Empower Blog Historical Data

RBA Rate Decision – April 2014

Today the RBA has left the cash rate on hold at 2.5%. So that's another month where interest rate are at historical low. Now, Glenn Stevens made a parliamentary comment earlier this month, basically saying that they see a period of stable cash rate position and monetary position. Now that's good news for the general economy because what it does ...

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What Will Be The ‘Highly Prized’ Property in 20 to 40 Years From Now?

The data is in for the last 40 years and it seems clear who the winners in Australia’s biggest cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are; if you invested your money in the inner city fringe suburbs compared to buying in new estates you would have more than likely doubled and in a lot of cases tripled your money compared to returns from buying ...

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Will Property Prices Keep Increasing – a 38 Year Analysis – part 2

In last month article I highlighted the returns of 3 different Melbourne suburbs over a 38 year period and in this article I promised to explain how this happened.  In doing so, I have included three new graphs of each Suburb to help illustrate my findings. To help you interpret them I will just explain what is consistently measured in each gra...

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Will Property Prices keep Rising? – A 38 years analysis

One of the biggest questions I get asked by the ‘non-believers’ and ‘sceptics’ regarding property values is, will property prices keep rising? As a property analyst and qualified property investment advisor it’s my full time job to analyse and evaluate the market in terms of historical performance and even more importantly to determine w...

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RBA Rate decision – September 2013

Not even the biggest of mug punters would have bet on a further rate cut this month so close to Saturday’s federal election.  That’s right, as expected the RBA left the cash rate on hold.  Even though the RBA is independent of any sitting government, it is fair to say the upcoming election, in my view, is something the RBA must factor into th...

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Victorian (Melbourne) Property Price Data – By suburb and property type

This month has seen the release of the Valuer General’s Property Price Guide data for Victoria for the period up until December 2012.  Now you might think this data is a bit old, and should be release earlier, however it’s important to recognise where the data is being collated from and when the data is actually recognised. The data is source...

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Why Does Generalised Commentary Help No-one?

It’s fair to say that the introduction of the internet in the real estate space has seen a vast transformation in the amount of information we have available to help us better understand the values of property, but in reality the average consumer is still being short changed with the data that really matters. I recently read an article about a 1...

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2011 Valuer General Data Released For Victoria

Most commentators say that property investing should be a long term investment, and you have no debate on this point from me, but when commentators are asked what is short, medium and long term, that is when you start getting mix responses. My view has always been consistent and I’ll again share with you. Short term in property investing for me i...

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Feeling Brave?

Who was it that said “fortune favours the brave?” Or who was it that got credit for it in the modern age, as I’m sure throughout history this comment would have been reeled off several hundreds of times around the world as men went to war for the control of land, its people and its wealth. Fortunately, and pardon the pun, these days the sa...

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Smart Decisions Boil Down to Smart Numbers

Who knows what a correlation coefficient measurement is? Answer: A very sophisticated measure that determines the degree to which two random linear variables movements are associated. The correlation coefficient is calculated as: The calculation will result in a figure between -1 or +1.  A zero result indicates no linear relationship ...

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‘Off The Plan’ and New Property as an Investment Asset?

You know the saying “I wish I had a dollar for every time…..” Well in my case this saying rings true for people buying ‘off the plan’ properties and seeing the price they paid come in at a lower valuation once the property is actually built. So for me I wish I had all the dollars that made up the shortfall in valuations from the purcha...

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Please Keep Talking Up this ‘Property Bubble’!

This month’s comment is not going to focus too much on the hype surrounding property values and what they are worth today or the next 3 months, you can read my previous comments from other newsletters about how I have been predicting 10% or more correction in values in new housing areas where the majority of the market has mortgages, and also in ...

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So when is the best time to buy?

It’s a well-accepted theory that buyers shop in spring right through to Easter – and then the cooler months in Melbourne take hold and buyers slow down – but is this really what happens? The correct answer is that the season is only one tiny factor in what dictates property buyer and vendor behaviour. Economic outlook, suburb, location, go...

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