Widely respected business and financial commentator Peter Switzer, has challenged the media on some recent negativity around the economy and property market, indicating he is optimistic about house prices and debt-servicing abilities.

Mr Switzer said to be cautious of doomsday negativity, especially after many experts tipped depression-like outcomes from the global financial crisis. People were pushed into term deposits as the safer option which were at about 6%. Now, over the time they had their money locked away they would be lucky to have gotten a 30% overall return.

Interestingly, if at the same time, investors had bought good property in Sydney or Melbourne in 2008, or bought in the stock market index (as opposed to term deposits), their investments would have shown returns of 100%+.

A former Reserve Bank of Australia board member, Dr. John Edwards takes the opinion that interest rates will rise quicker than other economists believe (the most indicating it will be about a year). He thinks the official cash rate should rise 2%, from 1.5% to 3.5% in a short two and a half years. However, he did indicate this could actually be 5 years down the tracks, and even when we get there, Australian households will still be able to cope.

With regards to the reported potential crumble in housing prices, Mr. Switzer recalls during the 1991 recession, when unemployment hit above 10 per cent, prices did not tumble.

He states when the banks are doing good, the economy is not doing as badly as some of the media would like us to think. Commonwealth Bank shares have shown phenomenal growth since 30 January 2009 with a 186% increase; growing from $26.75 to $76.66 this week.

The full article can be read by at the link below:

http://www.switzer.com.au/the-experts/peter-switzer-expert/more-housing-bs-but-please-read-entire-story-before-tweeting/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=switzer-daily 

South-east Queensland is set to to benefit from a new substantial wave of interstate migration, reports the ABC.

The Macquarie Bank research predicts over the next three years 130,000 people will move from Sydney to Brisbane and south-east Queensland with the main drawcard for the move being housing prices plus the added bonus of good job prospects. Job creation is on the rise and house prices in Sydney are nearly double that of other capital cities.

Macquarie noted that in similar circumstances in the mid-1980’s and mid-2000’s an average of 134,000 people left NSW. Sydney didn’t feel the loss of this shift, they actually had a net gain of 330,000 due to natural growth and overseas immigration.

The net figure Macquarie is predicting isn’t the main benefit for south-east Queensland; it’s the fact the people that are moving are asset-rich due to the wealth that has been built in Sydney over recent years within the property market.

The move is set to create a substantial shift in wealth to the tune of $8.1 billion, the highest transfer among all capital cities. The bulk of this figure would come from NSW migration (approx. $7.3 billion).

Melbourne is the only other city that is predicted to benefit, with all other capital cities predicting a loss.

Source: ABS, Macquarie Private Wealth

This $8.1 billion figure represents about a quarter of the Brisbane property market annual turnover, but in contrast, it would be a relatively small drain on the Sydney market; equating to around 10 per cent.  Macquarie predicts a migration of this scale would be of great benefit to the Brisbane apartment market and is likely to increase property prices.

The Queensland Government benefit would also benefit in the form of transfer duty of around $600 million, which is around 20 per cent of the duty that was produced last year.

Hannah Schuhmann of HS Brisbane Property says the property market is extremely difficult to time, and believes the window of opportunity to purchase at the current great value-for-money prices is narrowing. When the market goes it goes! 

Leading property consultants, Urbis have released data for the June 2017 quarter and its showing positive signs for the Brisbane CBD new apartment market.

The data for new apartments in Brisbane shows the number of sales recorded was 311, up from 302 in the previous quarter, and the weighted average sale price is the highest ever on record, increasing by $54,702 to $725,563. The CBD drove this figure recording 22.5% of total sales with a staggering increase of $322,262 of the weighted average sale price pushing the figure to over $1 million, a first for this type of report from Urbis.

Two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments were the most popular sales in this period, with an increase of 35% from the previous quarter, totally 51% of sales. With less of the three-bedroom apartment on the market due to selling out of projects and fewer projects launched, this type of property saw another decline down to 10% of total sales (15% of total sales two quarters ago).

In locations with a high house medium sale price such as Kangaroo Point, Coorparoo and Bulimba, popularity of smaller developments with bigger apartments remain popular with owner-occupiers.

The local investor market took a step back this quarter and the foreign investor was dominant in the market, with 31% of sales made by owner-occupiers and 46% of transactions by foreign investor buyers; possibly due to the changes in foreign investment lending. Southbank property was the majority of the foreign investment purchases.

Urbis Associate Director of Property Economics and Research Paul Riga sees the foreign investment figures as a positive for the city, as the international market has confidence in Brisbane and can see the potential.

Mr. Riga says he has confidence in the new apartment market in Inner Brisbane, and as the city continues to develop with such developments as Queens Wharf, more people will not only come to the city for work, they will want to live centrally.

Hannah Schuhmann of HS Brisbane Property said “these figures make established apartments in sought after buildings like Felix and 212 On Margaret look even more attractive with great facilities and excellent potential for growth.”

Record business travel growth and record high expenditure has contributed to another solid year for Brisbane domestic tourism, reports Tourism and Events Queensland.

For the year ending June 2017, data from Tourism Research Australia shows a 5.5% increase in domestic overnight visitor expenditure in Queensland to nearly $15.4 billion, with domestic visitor numbers up by 6.2% to 21.5 million which is a record high. Business travel to Queensland increased by 16.7 percent to 4.8 million visitors.

More specifically, Brisbane saw overall visitation up 11.8% to 6.4 million. Expenditure grew by a staggering 15.5% up to a record high of nearly $3.9 billion, with a spend of around $717.50 per visitor. Brisbane accounted for 25% of total expenditure within Queensland.

Business travel recorded astounding growth with an increase by 27.5%, and 10.5% increase of visiting of friends and relatives, mainly from the interstate market. Intrastate overnight visitation was up by 14.6%, interstate overnight visitation grew by 8%. Strongest interstate growth was from regional NSW, while intrastate visitation was mainly from the Sunshine Coast region.

Overall visitation up 11.8% to $6.4 million. Expenditure grew by a staggering 15.5% up to a record high of nearly $3.9 billion, with a spend of around $717.50 per visitor. Brisbane accounted for 25% of total expenditure within Queensland.

Hannah Schuhmann of HS Brisbane Property suggests these figures are reflective of the excellent attractions and business facilities the city has to offer. Growth should continue with the exciting projects Brisbane has in the pipeline including Queens Wharf, Northshore Hamilton development, and Howard Smith Wharves project to name but a few. 

While the official cash rate has been left on hold for the 13^th consecutive month, the overall outcome of the September Reserve Bank of Australia meeting came with a somewhat more positive outlook for the domestic economy, reports St George Bank.

The labour market continued to improve, with full-time employment strongly risen since the previous year, even after a decline in the month of July. Full time employment has outperformed the growth in part-time employment. The unemployment rate remains steady at 5.6%. There was a positive outlook for the labour market, with suggestions conditions are going to continue to improve. Board members noted a particular rise was in the category of older females in the work force due to delaying of retirement.

While unemployment in Western Australia and Queensland had remained high, employment growth had also risen which would suggest the market is adjusting to the earlier fall in mining investment and weakening in terms of trade.

A special mention was given in regards to the Queensland economy which had strengthened over recent quarters; reflective of growth in business investment and strength in tourism.

With regards to industry trends, developments in construction in Queensland had sustained strength over the past decade. The decline in manufacturing was noted in across eastern seaboard states.

Cautions still remain around the high Australia dollar, household debt, and wage growth.

St George maintains their view the official cash rate will be stable until next year.