Suzanne Carbone, Lawrence Money from The Age have reported that Melbourne real estate agent Mark Forytarz has narroly missed the collapsing scaffolding in Melbourne last week.
Forytarz had just completed his inspection in Commercial Rd, Prahran, then minutes later, the scaffolding came crashing down. A lucky escape for Mark.
Today’s cut will save a mortgagee with a typical 30-year, $300,000 home loan about $170 in monthly repayments if the lender passes on the full amount. Over the life of the loan, the savings will total about $61,272.
”There was a significant deterioration in world economic conditions late in 2008,” said RBA Governor Glenn Stevens in a statement accompanying the cut. ”The effects on household and business confidence of the financial turmoil following Lehman’s collapse, and continuing strains on major financial institutions, saw a significant downturn in demand around the world.”
The RBA has now lopped four full percentage points off its cash rate since it changed tack and began cutting rates last September. The cash rate has not been this low since 1960, according to Bloomberg data.
The rate reduction comes hours after the Federal Government announced a $42 billion stimulus plan aimed at keeping the economy out of a recession. The spending includes some $12.7 billion in cash payments and $28 billion on new infrastructure projects including roads and schools.
“What they have done is certainly enough, put together with the fiscal package,” said Michael Blythe, chief economist for the Commonwealth Bank. ”Policy setting in Australia is very stimulative, although we are quite likely to see rates lower” in the first half of 2009.”
Double boost
The central bank said it had taken into account the additional government spending.
”The combination of expansionary monetary and fiscal policies now in place will help to cushion the Australian economy from the contractionary forces coming from abroad,” the RBA said in its statement.
Today’s RBA cut matched market expectations.
The Australian dollar initially jumped, rising from 63.5 US cents to 64 US cents after the RBA move. The benchmark ASX200 share index was recently 1.2% up for the day, easing from 1.4% higher shortly before the RBA release.
More cuts to come
The fact the RBA assessed the likely impact of today’s stimulus package indicates the bank may have been considering a bigger cut, said JP Morgan economist Helen Kevans.
Ms Kevan expects another 50 basis point cut when the RBA board next meets in March to complete the central bank’s current easing cycle.
Today’s RBA’s rate cut follows the Federal Government’s revision of growth forecasts for the economy. The Rudd Government expects Australia’s growth to slow to 1% this fiscal year to 0.75% next year - one of the few economies to continue to expand.
The RBA said Australia remains relatively strong.
”Australia’s financial system remains in a strong condition and large interest rate reductions over recent months have been passed through in substantial measure to end borrowers,” the RBA’s Stevens said.
”Nonetheless, the combination of last year’s financial turmoil, a severe global downturn and substantial falls in commodity prices has had a significant dampening effect on confidence, and therefore on prospects for growth in demand.”
The Reserve Bank indicated it had more scope for cutting rates as inflation eases.
”Inflation has begun to moderate and, given recent developments, it is likely to continue to decline,” the RBA’s statement said.
Consumer prices fell by 0.3% in the December quarter, its first reduction since 1997, according to statistics released last week.
Three-year bond futures fell 0.085 points to 97.035, while 10-year bond futures shed 0.045 points to 95.870.
Despite everything, Australians do buy in Bali -attracted to the beauty, lifestyle and people.
The holidays are well and truly over. Surely, everyone will be back at work on Monday . . . if they’ve still got a job. With the financial situation so grim, many people will wish they could move to a tropical island to see out the rest of the year.
What about Bali? OK, so there’s been the Schapelle Corby and Bali Nine dramas, terrorist attacks, executions, threats of reprisals, security warnings, rapes and murders, even a rabies scare and a booze shortage recently but Australians do buy property there.
“There’s a whole heap of Australians,” says Charles, a Sydney caterer who bought land in Bali several years ago and intends to build a villa.
“I just fell in love with the island, the people, the scenery and the fact it offers such a relaxed lifestyle . . . and no one’s going to deny having cheap household help can swing the deal.”
This opportunity to live in the lap of luxury, complete with staff, at a relatively affordable price has transformed the Bali tourism market in the past decade - particularly around Seminyak, a haven for upmarket restaurants.
Some love it so much, they want to own a place in Bali for holidays, to rent out and eventually live in. Despite the 2002 and 2005 bombings, by last September, when Domain visited, agents said buyers were more concerned about movements in the dollar than terrorism.
Phone calls this week, though, revealed the financial crisis has had an impact and some luxury villas have had price drops of 30 per cent.
