Japonica

We've put enough into this place. We paid for cartloads of mulch ourselves. Fixed plugged sinks, loose fixtures, weatherstripped the front door (could see daylight coming through it). We'll be repainting much of it at our own expense when we leave as the owner expects this to be done (he dinged the last tenants for it and made them hire a painter).

I called the tenants helpline when the agent started booking inspections every 8 weeks instead of every three months. I was told, oh well, just log it if they won't adhere to the lease agreement, but nothing you can do if they decide to go against what they agreed.

We won't be paying double...when our house is done, our mortgage, rates, and insurance will still be less than what we're paying now in rent...yes, we had a decent-sized deposit to make that possible. Personally, that suits our family better than just continuing to pay rent to someone else and dealing with the aggro of the agent.

Our owner advised us that he's raising the rent $50 a week in six months' time, with another to follow. So, we'd be looking for another place anyway.

IndieG

My experience (renting for the first time in Australia) has been quite the opposite In the last 16 months, we've only had two property inspections. Any maintenance issue was attended to the same day (including a silly problem where I couldn't change the light bulb and the owner drove all the way to change it!). We will be sticking to the same agent, if possible, when we move to another place next year. Prior to that we rented the same place for 15 years without any problems.

Steve2009

Finding a good agent/landlord is half the battle. You shouldn't have to be paying to maintain the property, but if you get a bad landlord/manager then sometimes it's necessary. Proper due dilligence at time of leasing usually saves all this hassle.

As for deductions from bond, you'd have a hard time in Queensland getting a tenant to pay for painting if it went to tribunal. The level of fair wear and tear is definitely skewed in the tenants favour. Our place wasn't particularly clean when we moved in and we noted this on our entry report so we don't have to leave it particularly clean when we move out.

Decent landlords will not raise the rent unfairly on decent tenants, it's counter productive. Mortgage interest for most properties in most areas where people want to live will be double rent if not more than. If you have a low LVR then the opportunity cost of this has to be accounted for. A renter with that cash invested elsewhere would be doing better (on a cash basis) than having it tied up in property.

My current landlord/agent (I don't know which / if both) are very good currently. All maintenance issues are resolved with minimum of effort and the less we hear from each other the better.

neil248

If this is the case there will be zero building of houses for people to shelter in.

How much does it actually cost to produce a serviced block of land and the road outside etc then build a house on it and then landscape it.

To build the property we are in from scratch would probably cost roughly what it is worth give or take.

Overpriced units and mc Mansions and some of legoland can take a hit. Your standard 4 bed house in a desirable area will lose value by inflation alone until in a few years they start to look affordable again in relation to income.

Steve2009

Land values are largest component. They can appreciate, depreciate or stagnate.

neil248

You are absolutely right and in my calculation above I have probably allowed the land value on our property at a lot less than prices actually being asked for blocks in our area in which case our house is worth less than the total build or replacement cost. Some of the prices asked for land don't seem to allow much scope for building the house so established properties can actually seem good value.

I still maintain that a standard house in an area people want to be is not necessarily overvalued in terms of land value and cost to build at todays labour and material prices etc.

Just worked out that the house and land we are in bearing in mind the land is all usable, landscaped and pleasant to look at cost us $178 per sq metre at the peak of the market in 2007, this is 10 min from Robina Town Centre not the middle of nowhere. Even when buying it it actually looked like you were getting something for your money although not everybodys cup of tea. In Robina itself at the other extreme you can pay around $4000 per sq metre for your families living space in a unit if you choose to do so.

Robina for those who don't know the area would be considered by most, not all people to be a "good" suburb on the Gold Coast

TKline

There's already an enormous oversupply of more than 800,000 empty houses in Australia. Australia has been overbuilding for many years. When the SHTF these empty dwellings will flood onto the market as over leveraged 'investors' panic and rush for the exists. This will exacerbate the crash.

Steve2009

Construction costs and regulatory costs can also depreciate, appreciate or stagnate. Seeing as the property market is the single biggest driver of the Australian economy it is a self fulfilling cycle that appreciation in property values cause inflation in the wider economy. Replacement costs have been quite sticky in Ireland, but it matters not because we have ample supply of empty properties, cost will come down eventually as the input providers lose stamina. Australia has plenty of housing stock to keep it going too.

neil248

That is a massive amount of property empty for a population of 22.5 million people. It makes one wonder why rents are as high as they are and who the owners of these properties are. Maybe a breakdown of what these "800,000 houses" actually are and where they are would be good. A significant part of Australias housing stock could be described as shacks, take a drive around parts of Brisbane or parts of the Central Coast.

TKline

You'd think so, but in actual fact the last census showed most of these houses were in the main cities! When houses prices are going up people buy more houses than they need in a speculative gamble that prices will keep rising. The result will be a disaster when the ponzi scheme unravels!

Vash the Stampede

What is your source for this figure? Do you have some more details about these houses?

iamthecreaturefromuranus

Well on the law of averages I would expect a couple of them to be in my street... can't see any. So you must have four in your street.


http://www.hotspotting.com.au/index....&productId=351

ozzieeagle

Will recheck our Vacancy figures for total accuracy on the points for the Northern Subs.

johnnye

which makes complete econonmic sense.

johnnye

But many people have lost money on property. The point of the artictle, median house prices are 7 times average wages = not sustainable and fueled by the first home buyers grant.