This week we feature our bi-annual whip around the nation to feel the pulse of the market.
We asked our experts to prepare some responses to questions about the property market that would reveal where to buy, what to buy and where they think the market is headed.
We also asked them to tell us where they would buy in their particular state or territory if they had $550,000 to invest in property.
George Raptis says that in New South Wales it is still possible to buy well, at or around $500K, but you need to be very discerning. He expresses some concern about the ACT market.
Victoria and Tasmania is covered by Michael Yardney and he says that Melbourne has been the ‘big surprise market’ of 2013/14. He talks about the need for caution but he spells out where he thinks you should be looking.
Peter Koulizos has the lowdown on the South Australian market and points to the areas where there has been growth because of developing infrastructure. He has several suburbs and areas you should consider there.
We travel to the Sunshine State and Shannon Davis says that there has been a renewed level of interest in the quality suburbs that are offer strong returns. He says there is a lot of pressure on 1 and 2 bedroom properties with ‘walkable’ features. He also talks about the opportunities in the Northern Territory market.
Damian Collins provides an excellent overview of the Western Australian market. That is a state that has been heavily influenced by the resourses sector but Damian has some good news about future prospects.
To round the show out we feature two views on the national perspective from Dr Andrew Wilson from Australian Property Monitors and our resident national expert Louis Christopher from SQM Research.
Interview Transcripts
George Raptis
Kevin: Welcome back to the show. You heard what Michael Yardney had to say about Victoria. Let’s move to another very important part of the country and that is New South Wales. Joining us from Sydney, New South Wales, the man who runs the operation there for Metropole Property Strategists, George Raptis.
George, thank you for your time. Let’s get a brief overview from you about the New South Wales market.
George: Certainly. Sydney really remains the standout performer of all the capital city markets. What we’re experiencing is that stock levels are still lower than a year ago. In other words, properties that are being advertised are getting sold at a faster rate than what they’re being added.
Auction clearance rates have been consistently high although we’re starting to see some signs of it potentially weakening, particularly in the budget range, but what we are seeing is the top end strengthen.
Kevin: What is the budget range in New South Wales right now?
George: We talk about that sub $500,000 price point.
Kevin: Is there much opportunity to spend $550,000 in Sydney anymore?
George: Yes, there is. You still need to be very discerning as to where you’re buying, but there are still opportunities out there, for sure.
Kevin: We might talk about that in just a moment. We’ll talk specifically about where you could spend $550,000, but keep talking about the state if you could.
George: The other thing is vendor sellers are still confident. They are reading the newspapers every Sunday and they like to see what the media has to say with regard to our markets. If we look at last Sunday’s result and take Easter out of the equation, again, auction clearance rates were at 78% marks. They’re still very, very strong. Buyers are still confident, but what I’ve noticed is a lot of the first-time buyers are waning and there’s been a huge surge of investors that are entering the market.
Kevin: What about the ACT market? What’s happening there?
George: ACT is an interesting market. That’s definitely slowed down in the past year. For me, the slowdown appears to be mostly attributed to apartments. In my opinion, there’s a definite oversupply currently. If you look at sales, the number of those that have taken place is substantially lower than this time last year by some 10%.
Obviously, along with an oversupply, there followed the falling of rental yields. So, there’s all the dialogue going around at the moment regarding possible job cuts in the public service. This for sure put a dent in the confidence of potential purchases in the Canberra market.
Kevin: Yes, that ACT market is very much driven by what happens with jobs, particularly in the public sector. Doesn’t it?
George: Absolutely.
Kevin: Okay, now let’s look at the exercise of “If I had $550,000.” Give me a bit of an example of where I could best spend that, say in New South Wales.
George: A good example of where I’d be considering purchasing currently would be a suburb such as Petersham, which is in the west of Sydney. From a location perspective, it is six kilometers from the CBD, has excellent train links to the CBD and airports, and it does have a diversified commercial hub.
Typically, we see this sort of property as one of these that have gentrified over the years. The types of properties that I would be considering for this location would be apartments. I believe they will continue to make good investments.
Kevin: George, what types of properties would you be considering?
George: The types of properties I’d be considering, Kevin, for this location would be apartments as I believe they will be continuing to make good investments, but not all do, as you know. You still need to be very discerning when it comes to property selection.
Kevin: What are the tips you would give someone who is going to look for an apartment?
