SALES NEWSLETTER MARCH 2010
Monday, March 01, 2010
HOUSE PRICES SURGE AHEAD OF RATE RISES
House prices finished the year with a bang, posting the strongest quarterly growth in more than half a decade, in spite of dwindling government grants.
Home values surged 5.2 per cent in the three months to December and 13.6 per cent over the year, according to the Bureau of Statistics capital city house price index released yesterday.
It was the strongest three months of growth since 2003, when last decade's property boom was nearing its peak.
Sydney home owners are among the biggest winners, with house prices jumping 5 per cent in the quarter and 12.8 per cent in the year, third behind Melbourne and Darwin.
The record growth came despite the Reserve Bank lifting interest rates by 0.75 percentage points between October and December, and the government reducing hand-outs for first home owners from $14,000 to $10,500 from September 30.
Experts had said the winding back of the grant - which reverted to $7000 last month - would quell demand among first-home buyers, who drove much of last year's boom.
But a JPMorgan economist, Ben Jarman, said there had been a rush to exploit the cheap cost of borrowing and the $10,500 grant before the end of the year.
''The recovery of Australia's housing market over 2009 is all the more remarkable given that most developed economies' housing sectors continued to haemorrhage over most of the year,'' he said.
The latest result follows rises of 4 per cent in the June and September quarters, but the figures have attracted criticism for including only detached houses, not units. Housing research firm Rismark - which last week said prices rose by a modest 2.1 per cent in the quarter - says the bureau's measurement inflated the price rises.
The news comes before the Reserve Bank holds its first meeting of the year today, at which it is expected to raise official interest rates to 4 per cent. For the average NSW mortgage of $400,000, this would bump up monthly repayments by $63, to $2796.
In the year ahead, experts say house prices will post gentler growth, as the expected increase in interest rates further weakens demand from first home buyers.
Publication: Sydney Morning Herald
YEAR OF THE TIGER
Courageous, daring and confident, people born in the Year of the Tiger are natural leaders. However, they can be unpredictable and tempestuous, and sometimes territorial and possessive. 2010 is the Year of the Metal Tiger, with Metal bringing additional strength and determination.
Tiger Lucky Gemstone: Sapphire
Tiger Lucky Colour: Green
Most compatible signs: Tiger, Horse, Dog and Pig
Most incompatible signs: Snake and Monkey
The Chinese zodiac animals are representative of the people born in each Chinese year. The 12 animals have different personality traits, likes and dislikes, which all people born under the same year share. Each animal sign rules for a year, and they follow in a specific order, appearing every 12 years.
The animals of the Chinese zodiac are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig (or Boar). Each of these animals rule a year, but months, days and hours are also associated with specific animals.
For this reason, someone may appear like an Ox to the world (her year sign), but have the inner mind of a Ram (her month sign) and the secret life of a Rabbit (the day and time of her birth). Chinese astrology may seem too broad since most people focus on the year animal, but, when you consider there are 8,640 different combinations, it has the potential to be a lot more accurate.
THE 7 FIRST HOME BUYER MISTAKES TO AVOID...
These are the most common mistakes that first home buyers make. Make sure you don’t fall into these traps:
1. Changing jobs or making a major purchase at the same time as applying for finance.
2. Not getting your finance pre-approved, and leaving everything ‘too late’ when the ‘right’ property is found.
3. Borrowing right up to the amount the lender is prepared to loan you, and then getting over-stretched financially.
4. Letting emotions take over in the negotiation process, and paying too much for the property—or missing an opportunity to negotiate more favourable purchase conditions.
5. Not checking out things such as council zoning, building approvals and restrictive covenants.
6. Buying a ‘do-up’ and then running out of money. Renovation is not a cast-iron route to riches, and if it turns out to cost more than you bargained for, you could be living in squalid circumstances for too long.
7. Forgetting to sort out property insurance well before you move in, and forgetting to tell the utility companies!
WHAT’S ON IN MARCH
Clean Up Australia Day
Sunday 7th March 2010
Every year hundreds of thousands of Australians get stuck in and clean up their local environment by collecting and removing rubbish on Clean Up Australia Day. For our 20th Anniversary, we're asking people to help make this the best Clean Up Australia Day ever - by picking up JUST 1 piece of rubbish.
- Elaine Cabban