HomeMate.com.au

New First Home Buyers incentive hurts second home buyers. Queensland general manager of Brisbane-based developer Devine Homes, Paul Nash, said second-home buyer demand has been sluggish, but when the $21,000 first-home owner’s grant was introduced in October, there was a pickup in first-home owner inquiry. First Home buyers charge petering out “We had a spike, [...]

Australia’s house price slump has been patchy, with Adelaide recording a gain in values, and Melbourne bringing up the rear as far as house price values are concerned. Melbourne led the nation in the drop in house prices over the past quarter. Melbourne property values did the worst in the nation, with house prices sinking [...]

Residential real estate property developer Australand Property Group has scaled back its development plans after posting an 85% slump in annual profit. Australand on Wednesday reported net profit for the 2008 calendar year fell to $40.16 million, from $269.23 million in 2007. It booked an unrealised loss from revaluations of $96.98 million and writedowns to residential [...]

Master Builders Australia, the peak building and construction industry, has called on the banks to pass on in full the 100 basis point reduction in the cash rate by the central bank. The group said there is no case for the banks to withhold the benefits of lower interest rates to both households and builders. [...]

Selling your home? A small quick profit is a good profit when selling. Last year a Gold Coast couple refused an offer of $14.5 million for their beachfront home development site. Last week they had to let it go for $9 million at auction as the financial crisis bites. The house on the Gold Coast’s [...]