3 July 2012 ABS Census data just released shows 1.1 million fewer households and 595,000 fewer houses in Australia than previous estimates; Morgan Stanley researchers calculate Australia now has a 341,000 OVERSUPPLY of houses. The Census revision obliged National...
BLOG: David Collyer
Giant Savings in Don’t Buy Now!
26 June 2012 Homebuyers who took Prosper Australia’s advice – Don’t Buy Now! – exactly five quarters ago have typically saved themselves $64,000 from the fall in property prices compared to someone who bought. Major land price falls mean a smaller mortgage, saving a...
Don’t Buy Now! Public Forum
HOW THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN DREAM BECAME A NIGHTMARE Thursday July 19th, 7pm Northcote Town Hall Presenters: David Collyer, Karl Fitzgerald 189 High Street Northcote Young adults have ugly housing choices: pay rent to a tinpot landlord or spend their working life...
Broadacre Land Prices To Fall Hard
13 June 2012 Victoria Planning Minister Matthew Guy has made big land price falls on Melbourne's outskirts a certainty with his extension of the metropolitan boundary by around 7000 hectares. "The gaping chasm between developer supply and buyer demand has never been...
Yes Please, Treasurer Baird!
The NSW Treasurer flew a kite in Saturday’s AFR (Baird flags insurance levy reform in budget). We should all come to attention and salute a positive change. We pay for fire fighters through a charge on insurances - in NSW, the Fire Services Levy – which grossly...
Weak Construction gets Weaker
Dwelling construction continues to fall, according to the AIG-HIA Performance of Construction Index for May. Commercial construction and house building activity weakened to 34.7, where anything below 50.0 represents contraction. In parallel, the ABS Building Approvals...
“Any Dog Can Win”
Victoria’s Taxi Industry Inquiry headed by Allan Fels is a breath of fresh air to a monopoly riddled area that overcharges passengers and keeps drivers in poverty. We wrote about the inquiry – Taxi! Tax Me! - back in February. The most repugnant monopoly features...
Citizens are entitled to RSPT
PM Gillard’s defiant speech to the Minerals Council of Australia yesterday – asserting national ownership of our mineral wealth and the country’s right to a share of the bounty being dug up and shipped out – was good politics, good economics and a much needed...
Tidal Race
Tidal Race. Definition: a stream of exceptionally fast tidal flow created when the tide is forced through a constriction. Australians are saving like mad and quickly paying down debt. But we stand in a Tidal Race, where the water rises faster than a person can run....
Another loser renovation
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 renovating a Cleveland Street...