George: I would look at typically the right location, the right property, and the right street. For example, I look at all the small pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that go towards making sure you are buying the best quality and the best located property you can within the parameters or framework of your budget.
Typically, I like to look at smaller boutique style blocks where there’s no lifts or pools or gyms, these high-end expenditure items. I like to look at where the majority of people who own there live there. They are quite frugal and they look after the place. They tend to do very, very well from a physical perspective.
The other things I like looking at are aspects. Not a lot of people take aspect into consideration. Now that doesn’t necessarily always means a view, a water view, a district view or city view. It’s just natural light. So, something with a nice northeasterly aspect. Something where you’re getting natural light coming in, nothing that’s dark and dingy where you need the lights on in the middle of the day.
Obviously, parking plays a role. As our city grows, parking becomes more and more of a premium. I’d be suggesting making sure you’d be buying parking with one of these properties. Also, not on busy roads. You don’t want to be sitting with ear plugs in during the middle of the day because the semitrailers are rumbling past your front door.
Kevin: That’s some very good advice, not only advice on where to buy but what to buy. George Raptis, our guest that time from Metropole Property Strategists in New South Wales. George, thanks for your time.
George: Thanks a lot, Kevin.
Michael Yardney
Kevin: Let’s start our look around Australia, firstly having a look at one of the major capital areas and that’s Victoria. Michael Yardney joins me from Metropole Property Strategists. We do this a couple times a year, it’s a good exercise to have a look around the country. Michael?
Michael: I think it is Kevin, because there’s not one property market. In the media you keep hearing about the Australian propery market, but there are markets in different geographic locations, at different price points, and different types of properties, Kevin. This is a great idea.
Kevin: We’ve got our team ready to take us around Australia and we’ll introduce you to them as we go through the show today. What we will be looking at is areas in those particular states that our experts believe are worthwhile having a look at.
We’re also going to trial a bit of an exercise, Michael. If I had $550,000 to spend in the area in which you’re looking, what would you recommend I do? We’ll cover that a little later. First, let’s have a look at Victoria, what are you seeing?
Michael: I think Victoria, or Melbourne in particular, was a surprise to most property observers last year because it performed particularly well. Over the last twelve months Melbourne’s dwelling index increased by about 11.6%. In particular the house value has increased, they went up about 11.9%, and apartments increased by very close to 9%.
In the past, apartments actually grew as well if not more than the housing, but there’s a little bit of an oversupply so the Melbourne market doesn’t buy a lot of new apartment complexes – particularly close to the CBD and on main roads – so you’ve got to be a bit careful about where one buys investment properties.
Kevin: Interesting too, Michael, in our news grab from last week in the show, we know that the ABS is saying that Melbourne is likely to overtake Sydney as the major capital city in terms of population growth. To feed that alone there’s going to have to be a lot more development in that state.
Michael: There is, and the Planning Minister is very much for that, with opening up some new areas for planning of new estates in the outer suburbs, but also in talking a bit about Manhattanizing Melbourne. In other words, having lots of large high-rise buildings. This huge population growth is going to create some interesting planning issues and probably also some social issues.
Kevin: What does the population feel about Manhattanizing Melbourne?
Michael: I don’t know that we’re ready for it, but there is a large group of people coming from overseas, and our population is growing by close to 100,000 people a year. Our population is going to increase by 10% in the next five years. I’m not sure where we’re going to put them all, so we are going to have to build these buildings.
Kevin: Is there a shortage of land on the outskirts of Melbourne?
Michael: There’s a shortage of land that can be developed. In other words, planning restrictions are stopping urban sprawl. We’re not restricted geographically like Sydney is with the mountains and the water, but the government is not allowing us to keep spreading: they want us to become more dense. That, in some ways, makes more sense.
Kevin: Indeed. Okay, if I had $550,000 to spend, where should I be spending it?
Michael: I believe that buying in the inner- and middle-ring suburbs of Melbourne is going to give an investor better long-term capital growth. In that price bracket you can’t really buy a house, or a house and land, you couldn’t probably even buy a townhouse. I would suggest that there are some really good suburbs where you could buy an established apartment, one not in one of those big high-rise complexes so you’ve got a little bit of scarcely, and buy one to which you can add some value and do some renovations down the track.
There are quite a number of suburbs in the inner-east southeast suburbs, even some of the northern suburbs, where there’s still good strong potential for capital growth. But as we become big, like we were talking about, I’d be suggesting you want to remain close to infrastructure, close to transport, close (in Melbourne in particular) to trams and trains, so you’ve got easy access to all the facilities.
