Media Articles July - December 2007

Market Indicators
A comparative analysis of the state of property markets in our capital cities using financial risk rating scales. Read more…

Boom conditions in 3 cities
The Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra property markets are booming according to the latest median price data from Australian Property Monitors (APM). Read more…

Ebbs and flows for Sunshine State
Sales and price growth in Queensland’s residential market will slow down in 2007/08 before rebounding in 2008/09, Matusik Property insights predicts. Read more…

Rental Yields - March Quarter
This table shows the median prices, rents and yields for houses and units throughout Queensland. Read more…

Rents forecast to soar
Rents in the key markets of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne will rise sharply over the next 3 years as the supply of new housing falls well short of underlying demand, BIS Shrapnel managing director Robert Mellor says. Read more…

Rentals set to increase
Brisbane’s median rental prices are likely to rise by up to 30 per cent over the next 3 years. Read more…

Mortgage pain spreads
Another interest rate rise could drive the number of households suffering mortgage stress to 120,000, and analyst has warned. Read more…

Fat prices create median hell
Workers on the nation’s average wage of $55,000 cannot afford to by a median-priced home in any of 16 metropolitan suburbs. Read more…

Canberra hunts for land to help buyers
The Howard government has moved to counter growing concerns about the poor state of housing affordability by urging the states to join an audit of all land available for housing developments. Read more…

Solutions for housing paradox
Labor’s housing summit on Thursday faces a perfect contradiction – how to make housing more affordable without making it cheaper. We want young people to afford homes, but we don’t want values for existing home owners to come down. Read more…

For first-timers, the horse has bolted
The outlook is set to worsen as investors return to the property market, lured by the prospect of rising house prices and improving rental returns. Read more…

Costello blames local red tape for housing crisis
State governments and local councils were worsening the national housing affordability crisis with red tape that was driving up the cost of building and causing long delays, federal Treasurer Peter Costello said yesterday. Read more…

Rental squeeze here to stay
The national rental squeeze will last at least until the end of this decade as Australians build fewer houses than the level of underlying demand, according to economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel. Read more…

Paying the price for easy credit
The housing affordability debate has become badly muddled, and there’s a growing risk of good intentions latching on to bad policy. Read more…

Sector hails election focus on housing
In all the pointless politicking over interest rates and land releases, it is easy to miss what Kevin Rudd really achieved last Monday with the release of his New Directions Paper on Housing Affordability. Read more…