Markets rise and fall and in the natural order of things, property is still the number one place to park your money, particularly if you take a long term view.
I know it’s the correction we had to have… But! Markets rise and fall and in the natural order of things, property is still the number one place to park your money, particularly if you take a long term view.
Generally speaking, I don’t think Brisbane prices are over-inflated. Perhaps the madness has gone out of it, but that may be due to the traditional pre-Christmas wind down, and as of 45 days ago, based on the result of the auction I conducted on 608 Vulture St, East Brisbane, I would have still called the market bullish!
However, the correction we had to have has finally reflected in the national statistics, as property prices across the country fell 1.5% in November, the first decline in six months and the biggest fall in 18 months. Brisbane actually grew +.6% but Melbourne and Sydney fell 3.5% and 1.4% respectively.
When I came back into the market in January this year I wrote: How long will it last? I really don’t know and it’s a little early in the process to start making predictions but it appears that consumer confidence is still on the rise and if the Reserve Bank continue to keep a cap on rates, and it seems they will, and the media keep talking it up it’s probably got some legs! Of course, the Reserve Bank didn’t lift rates, but as a safeguard to over exposure on investment loans the banks did.
The two other influences I mentioned were consumer confidence and the media; and make no mistake about it the media dictates consumer confidence! What gets under my skin about it, and I believe it is highly relevant right now, is how easily a few juicy press releases based on selective data and using terms like ”slump” in relation to something like a 2% variance nationally can influence the market. I have known—and used this knowledge to my clients' advantage for years—the fact that if you put out enough interesting Press Releases, you’ll get press!
Of course that’s exploded exponentially since the way we look at news has changed, and now what may have been a one off article in a daily print can be reposted, shared, liked and blogged about umpteen thousand times. The juicer it is, the more it gets taken up and if you say it enough times it will have an effect on the masses.
My gripe here is definitely not with the media, they are just doing their job. My issue is with the information suppliers and one in particular: Domain.com.au. If you want to gain national exposure and build your brand, find a better way to do it than pumping out sensationalist negative press releases that are more about getting your brand on breakfast television than educating and informing.
Let’s let the market dictate the market!