“We have a number of foreign owners who have lost money in the stockmarket and they need liquidity,” says Mike Pugh of Exotiq Real Estate in Seminyak.
Last year, when the Australian dollar was strong, nearly half his sales were to Australians.
“Especially when it went above 90 [cents to the US dollar] we had a mad rush of people coming to buy,” he says. (This week, it was 66 cents.)
Even now, some of the villas - especially with the price drops - look appealing. Particularly if you’re still employed or have a healthy redundancy cheque. Most of the foreign buyers in Bali are so rich they don’t need to borrow from a bank, which is fortunate since it’s impossible to get a loan either within Indonesia (unless they marry a local) or at home. There are also restrictions for foreigners buying freehold, though they can easily buy leasehold. Many keep quiet about their purchases for tax reasons.
“Bali is a cash market and there are no subprime mortgage meltdowns here and there are no bankruptcies or foreclosures, the only problems are that some of the developers have got their initial funding from foreign banks, which is proving difficult for some,” Pugh says.
Mira Sawitz of Jones Lang LaSalle says the financial crisis has had an impact.
“Inquiry is slowing down and clients who were hot prospects have decided to postpone their decision to buy anything,” she says.
Read the full article here: http://www.domain.com.au/Public/Article.aspx?id=1232818695940&index=NationalIndex&headline=Your%20own%20slice%20of%20paradise
Dreams become a reality sooner thanks to Castran Gilbert’s hands on approach!
Why?
Castran Gilbert’s company Principals’, get involved with all the “behind the scenes” aspects of any new project!
From interior design, floor plans, to choosing which bank to finance the project, the Principals’ aim to take the pressure off the developer by offering educated advice ensuring developers make the most from their investment. This also sees the developer’s project gets to the marketing stage quicker!!
Testimonials
At Castran Gilbert we recognise the importance of pre-selling!
It instils confidence and allows you, the developer, to finance other projects sooner!
Here’s what a few of clients have to say.
Anton Wilson: This is my 3rd pre-sold project since dealing with Castran Gilbert. Their sales team pre-sold 220 apartments giving my company on this latest project more than $50 million in sales revenue …I’m sold on Castran Gilbert!!
Peter Arundel: I first dealt with Castran Gilbert in 1991 with them pre-selling a project of mine in South Yarra within just a couple of weeks! As a developer, this made me feel confident in the project seeing their ability to pre-sell!
Martin Tissot: My latest project has seen another 100% Castran Gilbert pre-sell! They gave me the confidence they could pre-sell then actually did it!! Their huge volume of pre-sales allowed me a construction start and also financed my next project …I have never had so much success since dealing with Castran Gilbert!!
Adding to these testimonials, recently one of our clients went to 1 of the 4 major banks to finance a project and on discovery that Castran Gilbert were involved, the bank proceeded to inform them Castran Gilbert is their preferred selling agent…the bank signed off immediately on the project!!
Sydney will be reinvented as a high-density metropolis serviced by mass-transit subways under a transport blueprint being developed by senior state and federal government bureaucrats.
Powerful new legislation underpinning a proposed metro network costing $13 billion will enable transport and planning officials to reshape the inner suburbs of Sydney, paving the way for apartment towers as high as 15 storeys as well as large-scale retail and office blocks.
To justify the multibillion-dollar investment, tens of thousands more people would have to live and work within walking distance of the proposed Parramatta Road metro stations, according to planning officials behind the overhaul.
Heritage inner-west suburbs such as Glebe, Leichhardt, Rozelle and Camperdown are to be among the first to face radical changes should both the $8.1 billion West Metro underneath Parramatta Road and the $4.8 billion CBD Metro go ahead.
Read the full article here: http://www.domain.com.au/Public/Article.aspx?id=1231003979729&index=NationalIndex&headline=Get%20ready:%20high-rise%20suburbs%20coming
VICTORIAN property values have plummeted about $40 billion in the past six months.
Melbourne’s median house price of $450,000 mid-2008 is now down to $427,500, according to estimates.
And house price expectations across Australia have sunk to an all-time low, a new report says.
Victoria’s $800 billion residential property market has dropped 5 per cent - or $40 billion - overall since July, according to BIS Shrapnel calculations prepared for the Herald Sun.
The trend has opened the door for potential borrowers desperate for cheaper housing.
Read the full article here:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24881569-5013926,00.html
IT’S not often a developer starts a project by throwing away a big chunk of costly inner-city land. But that’s what Mantello Holdings has done with its latest project, Richmond’s Tanner Lane.
