Posts Tagged ‘Raine & Horne’

It angered pundits and mortgage holders alike, but Angus Raine, CEO of Raine & Horne, says the decision by the big banks to hike up variable interest rate mortgages is not the end of the world for the Australian real estate market.

“There is still more than enough good news around for the Australian real estate market,” says Mr Raine. “A rate rise is never good news for those with a mortgage or aspiring first home buyers.”

“However market sentiment is stronger than this time last year and as a consequence we’re seeing more homeowners in some markets across Australia listing their homes for sale.” At the same time, Mr Raine confirms that buyer and investor enquiry is also stronger than this time last year.

Moreover Mr Raine advises that the full benefits of the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut interest rates in November and December 2011 are yet to filter through to the property market. “The property market is a slow moving boat and it takes time for macroeconomic factors such as interest rates to flow through,” he said.

In an interesting twist, leading financial comparison website www.ratecity.com.au is urging borrowers to demand their own personal rate cut from their lender. Damian Smith, RateCity’s CEO, said borrowers could trim more than 1% off their variable home loan rate if they asked for a discount. “We’re seeing lenders offering discounts of up to 1% off their standard variable rates for basic home loans and many lenders – including the big four banks – have said they are willing to negotiate to retain their share of the home loan market,” said Mr Smith.
Away from interest rates, and owners of premium properties should take note that increasing numbers of the world’s expatriates are looking to head Down Under than anywhere else in the world. According to the world’s largest survey of expatriates, the HSBC Expat Explorer, more expats are attracted by Australia’s healthy outdoor lifestyle, friendliness and work/life balance. And once in Australia, HSBC states that expatriates are more likely to lengthen their stay or settle permanently.

Despite the earning potential being less in Australia, expatriates around the world selected Australia as the top destination for their next assignment, out-ranking other markets including the US, Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada. Of those surveyed, 71% chose Australia because it was perceived to offer a better quality of life compared to expatriates who chose the US and UK based on the perceived financial gain (54% and 55% respectively).

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg your Glenelg Real Estate Agent and Glenelg Property Management Expert.

Moving inter-state or from country to country is harder than moving round the corner in the same suburb, or to another suburb in the same town, which is one of the reasons most people don’t move far when they move house.

Some people lose money, especially if they move from an upwardly mobile area to one where prices don’t change much, and find themselves unable to buy back into their original location if they change their minds. What steps can they take to make this process more financially secure?

Many people like to buy their new place of residence before they make the transfer. This way they experience a smooth transition from one home to another – with the emphasis on ownership and avoidance of renting at all costs. They see no problem arising from selling their old home and cutting their ties with their old life.

While such a strategy may be organised and efficient in the short term, it doesn’t always turn out to be the most successful in the long run. Many people find it hard to carry out property inspections when they live far away. Often they give themselves too little time to find a new home. They forget that moving round the corner means that a lot of the market knowledge they need is already taken for granted. (Busy roads, proximity of services, exposure to adverse season-dependent weather conditions to name a few.) Many find that the property they bought to start with seems less desirable as their local knowledge deepens.
Others find it harder to settle into a new life than they anticipated. The schools aren’t as good as the old ones, clubs and other networks don’t exist or simply don’t seem as familiar as what they left behind, the weather is too windy, wet, hot, cold – or any of the hundreds of reasons people find for not settling into a new place that is simply not “home”.

Those who have no choice – the ones who have to stay because they have been transferred and are under contract – eventually settle in, but just as many are in a position to change their minds and many of those wish they had kept their options open.

Those who decide to move back to where they came from could have reduced the financial cost of moving by not selling their home and buying another one – only to do it all over again when they return to where they came from. In hindsight, many realise that they could have chosen to rent temporarily while they explored their new territory.

Selling up before moving becomes especially likely to cause heartache if the area left is an area of greater capital growth than the area of re-location. Buying back in becomes difficult if prices go up faster in the original location than in the new one.

Naturally, not everyone decides to move back to where they came from. Some simply realise that in the hurry to get settled they chose the wrong house or the wrong area in which to buy, that round the corner or in the next suburb would have been more convenient, more appealing, more likely to go up in price.

Of course, retaining a home, renting it out and eventually selling it at a distance poses its own set of challenges. But many people find it’s the conservative option – the one more likely to maximise financial success and offer the greatest number of options further down the track.

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts

Watch this Video to hear from Raine & Horne SA’s CEO Kevin Magee, to find out what is happening in the SA Real Estate Market in March 2011.

This blog post and video is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts

Watch this Video to hear from Raine & Horne SA’s CEO Kevin Magee, to find out what is happening in the SA Real Estate Market in January 2011.

