It has been so long since the last recession 1990-91 that anyone who experienced it in business or the workforce is an old white guy – they are at best in their late 40’s and the beard sprouts grey. Let me give you some human insights, hipsters. Recession is like...
BLOG: speculation
The great land banking scam exposed
by Cameron Murray Property development can be a dirty business, particularly when it comes to land-banking, which is the speciality of Australia’s largest developers. Land-banking involves the speculative buying of large parcels of land that are currently unsuitable...
Australia’s land price conundrum
by Bryan Kavanagh reposted from On-Line Opinion Whilst in Newgate Prison (1827-1830) for the abduction of heiress Ellen Turner, Edward Gibbon Wakefield had a great idea. If you kept land prices high in the new British colonies, people could be forced to work like...
Melbourne and Sydney are in housing oversupply
by Lindsay David If I were an Australian central banker, politician, bank economist, or even a negatively geared property investor, I'd be telling you Australia has a chronic housing shortage, which is responsible for our sky-high housing prices. But as an independent...
Property rentier collects its spoils
By Leith van Onselen Hot on the heels of Prime Minister, Tony Abbott’s gutless announcement that he won’t reform negative gearing, prime spokesman for the property industry, the Property Council of Australia (PCA), has released the following statement: Executive...
The rent ratchet mumble of the BBQ landlords
Rents always go up – don’t they? The 1.2 million negatively geared Australian tax payers whose property expenses exceed their rental income think so. Their cunning plan is to patiently wait while the rent ratchet turns their negative cash flows positive and net income...
Oh look! A baby swan!
Australia desperately needs an alibi – a Black Swan event – to nominate as the tipping point that ended the land bubble. Government is rigid with fear about the political consequences of being blamed for the turn. Whoever presides over the shift will earn a page in...
Selective US deflation
Westwood Capital, a US finance firm, have a slide set out trying to pretend all is well with the US property market. I can’t recommend their thesis of US housing shortages and rent hikes, but perma-bulls might enjoy being stroked. Dross. Except slide 12 which breaks...
The Rotting Fruits of a 100 Year Old Trend
We’ve all become slaves to the banks. The ruling elite don’t want you to know this of course. It should actually be the other way around. Banks should work for society. But where’s the free ride in that?
Negative Equity – Australia’s Wall of Pain
Recent stress-testing of Australian banks by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority showed they would survive, though their capital would be sorely tested. This analysis did not take into account an important feedback loop: the erasure of the equity of heavily...