IndieG

I was looking at all the shops along High St and Bridge Road (Richmond) yesterday (I was in the tram). They were completely empty, save 1 or 2 peeps inside who I presumed were the shop assistants. I saw huge "Sale" signs and one "closing down" sale sign. Still no takers, it appeared. Although there were some people in the shops in CBD (David Jones, Myers etc), they didn't seem to be buying anything, most were simply browsing, saw some sniffing and liberally dousing themselves with perfumes lol, people were coming out of the shops empty handed. Looked ominous to me.

On the other hand I noticed every little coffee shop and restaurant were nearly full

mark wool

You will always struggle to park. In fact parking at shopping centers will get harder because with rising elec prices we will be going to the shopping centers to keep cool. Recession in uk shopping centers still busy. Does not mean they are spending.

IndieG

Very true. I've seen it happen in Dubai. Shopping malls were absolutely packed during the worst downturn it experienced (it is still far from recovery).

jimbo_d

Doubt nothing much will affect Oz, Europe is becoming rather irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, the troubles in Greece will enhance things in this respect. What happens in Asia and the US is much more important, and both are booming/starting to boom again. Europe is a lost cause, just hope it doesn't end in war like most things do in that part of the world.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

So that's economies 4, 5, 6 and 7 in terms of global trade written off then?

Taken as an economic block, the European Union is larger than either the US or China. If they are a "lost cause" then economically the world is ****ed for a generation.

koalakim

Just going back to the rental market, I think here is very different to the UK - renting here is still very common. We've looked around rentals and there has been all sorts of people looking from young families to old couples who probably have always rented. I think the Aussies are more used to renting for instance in between moves whereas in the UK you just wouldn't think of selling up, then renting for a period whilst you found your new house. Our neighbours have bought and sold 19 houses and rented many times, they sold up travelled around Oz for a year then rented before buying again so I think there will always be a strong demand for rentals. If that demand keeps up then investors keep buying which keeps prices high as well. Don't know what it is like elsewhere but there are still loads of people heading to Mellie and they all need to be housed.

I think part of the problem when they say people can't buy homes is that in some cases there is a diffence to what they can afford and what they want to live in. If push came to shove then maybe they could afford to buy but it would be a tiny flat or in not such a good area. We were faced with that having lost heaps in the exchange rate - do we buy something grotty for cash but then have to move after a while (and that's not cheap here!) or try and stretch ourselves for a house that will last us? We went for the latter only because we work from home and need a bit of space (before we'd kill each other )

Certainly down here in Mellie it will take a while for house prices to slow, either sharp increase in interest rates or less people coming into the city. I thought prices had slowed in our area but looking at new ones coming on to the market I'm not so sure, whether they sell or not is another matter!

coolshadows

I saw a report last week that said Rudd would be prepared to re-introduce the FHOG should the market start falling again. It said that property groups were already sounding him out.

That's probably the difference in the Australian market, the fact that federal government is quick to hand money to home buyers.

With regards to rent, we currently rent a nice 3 bed house on 750sqm for £260/wk. Not sure if you could get a mortgage for something similar for that price.

verystormy

I think that property here is certain to crash. Its just a matter of when. The prices, certainly in Perth are over heating too much. We have recently started to think about buying, now being a proffesional working in mining you would think i would be ok. Well, according to the bank our joint income only gets us a mortgage that is half the median house price in Perth. This means that the bottom of the market is going to be pulled out. Just like what has happened in the UK before.

coolshadows

I suspect there'd be a few areas on City fringes that will suffer like Willunga, though Estate Agents still see large numbers of vacant houses as a positive.

I'm sure though it's always 'a good time to buy' for estate agents.

Vacant houses not a major issue - 21 Apr, 2010

mohogony

Yes the Uk and Europe are the Arse end of the world OZ is the place to be

mohogony

Houses haven't gone up that much in country OZ , houses are still affordable there.

iamthecreaturefromuranus

How would you know?. You've never been.

renth

"# Chenggong – where there's no one home... Construction of this city in Yunnan province started in 2003. Seven years later this shiny new metropolis teems with pristine high-rise apartment blocks, marble tiled government buildings, state of the art high schools, a large university campus, and a CBD filled with shops, banks and municipal offices. It's got everything except for the one major ingredient a thriving city needs: people! (image source www.ft.com)

# Ordos – which is deserted... Full of fancy buildings and abundant infrastructure, this Inner Mongolian city was built from the ground up in just five years and meant for 1 million inhabitants. Today, the streets are deserted. Residents of Old Ordos, 35km away, are largely unimpressed with the gleaming new city they didn't ask for and have decided to stay put. (image source: www.nytimes.com)

# Thames Town – which is uninhabited... this English-themed 5bn Yuan development on the outskirts of Shanghai is a collection of Georgian and Tudor-style townhouses, low rise apartments and gated complexes, designed to house 10,000 people. The development opened in 2006. Four years later, despite a huge marketing effort, the town is uninhabited. It's now a place Chinese couples visit for a few hours to have wedding photos taken. (image source: www.psfk.com)

# New South China Mall – which is empty... Opened in 2005 in the city of Dongguan, this 9.6 million square ft behemoth is the biggest shopping mall in the world, with room for 2,350 stores. It has seven 'zones' modelled on various cities and regions of the world. It also has a 25 metre high replica of the Arc de Triomphe, a 2.1 km internal canal complete with gondolas and a 553-meter long indoor-outdoor roller coaster! Trouble is, 99 percent of the stores in the so called "Great Mall of China" lie empty. "

http://www.portphillippublishing.com...=114501&r=Milo

scrubbedexpat055

Its called the "Lipstick" economy........

Big item purchases disappear, but people will still spend $10 to give themselves a treat,

Can't afford to drop $300 on shoes, buy a new lipstick and feel better

Pete

balkanghost

Been round NE Victoria, and Chapel Street Toorak Road Melbourne, shops and cafes definitely quieter with tell tales signs of proprietors or staff standing round front doors, and in some cases displays and spruiking on street.

Real unemployment closer to 10%.....

House prices...

Australian Property Bubble Due to Tax Breaks.

Tax breaks to blame for rising house prices. The government has ignored Ken Henry’s prescription for more affordable housing. EVERY time the Reserve Bank of Australia raises interest rates, Wayne Swan expresses his deepest sympathy for hard-pressed Australians with mortgages… …. Of course, you’ll never catch politicians criticising rising house prices……

….addressing the bias in investment housing towards negatively geared investment, which it describes as “a major distortion in the rental property market”….. The Australian Taxation Office says losses declared from negatively geared property grew by 35 per cent in 2007-08 to $8.6 billion…

…While house prices in Australia have tripled since 1996, in the US they increased by 70 per cent….. But with the International Monetary Fund warning of the risk of a housing bubble and Australia a world leader in household debt and unaffordable housing, perhaps rising interest rates or other economic stresses will find their own drastic solution to the problem sooner or later…..