It is putting a street through the middle of the land in Tanner St, dividing the site in two.
“We cut a road through the middle of it and we’re doing two types of product — townhouses at the front and warehouse shells at the back,” Jeremy Mantello, one of two brothers who run the business, says.
The Mantellos have plenty of experience dealing with tight inner-city spaces.
They built a mixed-use residential and office development inside a heritage-listed building in city lane Bank Place, gutting the interior and retaining the facade.
Three additional levels on top completed the logistically tricky project, which was commended at the 2001 Royal Australian Institute of Architects awards.
In another city project, the Emerald Apartments, they redeveloped and restored 20 McKillop St into 12 apartments.
The Mantellos have plenty of experience in Richmond, where their office is based.
One of their earlier projects was converting the Henry Bucks building in nearby Stewart St into large apartments.
The Henry Bucks warehouses were offered as bare spaces, but most of the 14 units in Tanner Lane, the site of a former warehouse, are to be fully finished.
The eight large townhouses at the front of the development will have Miele kitchen appliances, polished concrete and timber floors, and smart wiring.
At the rear, six smaller properties will be offered as shells.
The development, designed by award-winning Buckerfield Architects, offers something that’s hard to come by in the inner city: each townhouse has a double garage, complete with remote-controlled roller door.
But Mantello says being close to the Richmond train station might prove more of an attraction.
“It’s close to everything,” he says. “You’re within walking distance of the CBD and the MCG.”
It’s also a short stroll from the Swan St shops, pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes.
The three-bedroom townhouses are split over three levels.
Ground level features a home office that could be used as an extra bedroom and a garage.
The first floor is largely taken up by a huge open-plan living area, but also houses the kitchen and a terrace.
Bedrooms are on the top level, along with another smaller terrace.
The secondary bedrooms have built-in wardrobes and the large main bedroom has a walk-in wardrobe and ensuite.
Prices range from $685,000 for the smallest, a 201sq m shell, to $1.4 million for a fully-fitted 283sq m townhouse.
The project is due to be completed in June or July.
Read the full article here: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24712822-5013926,00.html
ACTOR and musician Mark Wahlberg has reportedly listed his Beverly Hills home at $25.9 million.
Wahlberg bought the five-bedroom, 10-bathroom house with a two-storey private guest house in 1991.
Not surprisingly for the fitness-conscious Wahlberg, the property also has a gym, basketball court and boxing ring.
UNDERPERFORMING property markets, sharemarket instability, rising rents and falling interest rates are set to push Melbourne and Sydney into the lead of the property charge in 2009.
According to the Real Estate Institute of Australia, the Melbourne and Sydney property markets have been the worst performers in Australia over the past five years.
The median price of property in Melbourne had an average annual growth rate just over 4.5 per cent between 2003 and 2008. This compares with an annual growth rate of about 9.5 per cent between 1980 and 2003.
Sydney’s long-term growth rate stands at 9.12 per cent, but in the past five years its median has not been able to manage an annual growth rate above 1 per cent.
The Melbourne and Sydney property markets have under-performed their long-term average by a long way. In contrast, the Perth market has been the stand-out over the past five years due to the mining boom. The median value of property in Perth has grown by more than double the long-term average, with growth rates of about 16 per cent each year.
Read the full article here: http://business.theage.com.au/business/melbournes-return-to-real-estate-boom-time-20081219-72eq.html
To discuss how you can take advantage of the property market in boom times, contact Castran Gilbert to discuss your situation with one of their helpful agents.
Paul Castran
Times are tough but some experts believe we’re through the worst of it.
Can you hear it? It sounds like a distant ring, a peal of bells, not of Yuletide bonhomie but of changed fortunes in that most solid of staple investments, bricks and mortar. Shares are so yesterday. Stockbroking is a dirty word. Nobody’s talking margin loans. But could the property market be a bellwether of better times?
At least some of the notes are on song. The Reserve Bank dropping the cash rate to 4.25 per cent and perhaps going even lower. Figures this week from the nation’s largest mortgage broker, AFG, indicate NSW first-home buyers are back in the market, with November’s loan approvals up 113 per cent on August. And Sydney house prices - despite all the doomsday scenarios - actually gained 0.51 per cent in the October quarter. There was also a 1.6 per cent increase in the number of loans for established homes in October.
"The property market has moved through the bottom of its cycle," says RP Data’s head of research, Tim Lawless.
Read the full article here:
Paul Castran