Putting it all in perspective.

Each week I write these articles, I try to find some interesting statistics that might give me a clue on what is happening from a macro and micro economic level, and how it may affect the property market in our region. An interesting fact I came upon this week is that Australia is number two […]
PROPped by the Bar – Ep 20. Special guests, Mark Sanford & Tim Gleeson
In the 20th episode of PROPped by the Bar, Michael and Gareth meet Mark Sanford, project director at UGL who tells them about the resurgence in local manufacturing and how Geelong companies are progressing to renewable energy. They also interview Tim Gleeson, from Preston Rowe Paterson, who gives the low-down on how council rates are […]
Why did we need another rate rise?

Wowee, it’s hard not to write about the Reserve Bank’s decision to put up interest rates another 25 basis points. Australia’s inflation figures were down in March to 6.8 per cent from peaks of more than 8 per cent. The American inflation rate dropped significantly over April down to 4.98 per cent, and the Japanese […]
Markets within markets.

What a difference a couple of weeks makes! Only three weeks ago people were still writing us off – a poor start to the year and the negative Nancys came out of the woodwork. It’s not our great football team I am talking about, however the comparisons are obvious. Three weeks ago, the Geelong Cats […]
Tax on your property – it’s worth checking out.

My phone is running hot at the moment with people calling and asking questions about tax on property: land tax, windfall gains tax, capital gains tax. A heck of a lot of people who have not previously received a property tax bill have received one in the mail in February, and the due date for […]
The dawn of a new property cycle.

Property cycles are best described as clocks. For the last three years we rapidly moved toward midnight, the heat in the market was like nothing we are likely to see again in our lifetimes. It was as if someone was trying to wind the clock forward for daylight savings! Did we lose an hour? Midnight […]
Is this the bottom of the cycle?

This week, CoreLogic reported that over the past week, across the five capital cities, property values increased by 0.2 per cent (Sydney 0.4 per cent, Melbourne 0.2 per cent, Brisbane 0.1 per cent). Locally, in Geelong, we have witnessed several great auction results over the weekend, with the standouts being: 19 Layton Crescent, Newtown, sold […]
PROPped by the Bar – Ep 19. Special guests, Danny Thomas & Barry Iddles
In this episode we meet property valuer turned real estate agent Danny Thomas. His business, LAWD, sells some of the biggest properties in Australia – particularly in the agri space. Gareth and Michael catch-up with Danny overlooking his latest sales project – the Queenscliff Harbour. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to catch-up with 360Q […]
Knife’s edge or generational opportunity?

There are many factors that can influence the performance of the property market, including economic conditions, interest rates, government policies and population growth. I have always prescribed to the theory that the best thing about a bricks and mortar market is that it is inherently tied to the user, be that commercial or residential, and […]
Hot tips for maximising the sale price of your property.

As expected, the Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate to 3.35 per cent last Tuesday, with the impact on households being an increase of 60 per cent in mortgage payments in the past nine months. This impact goes far beyond existing variable rate mortage holders, there are 800,000 borrowers whose fixed-rate loans will flip to […]