HomeMate.com.au

First home buyers stop buying land. So who’s to blame? The home builder, the land developer or the Government? I have been warning for months that the price of land is too dear for first home buyers. And I was at least two years too late, because the Rudd Governments tripling of the First Home [...]

Is Global Warming caused by heat retained in our homes & other buildings & can white roofs cool our planet? The more I read about carbon and global warming, the more I think that a big part of global warming is the rise and rise of urban and city sprawl with buildings and roads that [...]

Will new home builders have to raise their bids because of carbon taxes? There is a lot of hot air blowing about in building products companies that are the worst carbon poisoning culprits giving us the doom and gloom scenarios. But do any arguments against restraining our worst carbon air polluters hold any fresh air? [...]

Flood devastated town of Grantham has gotten a surprise offer from Queensland Premier Anna Bligh. Grantham was wiped off the map with the floods that caused an inland tsunami between Toowoomba and Ipswich west of Brisbane The proposed plan is for the  Queensland State Government to gift high land over the town that was unaffected [...]

Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS] show that the number of new dwelling being constructed fell by 5.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, 4 times worse than economists were expecting. Single dwelling new homes were hit hardest. So it was felt as lower construction loans with mortgage brokers and banks everywhere. But that does not explain the reason for the new home construction slide.
That was after a fall of 13 per cent in home construction of all types in the September quarter. Victoria and South Australia recorded the most significant falls, but Queensland is hurting more right now.

In the last ten weeks 72 out of 73 of Queensland’s Local Government areas have been flood affected. Over 70% of QLD went under water at some stage in that period. A “Back Swan Event” for QLD?
In that period many areas have been flooded twice, some areas have been hit with an inland tsunami, with small towns completely washed away. Then we had Cyclone Yasi. Then the Christchurch earthquakes hit our New Zealand cousins hard, with many Kiwis living in Queensland having friends and relatives in Chrischurch. Then we hear and see Japan hit by earthquakes and tsunami that may well be Japans worst natural disaster ever. This will also affect new home buyers.

Sustainable housing and building carbon nuetral houses are not exactly catching of fire, so we need to ask why The conclusion I have made is that the idea is not being sold on the values of the home builder, but on the values of people that don’t buy new homes. That just does not make [...]