Kevin: A lot to think about, and a lot to consider too, Michael. Let’s jump across the strait and just have a look at Tasmania. What’s your view about that area?
Michael: Tasmania’s a lovely place to visit. It’s a lovely place to live. If you’re a property investor though I wouldn’t be going to Tasmania, I’d be sticking to the big capital cities. Over the last twelve months while the rest of Australia had very strong capital growth, home venues in Hobart increased by less than 1%. In fact they’ve dropped for a while. They’ve started to pick up again, but it’s because of minimal population growth and a not very strong economy, and it’s based on only a couple of pillars, not a very deep economy. The housing market is reflecting that. I believe if you actually live in Tasmania there are better opportunities on the mainland of Australia in the four big capital cities.
Kevin: We spoke earlier about the growth of population in that Victorian area, and the fact I think it was 2053 the ABS is saying that Melbourne will outstrip Sydney in terms of population. I’d be interested in having a chat with you at some stage about the challenges for developers with number of people coming in and what you see is going to happen in the state. Maybe we could pencil that in for next week?
Michael: That’d be a pleasure, Kevin.
Peter Koulizos
Kevin: As we continue to look around Australia at the property market, this time let’s take you to South Australia. Joining us is our expert from there, Peter Koulizos. Peter, thank you for your time. Tell us about the South Australian market, how it’s looking right now.
Peter: Things are looking quite good in South Australia at the moment, especially the last three months have been doing particularly well. We had a state election which I thought would hold things up for a little while but they did not and things have been going from strength to strength. Just in the last three months we’ve had well over 3% increase in property prices.
That is mainly due to the fact that there are a lot more people looking, but also a lot of real estate agents complaining that there’s not a lot of stock out there to sell.
Kevin: That is always a good indicator. There has also been a lot of talk in South Australia about additional infrastructure that’s going in, particularly around the ports. Are you seeing that at all?
Peter: Yes, certainly. There is a new road infrastructure in particular and it’s not just happening around the port but all over the metropolitan area. We’ve got the construction of the medical research center. It is virtually finished but they are still building the new Royal Adelaide hospital. There is an extension of train lines. So there’s plenty of infrastructure happening in South Australia as we speak.
Kevin: I imagine there’d be a number of suburbs surrounding that infrastructure that are going to benefit from it. Any in particular that you wanted to highlight, Peter?
Peter: Yes, one that I like in particular is Torrensville. It’s an inner western suburb. It’s only two or three kilometers from the city where I’ve just said that they are building the new Royal Adelaide hospital, and just finished building the medical research center. Most of the university campuses are in the city. International education is flavor of the month again with the Aussie dollar dropping.
I think that is a great little spot to have a serious look at.
Kevin: Peter, looking further out to take us outside of Adelaide, and into some of the more regional areas of South Australia, are there any in particular there that are showing signs of promise?
Peter: You’ve got some areas on the York Peninsula that are turning good. Unfortunately for South Australia, a lot of the holiday markets have taken a big hit since the GFC. That’s generally towns on the coast. They’re slowly improving as the Adelaide market is also improving.
Kevin: Peter, if I had $550,000 to spend, where would you suggest I should be looking and what should I be looking for?
Peter: Okay. The inner western suburbs, Torrensville is one of them. There’s another one called Thebarton or Flinders Park. $550,000 can easily buy a house probably on 600 or 700 square meters of land. If you can, get a period or character style home, something built before World War II would be ideal, and that would give you the option to renovate later to further add value.
Kevin: Peter, we thank you very much. Our expert on the ground in South Australia, Peter Koulizos. Peter, thanks for your time.
Peter: It’s been a pleasure. Thank you.
Shannon Davis
Kevin: As we continue our look around Australia and what’s happening with the property market, let’s turn the focus now to Queensland and Northern Territory. Our man on the spot there is Shannon Davis from Metropole Property Strategists in Brisbane. Thank you for your time on the show today. Let’s first focus on the Queensland market.
Shannon: There’s been a big return to the quality suburbs, and a lot of southern interest as well. It’s mainly about the yield. There’s quite attractive yields at the moment – with 5% and high 4% yields – so investors are leading the charge back into the market based on not seeing enough value in their own space, and making an investment purchase in Brisbane.
Kevin: Name some of the suburbs that they’re having a look at.