This blog post and video is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts

Adelaide renters are paying $15 a week more compared with this time last year and can expect further rises.

Real Estate Institute of SA figures show the median weekly rent in Adelaide hit $310 in the December quarter, up 5.1 per cent on the $295 weekly median from the 2009 December quarter.

Industry experts attributed the increasing rents to a tight market and interest rate rises.

The rise in weekly rent came despite a 5.5 per cent increase during the past year in the number of properties available for lease.

REISA president Greg Nybo said the rises were to be expected in Adelaide’s rental market, where the vacancy rate had hovered at or below 1 per cent for much of the past year.

“What we are now starting to see is the reality of a very, very tight rental market,” Mr Nybo said.

“When you have so many people looking for a limited product, rents are going to go up accordingly.

“A lot of landlords have also adjusted their rents with increases in interest rates and ongoing price rises for utilities.”

Statewide, the median weekly rent increased 5.5 per cent during the past year to $290. Mr Nybo said the larger statewide increase could be reflective of the state’s expanding mining sector and a mostly strong year for farmers.

“If the job is there and people are moving to the country for employment in mining or agriculture, it’s going to make for limited stock, which again means higher rents,” he said.

Mr Nybo said that with interest rate rises forecast for this year and no sign of demand letting up, similar increases in rent could be expected in 2011.

 Property Investors: Are you getting the right rent for your property in this market?  Find out what rent you should be getting…

Simply enter your property details and we will email you a free appraisal as to what your Glenelg or Western Coastal investment property should be renting for.

 Click here for an appraisal form

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management experts.

Source: Adelaide Now

Watch this Video to hear from Raine & Horne SA’s CEO Kevin Magee, to find out what is happening in the SA Real Estate Market in December 2010.

This blog post and video is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts

Watch this Video to hear from Raine & Horne SA’s CEO Kevin Magee, to find out what is happening in the SA Real Estate Market in November 2010.

This blog post and video is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts

The Premier of South Australia, Mike Rann has just released video animation on his Youtube Channel, of the proposed commuter rail services to Flinders University and an underpass at the intersection between Main South and Sturt roads.

These improvements to the transport to Flinders University and Flinders Hospital are among a series of possible improvements outlined in the draft Darlington Transport Study being released for public feedback.

Watch this video for animation of the proposed tram to Flinders Hospital and Flinders University via an extension of the Tonsley rail line;

Watch this video for animation of the proposed underpass at the intersection between Main South Road and Sturt Road and depicting the connection to the proposed duplication of the Southern Expressway;

Source: youtube.com/user/PremierMikeRann

This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

The brand new $128M State Aquatic Centre and the GP Plus Health Care Centre are taking shape at Marion, with the new facilities expected to open early next year.

Project Director Steve Woodrow said it will be a world-class sport and health facility that allows people to get fit by exercise or keep well by visiting a health centre all at the same convenient location.

“The State Aquatic Centre will be FINA compliant and will be capable of hosting major state, national and selected international events”, Mr Woodrow said.

The GP Pus Health Care Centre will offer a broad range of health care services to the community with a range of professionals working together to help people stay healthy. The Marion Domain will also see the development of Adelaide’s first new Community Mental Health Centre to be co-located with the GP Plus Health Care Centre.

The State Aquatic Centre will be operational in early 2011 and has already been successful in attracting a number of major events, including the 2011 Australian Age Swimming Championships, 2012 World Life Saving Championships and the 2012 World Junior Diving Championships.

 Watch this video, to see Premier Mike Rann introduce the project;

 Source: Infrastructure.sa.gov.au

 This blog post is brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg your Glenelg Real Estate Agents and Glenelg Property Management Experts.

Embracing the power of the internet and Social Media can seem extremely foreign to most real estate agents at first, yet most real estate agents after discovering Social Media find it so much easier to leverage the power of Social Media to help them build their profile, increase their network of potential clients and advertise their properties online.

So what does this mean to the old fashioned and expensive marketing of properties in Newspapers?

Well over the past couple of years we have seen a serious decline in the spend that real estate agents are making on real estate newspaper marketing.

If you’re still a bit unsure about how your real estate agent should be using Social Media to market your property or perhaps you’re wondering what the fuss is all about with Facebook, Blogging, Twitter, YouTube, etc then you may want to check out this video which demonstrates the strength of Social Media and what you might expect to see happening in the future.

This article was brought to you by Raine & Horne Glenelg, your Glenelg Real Estate Agent and expert in Glenelg Property Management.