There are more interesting articles, commentaries and analyst reports on the Web every week than anyone could read in a month.
Each Saturday morning I like to share some of the ones I’ve read during the week.
The weekend will be over before you know it, so enjoy some weekend reading…and please forward to your friends by clicking the social link buttons.
Influx of Chinese property investors expected in Sydney this Chinese New Year
It would seem that there’s more than just the Chinese New Year to be celebrated this weekend.
Whilst the streets will be filled with festivities, an article from yourinvestmentpropertymag.com.au has reported that the lunar year will also bring an influx of buyers to the Sydney property market.
While the moneyed crowds of Chinese buyers prowling at auctions during the peak of the Sydney residential boom appear to have disappeared, real estate agents say they’ve not gone away.
In fact, many will be on their way back this week.
Sydney real estate agents are preparing for an influx of foreign investors as Chinese tourists fly into Australia for Chinese New Year.
China has long been plagued by food safety issues, environmental pollution, and economic uncertainty—and many Chinese buyers are attracted to Australia’s superior lifestyle, clean food and environment, and political stability.
“I think it will be a very busy time and it means that the year will be just as robust with Chinese buyers as previous years,” James Pratt, director of auctions for Raine & Horne and James Pratt Auctions, told the Domain Group.
“I think the level of interest later in the year will be even higher, too.
“Australia is very appealing to the Asian market, particularly new apartments in areas in the city and around Barangaroo, and especially if the Australian dollar goes down as is forecast.
We have everything here that they like: nice weather, fresh food, good schooling and stable government.
Pratt doesn’t think the current restrictions on lending to offshore investors will affect the market either.
“We have a lot of infrastructure set up today for Asian investors, and developers aren’t spending hundreds of millions of dollars on developments just hoping they’ll be able to sell; there’s a lot of confidence around,” he said.
Read the full article here
The have’s and the have not’s + Our experts ‘check in’ on their 2016 predictions
Another great Real Estate Talk show produced by Kevin Turner.
Michael Yardney has some advice for would be investors and indeed for young first time buyers.
Chris Gray predicted that the major markets would continue to improve – correct – but was he surprised about what happened in Sydney?
Pete Wargent took out his crystal ball, he said to ‘expect the unexpected’.
John Lindeman predicted that Sydney would slow down and we would see a more defined 2 market situation. So, how has he reacted to that?
Jan Somers another one of our experts whose opinion we sought this time last year is saying that this year will be much the same as what she said about 2016.
If you don’t already subscribe to this excellent weekly internet based radio show do so now by clicking here.
Lending finance jumps to 9-year high
What really going on with lending finance in Australia?
Despite a mixture of headline it would seem that lending finance is at a 9 year high.
This Blog by Pete Wargent, looks at the statistics behind the results.
There was a 14.8 per cent seasonally adjusted jump in commercial finance in the month of November, taking commercial finance up to 5.9 per cent higher than a year ago.
Property investment loans were a key driver of the increase, although housing finance for owner-occupiers was flat in the month.
Click on the charts to expand them, as always!
Piecing it all together lending finance spiked 9.8 per cent higher in November, following a 0.6 per cent rise in October.
All up, then, total lending finance jumped to $76.3 billion, the strongest monthly result since 2007 and the third strongest month on record.
In trend terms, total lending finance is now just a fraction below the highs recorded in 2015.
Read the full article here
Melbourne landlord blasted for installing coin-operated toilet, but it looks like a troll job
We’ve all heard of those crazy ‘Ghost Stories’ about demanding landlords, but this may very well outshine them all.
An article on news.com.au has reveled that what started off as a story about an outrageous landlord – actually tuned to be a hoax – and it would seem this isn’t the first time.
A MELBOURNE landlord has been blasted online after a tenant revealed he had installed a coin-operated toilet in the house, requiring the tenants to pay per flush.
That’s right, the stingy landlord and owner of an apartment property in Thornbury has reportedly equipped the toilet with a mechanism that means residents have to pay $1 to flush the dunny.
Unsure about the legality of such a contraption, the tenant posted the story on forum-based social media website reddit to ask the community if the landlord was allowed to do this.
“I understand in our laundry having to pay for the communal washing machine.
But I pay the water bill that goes into my apartment,” the tenant wrote.
“[The landlord] said it was a government incentive to save water.
But then why does he get to collect the money?”
As you might expect, the tenant said it makes it very awkward to entertain guests.
“The worst thing is not having any dollar coins on hand.
Especially when I have guests over.
It’s really embarrassing and gross for them.”
Such is the ridiculousness of a coin-operated toilet that the post was initially removed because reddit moderators on the Melbourne subreddit didn’t believe the story was true.
But the tenant later posted “proof” of the situation by sharing a picture of the toilet and the post was republished.
But in all likelihood, the story is an elaborate reddit troll job rather than some nasty landlord.
News.com.au contacted the original poster to inquire about the situation but after two days has not heard back from them, lending considerable weight to the notion the post was a New Years hoax.
Other potential plot holes — widely debated online — include the lack of sophisticated wiring likely needed for a functional coin operator and the fact that a user could presumably just access the flush mechanism by lifting the lid of the toilet tank.
And without genuine clarification from the supposed tenant, one can only assume it was an elaborate trolling exercise rather than some unconscionable penny-pinching landlord.
Click here for the full article
The forbidden words the most honest people use more
Who hasn’t been guilty of putting a few coins into the swear jar at some stage – Yet often we are made to believe that those words wouldn’t be used by sensible and honest people.
Well that’s all about to change.
According to a research study on PsyBlog – those who use these “swear jar words” are actually are seen to be some of the most honest and persuasive people.
These words have also surprisingly been linked to a greater vocabulary and even being more persuasive.
People who swear more frequently are also more honest, new psychological research finds.
The reason may be that people swear when they are speaking honestly and not filtering their thoughts and emotions (for a change).
Dr David Stillwell, one of the study’s authors, said:
“The relationship between profanity and dishonesty is a tricky one.
Swearing is often inappropriate but it can also be evidence that someone is telling you their honest opinion.
Just as they aren’t filtering their language to be more palatable, they’re also not filtering their views.”
For the first part of the research 276 people listed their most commonly used words — including their favourite swear words.
In the second part data was collected from 75,000 people on Facebook to see how much they swore.
In both cases the researchers found evidence that swearing was linked to higher honesty.
For example, people who swore more were less likely to lie online to make themselves look better.
Dr Stillwell continued:
“There are two ways of looking at it.
You might think if someone is swearing a lot, this is a negative social behaviour seen as a bad thing to do, so if someone swears they are probably a bad person as well.
On the other hand, they are not filtering their language so they are probably also not putting their stories about what is going on through similar filters which might turn them into untruths.
That is what we seemed to land on in this study, that people who use the language that comes to mind first are less likely to be playing games with the truth.”
Click here for the full article
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