Shannon: There’s a lot more push on one and two bedroom houses in quality suburbs with high walkability. The areas that we’re seeing are New Farm, Paddington, Bulimba, and Coorparoo. There’s been a lot of price movement in a short time in those areas. Basically those areas have owner/occupier appeal, they’re built up already, and they’re smaller complexes that are where we like to make our purchases.
Kevin: Those areas are fairly inner-city, is there anything out on the outer rim? Once you get around 5 to 10 kilometers out?
Shannon: In the 10 kilometer radius there’s a lot of development activity. There are some splitter blocks, and LMR sites are in high demand. A lot of those sites are getting purchased really quickly because people have seen a rise in the exit prices of properties. So the developers are backing it in a big way, and securing sites in those areas where there is upside on a larger box of dirt.
Kevin: What about some of the regional areas around Queensland?
Shannon: We’ve seen that Gladstone’s really got some weak pressures at the moment. There’s a lot more camping sites up there, so there’s a bit more vacancy from some of the investors that own property that come in to see me, that’s been the experience there. Some of the regions that are mining affected are seeing increased vacancy and that’s a combination of increased supply and, at the same time, less demand with fly in/fly out or camping or construction phase winding down in the mining sector.
Kevin: Are some of the areas that aren’t mining-affected kicking along okay? Some of the areas up around north Queensland: maybe Cairns and Townsville, are they doing okay?
Shannon: I think in Cairns and Townsville there’s an increase in tourism, which is great for those areas. There’s some waiting for the plans of the proposed casino in that area as to what may happen. But I think they’re definitely enjoying the increased tourism, both domestically and internationally, Chinese tourism taking a big part.
Kevin: Before we take a look at the Northern Territory Shannon, if I had $550,000 to spend, where should I spend it and what should I be looking at?
Shannon: I would go for a smaller dwelling – a two-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-car park – or maybe a townhouse. With that price point in Brisbane you could still get a very attractive suburb within 6 kilometers. You want good walkability to the suburb as well, so the areas downstairs to be close to amenities and lifestyle precincts.
Kevin: Are the suburbs you mentioned earlier achievable at $550,000 or would you have to go a little further out to get that?
Shannon: Most definitely and if you purchased in this window shortly you could probably pencil in a yield of around $530 per week.
Kevin: Very attractive. Let’s go up to the Northern Territory, just a quick summary.
Shannon: The boom of 2012 has really slowed down and that’s been a big combination of the increasing supply on the back of that boom, but now there is less interest from investors and the owner/occupier market is quite dormant at the moment.
Kevin: Shannon, thank you for that summary of Queensland and Northern Territory. Our expert on the ground there, Shannon Davis from Metropole Property Strategists. Thank you for your time.
Shannon: No worries Kevin, any time.
Damian Collins
Kevin: Let’s have a look at the Western Australian market on the show now. Joining us from Momentum Wealth, buyer’s agent in WA, Damian Collins. Damian, thanks for your time. Tell me about WA. How’s it been fairing?
Damian: We’ve seen still pretty reasonable growth in the first quarter of the year and some into April. We have noticed stock levels just starting to come up a little bit. This time last year we had about 8,500 or thereabouts properties for sale on the market. We’ve now moved into just over 10,000.
We’ve seen an increase in stock levels but it still is below what we would consider a balanced market. A balanced market in the Perth area is about 13,000 or so properties. There’s still definitely a shortage, but a bit more stock has come onto the market.
Prices have still grown but not at the same rate they did last year. Overall, it looks to be a reasonable year for growth in Perth.
Kevin: With those increased stock levels do you see a bit of a slowdown of growth in values?
Damian: Depending on whose statistics you look at, last year Perth did about 8% to 10% which is good growth. It was certainly not growth like some other locations around Australia had in 2013. What we’re seeing is that properties that six or eight months ago might have gone on the first weekend are now taking two to three weeks. Properties that might have had three or four offers maybe still have one or two.
Still, again, these are quite solid conditions but certainly not as strong as they were going back six months or even before then. It’s generally been a lot of first home buyers who were flooding the buying side of the market over the last 18 months who are starting to slow down. That’s certainly the trend we’ve noticed, there’s less of those.
With the rental yields in Perth, the rent market is a bit flat. We haven’t seen investors come back in a big way, again, unlike Sydney and other locations where there are a lot of investors. Investors have not been a huge part of the Perth market in the last period of time.
