THERE WAS an article in The Age last Saturday (BusinessDay) — which provided some fascinating insights into Australia's retail scene.
Based upon GPT's national portfolio, some interesting long-term trends are taking shape. And while GPT's overall earnings actually rose by 7% over the past year … it required a fair amount of "fancy footwork" to achieve that. [Read more...]
LAST WEEK, the Property Council of Australia released its Office Space survey, for the 6 months to January 2012. And this will have some interesting implications for the Commercial property market.
Across the 26 markets depicted in this chart … demand was up 20% up and supply 30% down, on the 20-year average for the six-monthly period.
As you can see, total vacancies fell from 9.0% to 7.9% — the lowest since January 2009. And perhaps a quick summary of the CBD Office markets would be worthwhile. [Read more...]
ONCE YOU have carefully chosen your Commercial property investment, and negotiated a great deal with the purchase … you then need to turn your mind to ensuring you extract the most from it, during your time of ownership.
Therefore, you either need to know how to properly manage the property yourself … or you engage some professional help, to handle that for you.
And in the current litigious climate, there is no way you can possibly keep abreast of all the regulatory requirements relating to property ownership.
So your next question becomes: "How do I know whether a particular Property Manager is up to the task?" [Read more...]
THE GENERAL consensus seems to be that the RBA will further reduce rates by 25 basis points. But can this view be fully justified; and what does all this mean for Commercial property investors?
Most pundits would point to the recent CPI figures and say "Yes"! And on the surface, an underlying inflation rate of 2.5% per annum is plumb in the middle of the RBA's stated target zone.
Yet despite what seems to be a rather hesitant mood by consumers, inflation in the service sector actually surged by massive 4.4% per annum. And some other sectors (not affected by overseas competition) also finished the year strongly, growing by 3.9% per annum. [Read more...]
THE LAST quarter of 2011 saw a definite improvement in the US economy — with consumer spending up, and companies finally replenishing their inventories.
GDP increased by an annualised 3%, with improved sales for durable goods and new homes.
Petrol prices have been cheaper, since mid-2011; and the US jobless rate was the lowest in nearly 3 years.
Therefore, with improved employment figures, consumers have felt more comfortable spending — which represents around 70% of US economic activity. [Read more...]
EVERY capital city has both a CBD and suburban Office market. And as you can appreciate, keeping tabs on all the various suburban markets is almost an impossible task for most investors.
But generally speaking, the health (or otherwise) of the CBD Office markets within each capital city will provide you with a fairly good gauge of the overall Office scene around Australia.
Accordingly, this graph will provide you with a clear picture of what has occurred over the past 4 years.
As a rule of thumb, Office markets are said to the "in balance", when their Vacancy Rate lies between 5% and 7%. [Read more...]
WILL COMMERCIAL property investors and businesses be starved of ready funds during 2012?
The banks seemed to be protesting about the increased cost of offshore borrowing. And using that as their excuse for not wanting to pass on any future RBA rate reductions in full.
But are they really telling you the whole truth? [Read more...]
You cannot go anywhere nowadays, without somebody offering you their advice about Commercial property.
And it's hard to know whether they are giving you good information, or just passing on ideas they have picked up on from rather dubious sources.
But once you understand that Commercial property and Residential property completely different, you then begin to understand how the commercial market actually works.
That's why these articles are intended to give you the real information — to help you become an expert on the subject.
So let's start with doing homework properly. [Read more...]
ACCORDING to consulting group SGS Economics and Planning … Australia's economy grew by 38% during the 1990s; and by 34%, during the 2000s. However, it has only grown by just over 2% since then.
So let's delve into the reasons behind this decline?
If you study the accompanying graph, you'll notice that Sydney contributed around 27% of Australia's GDP growth during the 1990s. But then that nearly halved to 14.5%, between 2000 and 2010. [Read more...]
At last Friday's AGM, Mike Smith told the ANZ shareholders he was optimistic about the Australian economy … due to its proximity to fast-growing Asia.
In China, the economy grew at 9% over the year. And while many commentators talk about the risks to growth in China, I have been there regularly this year and I am confident about the ability of the Chinese government to manage inflationary pressures and managed the shift from export-led growth, to growth based on more internal demand. [Read more...]
RATHER than you having to download an App to make these articles easier to read on your iPhone or iPad, you will discover they have been completely reconfigured for you.
If you're reading this on your iPhone or iPad … simply, click on the link below to Read more, and you can then check out the new format for yourself. [Read more...]
"From a very early age ... Chris Lang has always sought to discover what the RULES were for each new challenge — so he could finally master them. And then go on to succeed, at whatever he undertook". More ...
