The Current Rental Market

When I am not being asked about sales, the next question is ‘what is happening in the rental market?' and 'is now the time to buy an investment property?'
Activity in the investment market has been quite flat but with positive signs in the share market and interest rates low a lot more enquiry and interest is now being generated.

When looking at where you might like to buy always look at the average rental yield, try to purchase 20% below the median price and make sure your cash flow projections cover items like repairs, body corporate, tenant placement costs etc.
The median rent for metropolitan Adelaide sits at $340.00, with the average time taken to rent in SA being 30 days (December quarter).

Properties are now taking less time to rent than in the September quarter. By comparison in Tasmania it is 40 days and in WA it's 25 days.

Contact us at anytime and we will be happy to assist in advising regarding any properties you may be considering as an investment.

Coastal Properties on the Improve

Lifestyle coastal properties bore the brunt of the GFC. Agents are now reporting the market is turning with increased sale and activity in the December Quarter (2012).

Housing markets which showed the greatest proportion of houses sold for a loss were Gold Coast, Queensland (39.4%), Sunshine Coast (34.5%) and far North Queensland (33.8%). Statistics released did not show any SA arises
in the first 20 regions.

Tips for Buying an Investment Property

With the huge uncertainty surrounding superannuation and tax issues. People are turning to investment properties.


Just a couple of tips for when you are looking to buy an investment property:


- Look for suburbs with yields of 8-16%.
- Purchase 20% below the median price.
- Look for units within 3km of a university.
- Make sure your cash flow projections cover other costs like repairs,
  body corporate, tenant placement costs etc.


Contact myself on 0418 825 222 or our property management team on 8364 1700 for advice prior to purchasing.

Australian Household Unaffordability

Hard to fathom that even though Australia is booming related to the majority of countries, we are still one of the most unaffordable housing markets in the world. Out of one recent study we were ranked 3rd after Hong Kong and Canada out of 337 cities (Demographia, Wendell Cox, 2013)

Affordability was determined by dividing median house price with the median household gross annual income before tax. Credit Rating, Agency Fitch says we are the least affordable in the world but says things are improving.

We now spend 32% of our household income on our mortgage repayments compared to 44% in 2008. To draw a comparison, in America it is about 16% and in the UK about 17%.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

It has been a busy time in the Adelaide Real Estate market in the last month, with more people attending opens with offers on properties and many sales for good prices being achieved.

For Sale, by tender, offers closing is the preferred method of sale in most circumstances with the auction market flat and not doing justice to some of the beautiful homes who have chosen this sale option.

The latest available Real Estate figures show clearance rates for auctions last weekend in Adelaide was 48%.

House approvals for October fell sharply to be 7.6% down when pundits had expected only a slight drop of 1.6%. A reflection, I think, of consumer confidence which is still pretty low out there… not helped when you see an Australia icon like Rosella tomato sauce go into administration. Great today to see the Reserve Bank has lowered interest rates which should stimulate the retail market leading into Christmas.

Enjoy the frenetic race into Christmas with all the fun and catchups involved, but most importantly leave lots of energy and time for the most important part of your life, your family and friends.