So, in those sectors it has slowed down a bit but as I said, there’s still a shortage of properties, and prices are still rising albeit not at the same rate they were last year.
Kevin: If we’re looking at the Perth market, what are the suburbs that we should be looking at which offer the best growth potential?
Damian: We certainly think it’s a market that you’re going to need to select well. It’s not a market that will see all properties at significant rates in the next two years. Some properties will do well. Some properties will do average. We tend to focus on areas that we think are underappreciated by the market but have good prospects for being revalued.
One of the areas that we like is Morley. Morley’s in an area in the local council called Bayswater in WA. It’s about ten kilometers out of the city into the northeastern side of town. It’s one of those suburbs that was fairly middle class and it has stayed that way. The state government in their strategic plan have noted Morley as one of their strategic metropolitan regional areas.
What does that mean? It means that in those locations, the state government are going to invest a lot of resources in terms of public transport. Also, they want to see private sector investment and that means redevelopment particularly around Morley. It’s got a substantial shopping center. We also expect that there will be more rezoning in the location because what they want is to get higher density around activity centers, and shopping centers are considered activity centers.
Overlaid with that, there’s quite a substantial transport plan. It doesn’t have a train, which is one of its downsides. There’s not many. It does have good bus access and they’ve got quite a substantial transport plan to improve and enhance access by public transport.
Being fairly close to the city as well, it’s certainly becoming in more demand. It’s a rejuvenating area. The suburbs closer in – your Mount Lawleys, for those people who might not know Perth – are very affluent. Inglewood is very affluent. As you move further out to the suburbs out in that northeast corridor, we’ll start to see Morley get rerated by the market.
It certainly won’t be the top suburb in Perth. It’ll be moved from that middle class into more of the upper middle class and with that rerating that’s where we think we’ll get market out-performance.
Kevin: If you had $550,000 to spend on properties, is that where you’d spend it, in Morley?
Damian: Definitely. In Morley you’d certainly get a pretty decent villa for that price. Depending on the house and the zoning, you may even get an older style house as well. It may not have redevelopment potential. You’d have to go a bit high to get redevelopment potential. You’d get a house around on a 700-meter block that may not have rezoning potential but is certainly in reasonable condition.
So you can get some pretty serious bang for your buck, and again, only ten to fifteen kilometers out of the Perth CBD.
Kevin: Thanks for that excellent wrap up, Damian. That’s wonderful. Damian Collins from Momentum Wealth, a buyer’s agent in WA. Thanks for your time, Damian.
Damian: Thanks, Kevin.
Dr Andrew Wilson and Louis Christopher
Kevin: Now that we’ve taken you around Australia and have talked to our experts in each of the states, let’s get a bit of an overview on more of a national picture with Doctor Andrew Wilson, who is a senior economist with Australian Property Monitors. Dr. Wilson, thank you very much for your time. Let’s take a look at a national view. I know there is no one national market, but how would you describe the Australian property market at this point in time?
Andrew: Right there Kevin, there isn’t really a national market but when we have the overriding factors, such as interest rates, that certainly does determine an underlying trend for the national market, if we can call it that. Recent data is actually giving us an overall trend for those capital city and submarket activity levels.
In the latest APM March quarter house price data we had some reasonably strong results still amongst Melbourne and Sydney, however other markets were a little mixed in their price outcomes. The general trend we saw was that we had that prices growth down in all capital city markets over that March quarter compared to the December quarter. Even though some markets were still strong – Sydney up by 3.1% and Melbourne up by 2.8%, which is still quite strong growth – it was down from the very strong December quarter activity levels of prices growth that we did record.
It is showing that the December quarter was the high water mark of the market, with those low interest rates we had the cuts last year in May and in August, which really did activate buyers in all capital cities. That December quarter will prove to be the high water mark and we’re now starting to see those local factors start to predominate in terms of prices growth.
Kevin: How much is growth for the future going to hinge on consumer confidence?
Andrew: It always does hinge on confidence and that’s what we’re seeing in the city market. We have a very confident market, a lot of enthusiasm for the property and that’s driving their prices growth and buyer activity. We’re also seeing a big rise in retail sales in New South Wales which does reflect a debt factor increased asset values with house prices and lower mortgage repayments, so that confidence is key of course.
