Category: Purchasing
Rate hold accompanies stabilising housing market
At its April meeting held last week the Reserve Bank of Australia elected to keep the official cash rate on hold at 4.25 per cent for the third consecutive month. From our perspective at CENTURY 21 Australia,...
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Preparing for what the 2012 residential property market has to offer
Welcome to 2012! I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas and New Year period. Even for those who didn’t manage...
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House prices rise in November
The end of December marked the release of the RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Home Value Index Read complete post
Rate cut provides Christmas relief for property buyers and mortgage holders
At its December meeting held in Sydney last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia elected to cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 per cent. This was the second consecutive cut to rates made by the Reserve Bank, after a year of keeping rates on hold at 4.75 per cent.
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Keep cooling costs down as temperatures rise
It is no secret that electricity is set to become increasingly expensive for households, and as we enter summer and temperatures rise, the temptation to rely on air-conditioning, and thus use large amounts of energy, is hard to resist. According to the Australian Energy Market Commission in its report ‘Future Possible Retail Electricity Price Movements: 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2013’, over 2009/10 to 2012/13, national residential electricity prices are...Read complete post
Making wise property investment decisions
For all intents and purposes, the theory behind property investment is fairly simple. You purchase a piece of real estate for an affordable, even undervalued, price in an area where both demand and values are set to increase and rent it out to generate an income. After holding it for a period of time, you go on to sell the property for more than you bought it for, making yourself a tidy profit. While numerous other more complex issues can come into play,...Read complete post
To renovate or buy?
There are usually a couple of different camps when it comes to deciding whether to renovate or relocate to a more suitable property when the needs of the occupants change, for example, when more space is needed to accommodate growing families. While some people like to be able to design and construct a property to their exact specifications, others prefer to move to a different home that is already suitable, with no, or minimal improvements needed. ...Read complete post
Trust a truthful agent when selling your property
I imagine the prospect of selling a home at the moment must be somewhat daunting. Never before have vendors had access to such vast amounts of information about market conditions, and while knowledge is definitely powerful, it can also be confusing. Add to this the continuing contradictory media speculation about the state of the market. Some weeks it looks as though interest rates are set to go up and there is an undersupply of properties, the next the commentators may be...Read complete post
Declining home values present opportunities to buyers
Conditions in the residential property market seem to be looking somewhat brighter for would-be buyers at present. In addition to the Reserve Bank of Australia electing to keep interest rates on hold at 4.75 per cent for at least another month rather than moving to increase them, the latest RP Data-Rismark Home Value Index showed a decline in property prices over May. Combined, these factors could help to provide Australian property buyers with...Read complete post
The Australian dream downsizing
The Australian residential property scene has been experiencing somewhat of a dilemma for a little while now – while property ownership continues to rate highly as one of the great Australian pursuits, housing supply and affordability constraints have been dampening that dream for many Australians and certainly making it more difficult to achieve. However, according to the findings of a recent study of Australian values by Ipsos Mackay entitled ‘Being...Read complete post