Empower Blog

Property Prices Rise Again

December median prices are in and guess what; values are up again across the country.  In fact the Oct – Dec quarter saw some really big percentage increases in some states and their respective suburbs.  For those of you who have been reading our newsletters for the past couple of years, you know my position on this; I’ve been saying certain ...

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2009 Review & Outlook for 2010….

Before we look at the prospects for 2010, let’s review the 2009 property year, as it was a wonderful year for ‘us’ property investors and for those of you who are new to our newsletter and my comment each month I just want to highlight some of the comments I made in previous newsletters to re-enforce the message regarding property as a wealth...

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Time to Add to your Property Portfolio?

2009 certainly was a better year for property than 2008, with some cities such as Melbourne recording high teen’s in capital growth for the year. Sure this is something every property investor gets excited about and you should, as your wealth base should have grown from your property investment over this period. Given this has been the case an...

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2010 Economic Outlook

Australia has defied the rest of the developed world and is looking at its 19th consecutive year of positive economic growth. Most economists are predicting that the economy will continue to grow this year and will fare much better than other economies. Gross Domestic Production (GDP) will be boosted by the planned Government infrastructure spen...

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Holiday Homes as Investment Properties

Its holiday season and that time of the year we all head to the beach or the bush for our Christmas and New Year breaks. It’s a time we get to read the paper from front to back and also even pick up the local papers for a catch up on what's happening in our favourite Christmas holiday destination. It’s also a time we get to wander up and down t...

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US Economy heading into the festive season and 2010

US consumer sentiment unexpectedly fell in November while the trade deficit widened by more than forecast in September, which appears to be in line with the Federal Reserve's view of a fragile economic recovery. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said US monetary policy will remain "highly accommodative" for quite some time, and possibly beyo...

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RBA Rates Decision – December 2009

The RBA chose to increase interest rates by another 0.25% to continue its program of moving rates up from their emergency levers.  This is the first time the cash rate has moved up in three consecutive months, since the RBA starting announcing cash rate movements back in 1990. Brief Interest Rate Outlook for 1st Quarter of 2010 So will inter...

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‘Mixed Economic Messages – Is this a V Shaped Recovery or a Hidden W for equity markets

Economic forecasting is ‘Rocket Science’ which is my way of saying that the forecasters and experts don’t always get it right.  Take for example the latest forecasts below from three major banks, who all have access to the same data and most likely same resources, yet their cash rate forecast for the next 12 months are significantly differen...

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RBA Rates Decision – November 2009

The Reserve Bank has lifted interest rates by another 0.25% in November as they move to more sustainable cash rate levels, believing we are past the worst of the Global Financial Crisis.  The RBA believes the Australian economy has weathered the global storm well, and will be one of only a few countries that will to lead the rest of the developed ...

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Cash Flow You Didn’t Know You Had…..

The management of cash flow and the provisioning for future cash flow is critical in helping to build a long term wealth base. There is no benefit in buying real estate and not being able to hold onto it for a traditional full value cycle, because the entry, holding and exit fees are usually high, so you are reliant on the value to compound signifi...

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The Affordability Question

Most people will agree it has done its job of getting more home buyers into the market and the follow on effect will be a mini-construction boom, once the land titles are registered and the new homes are under construction. Couple this with record low interest rates and it’s only natural that a spike in sales and demand would lead to price val...

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RBA Rates Decision – October 2009

The Reserve Bank has lifted interest rates by 0.25% from their historical 40 year lows, due to rebounding economic outlook and change in sentiment.  The RBA believes we are past the worst of the economic downturn, yet the historically low rates were originally implemented with the view that the economy and unemployment were going to get worse than...

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‘Time is Profit’

Last month I wrote about how timing of a purchase was not so critical if you have a long term view of your investment property and you bought in a sound location, such as a major city like Melbourne close the major employment centre. This month I am focusing on the message that time is profit when it comes to the capital growth measure for property...

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