The other end of the scale is in Melbourne where there is a significant underperformance by the local economy, which is probably set to deteriorate. We’ve got the highest unemployment rate in Melbourne after twelve years at the moment; it’s been stuck on that 7.3% so far this year each month, that’s a negative for the Melbourne market going forward. But I expect generally to see housing market growth moderating most capital cities.
There are some exceptions there, particularly those strong markets of Melbourne and Sydney. I think we’re looking forward to moderate prices growth moving forward. Of course, that strong prices growth particularly in Sydney last year was unsustainable. We do still have a low-inflation low-income growth economy, and prices have perhaps moved ahead in Melbourne and Sydney of the underlying capacity of incomes growth. That’s why we’re seeing a moderation of activity in those two stronger markets at the moment.
Kevin: It’s easy when we talk about the national property market to focus very much on those capital cities, let’s look quickly regionally. What are some of the stronger regional areas around Australia?
Andrew: Regional centers tend to pick up on what’s happening in the capital city market. Perhaps Queensland is the exception which tends to be a more decentralized regional market, but certainly those regions in Queensland have started to pick up. But it still remains mixed. The Central Queensland areas of Mackay and Gladstone are still quite weak in terms of prices growth. However, far north Queensland markets of Townsville and Cairns, particularly Cairns, is now starting to pick up.
We are seeing southeast Queensland really starting to rise again after a lengthy period of subdued buyer activity. The Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, and some of those major city areas around Brisbane are starting to pick up. Still a little mixed, but I would expect that to continue this year.
In other regional centers, far northern New South Wales is again improving but it picks up a similar energy because of South Beach Queensland. Most of New South Wales regional markets are similar to Sydney, recording quite solid prices growth.
In Melbourne, and Victoria in the regional sense – particularly Bendigo and Ballarat which are activated by a lot of government infrastructure spending in those markets there – remain quite solid.
The major regional markets in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, have a reasonably bright outlook, but it does reflect what happens in that capital city market in terms of their short-term outlook.
Kevin: Well said, thank you very much, Dr. Andrew Wilson. Thanks for your time.
Andrew: Pleasure Kevin, any time at all.
Kevin: I want to get another view on the market too, because that’s what we’re doing today in the show. I want to get an overview from a man who’s very good, his feet very firmly set on the ground, Louis Christopher from SQM Research. Louis, our commentators have certainly given us the message that there is no one market around Australia, would that be your view as well?
Louis: Absolutely you’re right, Kevin. Particularly in this cycle we’re seeing each capital city basically beating to its own drum with some extremes in the market. For example, we’re seeing Sydney now growing at a rate of 15% plus per annum, while in Canberra we’re recording falling house prices.
It does vary from state to state, region to region, suburb to suburb, very much so in this cycle at this point in time. Hence the reason why I think it’s very wrong to actually extrapolate what’s happening in Sydney across the rest of the country. It just simply isn’t happening.
That’s where a number of economists and commentators are going wrong in saying “We need to lift rates now, there’s a property bubble on our hands.” How can you have a property bubble in your hands when you’re experiencing falling house prices to begin with, like we’re seeing in Canberra?
Kevin: It would be very hard to put it down to one issue, being interest rates, because there are so many other factors like employment, or even consumer confidence. All of these things play a part in the market don’t they?
Louis: They do play a part in the market, and as mentioned there are cities which are just not recording very strong growth at all at this point in time. If you were to go to many regions in Queensland and ask the local real estate agents what’s going on with them, they’d laugh at you if you put it to them that there’s a property boom going on right now. They’d laugh at you. It’s just not happening.
That’s why having good information at the macro level, but also the local level, is important in terms of making the right decisions.
Kevin: There are lots of great reports available at SQM Research and we’re going to tell about a fantastic one next week in the show. Louis your recommendation for anyone who wants to get a good feel for the market, what sort of a report should they be looking at on your website?
Louis: I think they need to look at a number of indicators. They should obviously get a hold of good comparable sales which are occurring in their local area, and they can certainly get that through our website. We follow a number of indicators in terms of making our assessment of the market: Stock on Market is one, Asking Prices is another very good leading indicator.
We look at a range of things. We look at housing finance approvals as well, and then we do assessments in terms of how sensitive interest rates changes are on local markets. There are lots of things we actually look at.
Kevin: If you want to get a good feel for the market, that’s the website. We recommend you go and have a look at SQMResearch.com.au. My guest this time has been Louis Christopher. Louis, thanks for your time.
Louis: Thanks Kevin.