Corrected at 1730 to adjust (upward) the renovation figure. Many thanks, Steven Shaw for pointing out my error. Toby Johnstone is out again in the SMH recording how two brothers wasted nearly two years of their lives and endless toil…
The Productivity Commission has just released a draft report on climate change adaptation for public comment. The report examines economic reform options in two broad categories: adaptations to uncertain future climate trends with benefits only under certain climate change scenarios…
Today’s Sydney Morning Herald has a breathless article about a flipper couple who bought, renovated and have for sale a Marrickville terrace. The underlying message: there’s profit in the renovation game. My back-of-envelope calculations based on the article’s figures show…
Bryan Kavanagh blogs at thedepression.org.au His latest tirade nails rentiers and land speculators. Many attempts to analyse the cause of the GFC contain more than a grain of truth. The vast majority, however, provide no useful hint to a remedy.…
If BoQ writes big losses and needs capital due to land price falls so far, what shape will the bank be in when the big corrections start?
Philip Soos notes eight of the nine substantial property price increases over the last 131 years have resulted in a decline. He can't see why the largest increase on record would not precede another drop now. Soos does not buy the argument that Australia is suffering from a "chronic housing shortage", saying property prices have continually experienced boom-bust cycles regardless of population growth.
"the results of the CIE study do not allow an assessment of the relative inefficiencies of each tax."
When discussing the efficiencies of taxation, surely the inefficiencies must be counted too!
On Monday the Real Estate Institute of Victoria made public its submission to the Victorian Government on the framing of the state budget. They are big-hearted enough to call for an end to the First Home Bonus – a ‘gift’…
Asset prices falls come straight off our personal equity, our savings, while liabilities – mainly the home mortgage – are payable in full with interest from after-tax incomes. Returning to – overshooting – the long-term land price average is going to be quite an experience for anyone with big borrowings.
photo credit: Peter Blanchard The failure of both sides of politics to understand the role of effective public finance is undermining Australia’s future. Stamp duties in Victoria are plummeting, undermining the Baillieu government’s determination to deliver a budget surplus or…