Helping Time-Poor Investors: Weekend Reads – Must read article from the last week

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.

Three Priorities Sydney Must Embrace To Become A Global City

There’s a lot to love about Sydney – The Harbor, the Opera House, the markets….but is there a way to love Sydney even more?

An article for Your Investment Property Magazine looks at ways to make Sydney an even more attractive destination – on a global scale.

While Sydney is undoubtedly a major economic and cultural centre, it’s rife with numerous untapped opportunities, states a new report from the Property Council of Australia.

The report, which derives its research from Urbis and Knight Frank, highlights three “must have” priorities that the government and the property industry must embrace for Sydney to compete with regional centres like Auckland, Hong Kong, and Singapore, as well as Alpha++ cities like New York.

“Government and the property industry need to focus on the three must have priorities to make sure Sydney continues to rise in the global stakes – they are: mobility and productivity, fostering growth, and creating efficiency in the broader planning system,” said Jane Fitzgerald, executive director of Property Council NSW.

The Harbour City has a lot going for it.

It’s currently ranked the number one economic region in Australia with around $110 billion in gross regional product.

The CBD hosts 254,000 jobs, and 57,000 new jobs are expected by 2020.

It’s also projected that 58,000 people will live in the CBD by 2020

Read the full article here

The one thing many people don’t do to get rich + A trap to watch out for on a property contract

Another great Real Estate Talk show produced by Kevin Turner.

Michael Yardney the one thing people who want to be rich don’t do.

Andrew Mirams will explain the questions to ask in negotiations with a financier.

Nhan Nguyen and Mark Armstrong talk about the tactics they use to get the price right when buying a property and what to do when you’ve been through a property a few times and you absolutely love it and then comes the call from the agent – the vendor has received an acceptable offer.

Rob Balanda talks about the quaint and hazardous clause in some contracts that can catch you out as a buyer if you are not on the ball, he also ntalks about why in some parts of Australia it is legal to gazump yet in others it isn’t.

If you don’t already subscribe to this excellent weekly internet based radio show do so now by clicking here.

Australians the world’s 2nd richest

There’s no doubt we’re the lucky country – but did you know we’re also one of the richest?

This Blog by Pete Wargen t, looks at the statistics behind Australia’s title as the 2nd richest country in the world.

Oz in second spot

Which are the wealthiest countries in the world?

After Switzerland (US$562,000), comes Australia (US$375,600), according to the latest Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report.

Australia actually scores higher still on a constant exchange rate basis at US$433,200.

Second in the world, how about that?

Spoiled Australians are in another world when compared with the global average of US$52,600.

And Credit Suisse sees no end to Australia’s increasing wealth, predicting that it will rise by a further 34 per cent over the next five years.

Australia has “relatively low” wealth inequality, according to Credit Suisse, with only 11 per cent of adults having a net worth of under US$10,000.

This compares favourably with 22 per cent for the UK and 35 per cent for the US.

Read the full article here

Australia’s housing market performed strongly in Spring

While the weather proved less than stable over the last few month, Spring certainly sprung for the Australian property market.

An article for businessinsider.com.au has summarised the season’s results – and it’s certainly ended on a high.

home spring

Australia’s housing market ended Spring as it began: strong.

According to preliminary data released by CoreLogic on Monday, a national capital city auction clearance rate of 78% was achieved last week, up from the final reading of 74.4% of the previous corresponding week.

It was also well above the 60.1% level achieved in the same week a year earlier.

Underlining the strength of the result, it came despite a noticeable lift in the number of properties that went under the hammer last week.

CoreLogic said that 3,367 properties were taken to auction, the second highest number seen this year.

However, partially contributing to continued strength in clearance rates, that figure was still well below the level seen in the same corresponding week a year earlier.

“Despite the surge in auction numbers, market volume is still significantly lower than the corresponding week last year (3,729),” said CoreLogic.

“Every capital city except Perth and Canberra are showing auction numbers to be lower than a year ago, while every capital has recorded a higher clearance rate compared with last year.”

Keeping with recent form, the strength in the national figure was driven by yet another strong performance from Australia’s most populous and expensive housing market, Sydney.

For the week, the city recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 81.9%, a far cry from the 56.2% level seen 12 months earlier.

Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra and Adelaide all recorded preliminary figures of more than 66%.

Click here for the full article

Australians still spend more time watching TV than using the internet at home

With all the available technology we have one would think that the TV is a things of the past – but that’s far from the truth.

Results from Roy Morgan Research show that our TV consumption is as high as ever .

Australians now spend more time using the internet during the week than watching television—but when it comes to entertainment at home, TV remains by far the most time-consuming media, Roy Morgan Research shows.

Australians (aged 14+) watch over 18 hours of television a week on average (1,095 minutes), compared with over 19 hours in total using the internet anywhere (1159 minutes).

However six hours of that internet time (31% of the total) includes time spent online at work, school or elsewhere (361 minutes) —places where TV isn’t often an entertainment option.

So to compare apples with apples, the average Australian actually spends almost five hours more watching TV than using the internet when at home (798 minutes).