Interesting real estate news/articles

[Joe]

Hi everyone!

Thought I'd start a thread where people could link to interesting real estate news or stories in the media.

If you think something is interesting enough to justify its own thread then feel free to start a new thread for it, otherwise just post it in here.

If something in here ends up generating a lot of discussion I will simply split the posts off into a seperate thread where the discussion can continue.

I'll start us off with "Boot Camp for first home buyers": http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25556575-664,00.html

[kincella]

Hi Joe...and thanks for the response on the other thread
now it seems I am guilty of contributing to gentrification myself....when I was a FHB I could only afford a place out in whoop whoop....but later on in life after I had my career on track I upgraded into the heart of the city...again I could not afford the renovated house...but I could afford the unrenovated one....then took about 5 years to make it comfortable...I am not finished...it still needs a new roof, and outdoor entertaining area.
I actually thrive on buying and renovating period homes...I retain all the old world character and appearances including the garden in period style. I update the kitchen and bathroom into modern living with airconditioner , and create an outdoor entertainment area.
now read this article....you can buy an unrenovated period house in Castlemaine in Vic for 200-250k's, with new road and rail fast tracked to Melbourne....
"There are unrenovated period homes here still in that range of $200,000 to $250,000 and some of those go right back to the 1860s, gold rush time," he says. "For local people, who've grown up here, it feels like things have got really unaffordable, but for Melbourne people, it's cheap."

With a new freeway to Melbourne opened last month and the recent federal budget promising a faster train service, the city commute is not much longer than that of some outer suburbs

http://www.theage.com.au/national/castlemaine-becomes-northcote-north-as-treechangers-leave-gentrified-melbourne-20090529-bqbm.html
on Today Tonight last night they told where you could buy affordable houses close to the city in each state...I missed most of it..but noted Braybook 11 klm from Melb cbd for about 250k's

[kincella]

I thought this was very funny.....considering that silly professor was saying a 40% drop....
I personally believe WA has further to fall...plus a couple of other cities..that have median prices higher than Syd or Melb...and a population no where near the size of the two biggest
.................................................. .................
WA has bucked a national housing recovery, with the median house price slumping almost 1 per cent so far this year.:D:D:D

http://business.watoday.com.au/business/wa-bucks-national-housing-recovery-20090529-bpnj.html

[Property Dude]

Home ownership levels stagnate

Pia Akerman | September 15, 2009
Article from: The Australian

THE growing difficulty of breaking into the housing market has revealed itself in new figures, with minimal growth since 1996 in the proportion of people who own their own home as average house prices have tripled.

A study of national home ownership rates, drawn from census data by researchers at Flinders University, has painted a grim picture of the problems low and medium-income earners face in buying property.

Announcing the findings yesterday, adjunct professor Joe Flood said Australia's housing market was in "a very dangerous and unstable situation".

Despite strong economic growth and relatively low interest rates between 1996 and 2006, overall home ownership grew by only 0.8 per cent.

"The country that promised limitless land, cheap housing and near universal home ownership to allcomers now has the most expensive housing in the world amid very tight housing and land markets and little prospect of restoring the balance," Dr Flood said.

The study found home ownership fell by 15 per cent between 1986 and 2006 for low-income earners over 45 and medium-income earners under 45.

As expected, the first-home owners scheme boosted home purchases for people under 25, but the study found many lower-income earners between 25 and 44 were unlikely to ever own their own homes because baby-boomer parents were spending their inheritances and housing prices remain high.

More: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26074094-2702,00.html