Originally posted by The Contrarian:
I can report that I have made $75K in five months from 1 off-the-plan purchase… which might I add I’ve only paid $6K for so far.

What’s that old saying again? “…chickens… hatch… something?”

“There is nothing scarier than ignorance in action”

Imagine ctaing, that you and I both go to a particular street in a new development and purchase 4 adjacent, identical houses for $250k each, no money down (ie 2 each). Each of us has $500k in assets, and $500k in (presumably?) ‘good debt’. Now if I buy one of your houses for $500k, and you buy one of mine for $500k, we’ll each have $1,000,0…[Read more]

Originally posted by ctaing:
Isn’t it the bad debt the culprit? The graphs have not distinguished the two.

A debt is debt is a debt. What is bad debt? Unsecured? Non-deductible? What is good debt? Tax-deductible? Positively geared? What if the debt is tax-deductible but holding costs (interest costs plus income minus management minus insurance…[Read more]

Originally posted by ogilvy:
Ok….now in plain english please !

Please explain[party]

My point was best expressed by Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, when he said:

“House prices are a matter of opinion whereas debt is real.”

OR, to relate it all back to the original post by Celeste, see this article:

Sydney Morning Herald< …[Read more]

Originally posted by JohnSmith:
you discount poulation growth, and immigration.

So… population growth (including net natural growth and net migration) is currently running at 240,000 per year, meanwhile we’re building what, 150,000 new homes per year?

So back to economics 101, when supply exceeds demand… [ohno2]

F. [cowboy2]

Hmm, you’re in Vic, right? The new rules should exempt free-standing structures such as carports providing they don’t exceed 10m^2… I wonder whether you could build 2 or 3 ‘very close’ together?
[fear]

Probably not.

F.[cowboy2]

Originally posted by splosh:
How about air? We all need it, they arent making any more of it.. so lets all love it and charge ever increasing prices for it and we’ll all be rich beyond our dreams. And our thinking with reagrd to the price of air will create a more equitable distribuition of wealth! Wonderful! [blink]

I hear you, and I like the…[Read more]

And here’s another rip-snorter. It shows that in order for house prices to grow 7% pa, housing debt must grow by 15.7% pa. If you look at our current aggregate housing debt which is about to pass $800,000,000,000 then project this to grow by 15.7% per annum for a few years, perhaps a…[Read more]

Here’s a chart. It shows:

Annual national GDP growth per year in 1970 dollars
Annual national M3 growth per year in 1970 dollars
And for interest sake, Melbourne house prices in 1970 dollars

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/4159/gdpdebthpi1970un9.jpg

Spot the problem?

(Hint 1 – We’re creating money more than twice as fast as we’re earning…[Read more]

Originally posted by JohnSmith:
I would also add that it is Australians love of property that is helping to keep its population wealthy.

I absolutely dispute this assertion.

Let’s see:
Our wealth is dependant on our housing market. The housing market is dependent on debt levels rising faster than income.

Therefor our wealth is dependant on…[Read more]

Originally posted by celeste:

So why worry

In 1990, the average person earned $24,440 (ABS), the labour force was 7.9 million and the total mortgage debt was $78 billion.

In 2006, the average person earns $42,500 (ABS), the labour force is 10.1 million and the total mortgage debt is $780 billion.

At 16.35% in 1990 (and remember very few people…[Read more]

Originally posted by CanAm:
Where do you get your numbers from?
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Cat. No. 6530.0 Household Expenditure Survey, Summary of Results
The table is called:
AGE OF REFERENCE PERSON, Household characteristics – Australia

If I’m reading it right then ‘nothings really changed’ ??

I think the first chart shows that ther…[Read more]

Originally posted by tenorBb:
If I sell an IP within one year of buying it, do I pay CG on selling?

Only if your capital proceeds are greater than your cost base.

I’ve whipped up some graphs to help the discussion about home ownership proportions, future demand, etc.

First a look at how home-ownership changed during the boom, both as a proportion of population and in total numbers:
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7302/demorentownvm3.jpg

Now a look at where we currently stand in terms of households, and…[Read more]

A good paint shop should be able to supply any number of small, shaped foam rollers that would get into the Vs. If you want to really make a neat finish, you could skim-coat (plaster) the top half to fill the gaps, put a chair-rail in and pain the lower part. I’ve seen it done very quickly and effectively.

Originally posted by mtsons:
Property is the best though.
Peter[headphone]

Uncle Silvio ‘the Wolf’ Capella would disagree…[fear]

Originally posted by esnam:
any1…
hav…
ur…
u…
ur…
ur…
u…
ur …
wouldnt …
? so…
u…
b…
? a…
lil…
! a…
lil…

I think you need to read this:

Book One

Then this:

Book Two

Once you have read both volumes, please return and repeat your question.

F.[cowboy2]

Ah damn! I missed that one, and it was a sitter…[laughing]

Start the next pyramid scheme:

South-seas, railways, gold-leases, land-banks, Angora goats, Pyramid(c), Ostriches, Y2K, DotCom, Pawlonia, Westp…

What’s next? It’s in your hands.

Start a cult. Tax-free too!