mark wool

Well Said. Parents are supposed to bring up kids, not daycentres.

ABCDiamond

I agree.

coolshadows

Fancy bringing up daycentres.

ABCDiamond

Does seem a bit odd how these things happen. Who actually brought them into it ?

folic

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/...-business.html

Gold Coast housing hits rock bottom


Northern Coast unemployment hits 10%

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/...oast-news.html

Gold Coast housing hasn't dropped anywhere near rock-bottom, in the opinion of a ex-pat with over 40 years experience of GC rises and falls

verystormy

I have just arrived back at work after another week of house hunting around the Mandurah / Dawesville region and have to say that anyone who doesnt see a price correction getting ready to bite is blind. Went around loads of the display villages and the one thing that could be heard by the other visitors was "we cant afford it".

Heck, we are supposed to be the ones doing fairly well - professional in the mmining industry, and we are going to seriously struggle.

I remember the big crunch that happened some years ago in the UK and everyone ended up crying about negative equity. The cause was the prices had ngot so silly that the average person simply cant afford them

pomtastic

I personally wouldn't bother looking at Mandurah for property to buy, it's on the verge of a bloodbath, Californian style.

Listings are building up and nothing is selling. Don't forget, Mandurah was touted as 'The Next Big Thing' several years back and loads of greedy investors piled in hoping to make a quick buck and now they are stuffed with property unable to sell below wht they paid for it. At one point Mandurah real estate was more expensive than The Hamptons, New York, FFS!

Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with Mandurah but the asking prices for what is essentially a town in the middle of nowhere on the edge of a country near nowhere, the prices need questioning. Same goes for The Vines, gee whiz, backs onto a golf course in the middle of nowhere and yet $700K will get you an average home there.

People have totally lost the plot here.

I agree with your sentiment, same as mine, we earn a good income, have a fantastic deposit to buy but the numbers don't add up right now. Time will tell I guess but we're in no rush.

pomtastic

Anecdotal from GC is that there are tons of units unsold and massively oversupplied, developers have gone bust but banks are not selling units in a fire sale as they don't want the 'loses' on their books.


Again, a mini California out in GC.

freebo

That's where I am too, good income, good deposit and enough good sense not to buy a house in this market.

ABCDiamond

But again, the article is talking about new dwelling approval statistics, not prices. Therefore the numbers of available properties will be shrinking. What will that do to the normal supply and demand reaction with prices ?

neil248

Gold Coast housing is very diverse and fantastic acreage 10 mins from town if you are into that kind of thing is available for the price of a pretty average unit in Main Beach.

The acreage often looks like it is worth whats being asked the unit often does not.

freebo

I agree with that, the hinterland is gorgeous.

man_called_Horse

Same here, have a good lump in a term deposit account of 6.00% been looking at plenty of houses recently to gauge the current market. Sydney is tough and I can see some of the heat has come out of the market but I am not hedging my bets on a major drop in market price to buy a really good house in a sensible location.

Really if there is a slump it will probably affect the areas that most people who post on these boards would not want to live..

My OH father has lived in Sydney for 30 years and he says that some areas you cant go wrong... but that is balanced out by places that you could lose.

Problem is that I just want to live in the area that you cant lose but so does everybody else... I could hang on for another few years but I don't want to be paying a Mortgage in my 70's

pomtastic

That's where everyone gets it wrong with regards to supply and demand. They forget the PRICE. There's an assumption that people will pay 'anything' because there is an underlying demand for it and therefore price will rise regardless and to infinity and to the sky. This assumption is wrong.

Just look at Aus over the last couple of years, people are now questioning and worrying about costs of basics like housing. When I came over 8 years ago, forums like these were chocka with 'what should we do with our left over cash, boat or investment property or villa in Bali?'. The game has changed here, people are getting priced out.

Just look at this, house up for auction in Hartlepool for £10K. Can't see many people from that area affording Aus thesedays and yet 10 years ago, people were indeed swapping their Hartlepool hovels for 4x2 with pool in good areas of Perth.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...on-10-000.html

coolshadows

I'm sure there are bargains like that to be had around Australia (within an hour or so of a city).