Seeds of Opportunity Emerge from the Turmoil

IT MAY SURPRISE YOU to learn that new businesses grew at a record rate during the last financial year. And that’s because COVID-19 served up a whole host of new opportunities among the economic turmoil.

Apparently, there were 365,500 new start-ups along with 277,700 established businesses closing shop – delivering a net gain of 87,800 new businesses.

As encouraging as that may sound, these newcomers will face challenges going forward – given they began in a climate of low interest rates and government support.

Nonetheless, they will clearly add to the demand for suburban office space – as workers seek to avoid the grind of a long daily commute.

Add to that the large CBD firms currently decanting whole departments out to the suburbs – to also be closer to where their employees live.

Bottom Line: Every change (however disruptive) brings with it seeds of opportunity. Sometimes these are hard to recognise – but highly profitable, for those who do.

Commercial Property Investors are Relishing the Current Drift

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Confusion
EVER SINCE Julia Gillard announced the September election in February … the ensuring political hiatus has meant almost everything (including our thinking) has simply been moving sideways.

Neither up, nor down … just drifting!

And that is completely understandable — because, when uncertainty reigns … people tend to do nothing.

What are the Experts saying? [Read more…]

Commercial Property Vacancy Rates Move Closer Together

Vacancy Rates are much closer nowTHE NEAR-ZERO Office vacancy rates enjoyed by the mining cities of Brisbane and Perth pre-GFC … now seem to have come back into line with the other capital Cities.

The latest survey released by the Property Council of Australia (PCA) displays a much more even spread for Offces vacancies around the country.

The cooling of the mining sector, coupled with the Queensland floods, has caused a number of key players to rethink their Office space requirements. [Read more…]

Inflation, Growth and Commercial Property

You need to Look Behind the Official Inflation figuresTHE LABOR government is crowing about its latest statistical achievements — low inflation, low unemployment, strong growth and booming investment.

So, why aren’t Australians feeling an overwhelming sense of warmth and well-being? Probably, as my earlier articles have explained … it all comes down to an overall lack of confidence.

Most people are still expecting the RBA to further reduce interest rates. However, barring a European meltdown, that would seem to be rather unlikely in the foreseeable future.

You only need to study these graphs to understand the RBA’s hesitancy — because clearly, the average measures of inflation currently sit at the bottom of the target band adopted by the Reserve Bank. [Read more…]

Time for Some Contrary Thinking with Your Commercial Property Investing

View the current Opportunity for what it is.AMIDST ALL the recent doom and gloom, major global banks are quietly alerting their clients to prepare for a sharemarket surge, if Greece exits the Euro-zone.

That’s because they believe world authorities will be flooding international markets with massive liquidity.

And given the G8 Communique from Camp David, this may well occur anyway — just to keep Greece within the fold. [Read more…]

Commercial Property to Benefit From Structural Changes Within the Economy

Industry Restructure is necessary for Australia's long-term growth.IN CASE you missed the lead story in last Friday’s Financial Review … the Treasury secretary (Martin Parkinson) was outspokenly critical of the government’s recent handouts to the car industry.

And more particularly, given the recent strong growth in the unemployment figures.

In his view, taxpayers ought not be subsidising so-called “strategic industries” — when these represent inevitable structural changes, which need to occur in order to make Australia more productive in the long-term. [Read more…]

How Commercial Property Investors Benefitted From The Past 7 Days?

The Reserve Bank believes things are on the up.LAST TUESDAY, the RBA left the cash rate on hold — much to the surprise of most pundits. And yet, only the week before, that’s exactly what I suggest would happened.

You might also remember I suggested that you lock in a fixed rate mortgage — because it was then about 1% below the variable mortgage rate.

Many scoffed, and said that rates will continue to come down. Well, the past 7 days have certainly put paid to that theory — with the big 4 Banks raising their rates, quite out of step with the RBA. [Read more…]

What Will Happen to Interest Rates
When The RBA Meets Next Week?

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?

The RBA faces a real DilemmaMost 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…]

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: The Impact of China

LAST week, The Australian newspaper invited three Commercial property experts to respond to the following question:

If China’s growth story begins to peter out, what will be the impact on Australia’s commercial property market?

China's Impact on Australian Commercial PropertyThose experts included … Greg Marr (MD of DTZ), Tony Crabb (Research Head of Savills), together with me (as CEO of Properly Edge Australia).

And you can read all three responses, which appeared in Saturday’s Weekend Australian [Commercial Property 3]. What I’ve included here below is my contribution to that analysis … [Read more…]

Commercial Property & The Economy

The IMF has just given Australia the thumbs upLast week, to the IMF gave the Australian economy a positive report card — with a projected growth of 1.8% for 2011, and 3.3% for the ensuing 12 months.

Clearly there is international concern about the state of affairs within Europe and the US.

However, that belies the positive impact being provided by the rest of the world.

Although China’s growth is slowing, it still remains at a healthy 9% per annum; and India is not too far behind at 7.5% per annum.

When you add to that Latin America at 4%, and parts of Africa at close to 6% … you then start to see the northern Atlantic problems in some perspective. [Read more…]