HomeMate.com.au

Home sales fell last year to below those recorded at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. That was when the rest of the World had a major correction in house prices and Australia missed that bath.

Hence the :dead cat bounce” analogy.
Whilst we have seen several raises in mortgage interest rates, they are hardly a concern at average mortgage rates we have and full employment, so my guess is that house prices have got ahead of themselves and until they soften further we are unlikely to see an upswing in home buyers any time soon.

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor, Campbell Newman says the council wants to build new homes in the interim to a minimum height of 0.5 metre raise above the defined Brisbane flood level of 3.7 metres for all habitable floor levels, until that Royal Commission into the Queensland/ Brisbane floods makes its findings public, and the findings are put into practical and new building codes for flooded areas and flood plains in the future. This could also mean jacking up existing dwellings to meet the new standards so set.

I was sitting in my Display home sales office at Waterford in late February 2011, surveying the empty visitors parking lots. It had been this way in January before the floods. [Everything right except the "sales" part.]

Mr Mortgage says that lower future homeownership levels are seen as part of a trend that he feels can be reversed if the root causes are addressed.
What has to happen is that the dream of homeownership needs to be resold to an older first home buyer that is now entering the market, and entry needs to be made easier.

New Australian wide consumer protection laws protect home buyers and mean that real estate agents and homeowners must now disclose a home’s baggage, including if anyone has been murdered in the home for sale. No home buyer wants to own a home where there has been foul play, and a home buyers right to know [...]

Most first time home buyers are not aware that they will buy many homes during their lifetimes, and that’s because our needs and our wants are constantly changing. We do get better at the process with experience, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need assistance after your first couple of home buys are behind you.

Coastal towns from Tully in Queensland to Upper Burnie in Tasmania are tipped to be among next year’s property hotspots, as house prices in capital cities experience modest falls and upmarket property languishes under the strain of the financial crisis. In its final property pulse report of the year, RP Data says it expects first-home [...]