Commercial Property: What Makes for a Balanced Office Market?

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…]

Is There a Credit Squeeze Looming?

WILL COMMERCIAL property investors and businesses be starved of ready funds during 2012?

Is there a Credit Squeeze looming?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…]

Commercial Property Poised to Take Off in 2012

ALL YOU need is a sprinkling of confidence … with an understanding that things are not as bad as you read in many newspapers.

For some time now, I have been trying to explain how the underlying fundamentals for Australia’s economy and Commercial property are strong.

And a recent AFR headline Recruitment boom bucks the trend (9 Dec 2011, page 41) now confirms that our major law firms are “in the midst of a hiring spree”.

Purely a Matter of ConfidenceHowever, if you still need some more convincing of Australia’s well-being, just take a look at these two graphs. [Read more…]

6 Tips for Success with Commercial Property

YOU can certainly round out your portfolio and in hence your returns, by investing in Commercial property.

Commercial Property Success involves having a clear investment strategyHowever, it’s important to do your homework; plus, understand that the Commercial market differs from the residential property market.

And provided you undertake the necessary research, you’ll find there is great potential in owning Commercial property. [Read more…]

Be Prepared for Strong Growth in Commercial Property During 2012

Australia stands poised ready to growThe underlying fundamentals for Australia are strong.

All that’s needed is a lift in the general confidence level, for our economy to really take off.

Therefore, the trick is … not to be caught by surprise when it does! [Read more…]

Lack of Construction Underpins
Demand for Office Space

Available Full CBD Office Floors are quickly vanishingThe Commercial property market is driven mainly by supply and demand — especially Offices.

And therefore, with …

  • falling vacancies,
  • positive net absorption and
  • few new projects in the pipeline …

… this means a looming shortage of Office space around Australia — with rentals poised to rise sharply. [Read more…]

Commercial Property: Should You Be Cautious
About Investing in the Retail Sector?

The Retail sector is very delicately balancedMany investors just simply fall in love with Retail property. And probably, because of familiarity — as it tends to influence so much of our daily lives.

Therefore, after investing in Residential property for a while, you find people will gravitate naturally towards Retail properly.

To them, it seems to be the next logical step. But is that actually the case? [Read more…]

Commercial Property Looking Forward

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Is there a Future for Offices?

The last couple of articles have talked about all the misplaced doom and the gloom.

Plus, you also covered the various reasons why Australia overall is well placed to flourish (and not just survive) the current global distress.

A recent report on the Australian Office scene (by Morgan Stanley property research) would only tend to confirm that view. Their only concern would be the Sydney market, due to its heavy exposure to the financial sector. [Read more…]

Suburban Offices Set to Surge

Over the past few weeks, you have been reading articles about the various Office markets around Australia.

As such, you would now be aware of how each capital City compares, in relation to its … Vacancy rates … Rental levels … and expected Capital growth.

 You can expect definite Rental Growth in the city fringe.However, most of that commentary has been focused upon CBD Offices. And as a result, people have been enquiring about just how the Suburban Office markets are also likely to perform, over the next few years.

Clearly, a rent differential exists between the City and Suburban Office markets. And obviously, that rental gap will also vary, as you move around Australia. [Read more…]

OK … What’s Going On?

Last weekend in the Financial Review, Andrew Clark began his article (on page 52) with the words:

“Australians don’t know if they’re in the middle of a pause that refreshes or the dullness before the deluge.”

That about sums up the general feedback I am receiving at the moment, from clients and colleagues alike.

Clark felt this probably stems from a combination of …

  • a lack of Federal leadership,
  • declining retail turnover,
  • poor flow-on from the mining boom and
  • the spectre of financial defaults overseas.

Presumably, this was behind the RBA’s decision to keep the cash rate on hold until next month — pending more economic data in the coming weeks.

On the plus side …

The IMF predicts solid growth going forwardAccording to the IMF … in spite of all the recent turmoil, the outlook for global economic growth appears quite rosy moving into the new financial year. [Read more…]

The Spectre of
Rising Interest Rates

Interest rates still to rise
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is not seeing the Australian flood disasters as having a prolonged effect upon the national economy.

It certainly expects the March quarter GDP to decline by 0.5%. But it is then projecting a 4.25% surge, over the remainder of this year. [Read more…]