12 Fundamentals You Need to Follow … When Buying Commercial Property

There are 12 Rules you need to follow to successAS YOU WILL appreciate, being able to sleep at night is one of the key objectives for any Commercial property investor.

And that’s what many property investors refer to as staying below your “Threshold of Insomnia”.

There can be several things that might cause you to lose sleep. One is over-borrowing; and the others are making a poor assessment of the market and the property itself. [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…]

Rates on Hold … For Now!

Inflation Watch
Yesterday, the Reserve Bank left the cash rate unchanged at 4.75%. And these graphs will help to explain their current dilemma.

For the time being, the RBA’s focus is upon “inflation excluding volatile items” — mainly because of the various natural disasters, both here and overseas. [Read more…]

Commercial Sales Gain Momentum

AuctioAuctioneer's gavelneer's gavel
Around Australia, Commercial clearance rates at auction are now about on par with Residential property — averaging at around 50%.

Victoria seems to be leading the way, with Commercial clearance rates for some types of property approaching 70%.

New South Wales is running about six months behind at? around 60%, with firming yields. And Queensland is probably a further 12 to 18 months away in its recovery. [Read more…]

Australia’s Growth to Continue

Asian exports
Late last year, Citigroup published this chart depicting Australia’s reliance upon export markets within the Asian region.

Clearly, Australia is running well ahead of other western countries, with our exports representing over 6% of GDP to emerging Asia. And this is twice the level it was just six years ago.
[Read more…]

“Cycles Ain’t Cycles”

Overall, Australia has sailed through the Global Financial Crisis more or less unscathed. And from all accounts, Victoria and enjoys the standout economy of all the States.

The Traditional Cycle Has Been Interrupted

Last week, you explored the traditional cycle for CBD Offices — being 18 years from peak to peak. And over that same period, Retail and Industrial properties tend to go through several cycles.

Commercial Property Cycles

However, given Australia’s privileged position within the global scene … my view is you are now at the upswing in the cycle for the Office market. In other words, you are already at the halfway point in the traditional Cycle.
[Read more…]

Victoria is Starting to Shine

Victoria may not have grown as fast as Queensland and WA over the whole of 2008.

December Quarter Growth Figures

December Quarter Growth Figures


However, it far outstripped every other State for the December — once the full impact of the global turmoil had started to take effect.

And as mentioned in an earlier posting … the positive impact of the Bush Fire Relief funds will certainly help to shore up Victoria’s position even further.