements prior to property settlement which are all taks designed to ensure a legitimate transfer of property. The sole purpose of conveyance is to ensure the seller’s … Read the full post »
The criteria to evaluate when buying an apartment are similar to those when buying a house – location and aspect, for example. Yet experienced apartment buyers say that there are things to consider that aren’t always obvious the first time round. *
Big or Small Building?
Some apartment buildings are large while some have as few as four apartments in the block. Size is worth considering, depending on what sort of lifestyle … Read the full post »
So you have reached an exciting phase in your life where you’ve decided to buy your very first home! We go in to this with the best intentions, but for some the journey becomes a nightmare instead of an experience to savour. To help along the way, here are our ‘Ten Top Tips’:
1. Do your homework
Don’t buy the first place that takes your fancy without spending time getting to know … Read the full post »