March 10, 2011 • 7:30 pm 0
Below is an interesting email that appeared in my Inbox today which summarises quite well the carbon impact of us Australians. The reality of all this is the Carbon Tax is just another ‘Robin Hood Tax’ designed to provide more revenue to the government since they can’t easily raise the GST rate. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: General Stuff, carbon tax, ETS, Global Warming, GST, Labor Party
November 7, 2010 • 11:00 pm 0
For those that don’t know about history … Here is one condensed version:
Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: General Stuff, Uncategorized, labor, liberal, politics
September 20, 2010 • 11:21 pm 0
Australia is growing at it’s fastest rate since the late 60′s, something more akin to a developing nation rather than a developed nation. The growth rate of 2.1% year on year is attributable to both an increased birth rate and a significant increase in immigration levels. In fact Australia’s growth rate on a global scale is only exceeded by SIngapore and Taiwan in the last 5 years. This is extraordinary considering that as a nation our population has been growing faster than countries like China, Brazil, Russia and even India.
Now, all of these people need somewhere to live and the problem is that we have not been building houses fast enough to keep up. Based on average people per household data, each new person requires 0.6 houses to be built but the current rate of construction in Australia is less than half of that.
So what does this all mean?
With the current constraints of a two speed economy, rising interest rates, labour shortages in the construction industry and constraints on new land supply I honestly can’t see this problem being resolved any time soon. Consequently, whilst some economists say that Australian housing is over valued in relative terms the ongoing and ever increasing shortages of available housing will mean increased competition for existing housing stock, particularly in areas that are deemed desirable to live.
The governments appetite to assist potential first home buyers purchase a home has diminished dramatically at both State and Federal levels making it increasingly difficult for young people to get into their own home. This will inevitably cause more pressure on an already overstretched rental market.
Public housing is under more pressure than ever before and only those at the highest levels of need can expect to be offered public housing, again causing more pressure on rental markets.
I still believe that property is still one of the better investment classes and will remain so into the future. Whilst property price growth may slow over the next period of time in all but the most desirable areas, I firmly believe that the old law of supply and demand will cause another period of house price growth well ahead of CPI. And along with this, rental yields should improve dramatically over the next period, making this investment class even more attractive.
Filed under: Australian Economy, General Stuff, construction, first home buyers, housing, population growth, property investment
September 9, 2010 • 3:18 pm 1
The following is from an email that I found circulating around the place. The fact is it’s content is totally true.
“Finally!!! Someone telling it like it is.
What do you reckon about this? Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: General Stuff, Global Economy, Carbon, climate change, emission, environment, ETS, Iceland, Mark Lewis
August 10, 2010 • 11:58 am 0
Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old.
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:” Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: General Stuff
June 30, 2010 • 12:54 am 3
On the 4th October 2007, myself and around 50 other intrepid trekkers set off from Australia to Papua New Guinea to walk the Kokoda Trail where, in 1942, at the height of World War Two, the spirit and determination of our brave Australian soldiers bravely fought and eventually defeated a far superior Japanese Invasion Force whose aim was to take Port Moresby and use that as a staging base for a full scale invasion of Australia. The Kokoda Trail is rated as the third toughest trek in the world and is the same as going from sea level to the top of Mt Kosciusko (check spelling) and back three times. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: General Stuff, 1942, challenge, endurance, Kokoda, Mark Lewis, Owers Corner
June 18, 2010 • 1:32 pm 0
Filed under: General Stuff, Home Loans & Mortgages, affordability, home loan, housing, property
June 7, 2010 • 11:59 pm 1
In Australia, well located properties, ie capital cities and major regional centres, tend to have good prospects for capital growth but poor cashflow. For example, the rental return on investment properties in capital cities tends to be around 4%, although this is improving as the rental vacancy rate hovers at all time lows causing a steady increase in rental returns. Conversely, properties offering good cashflow tend to have poor prospects for capital growth. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Finance Tips, General Stuff, Home Loans & Mortgages, cashflow, home loan, Investment property, negative gearing, positive gearing
June 7, 2010 • 11:42 am 0
Here are 10 of the most common traits of successful people Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: General Stuff, Success, successful people
June 5, 2010 • 11:36 pm 1
I read of a man who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end.
He noted that first came her date of birth
Filed under: General Stuff, eulogy, life, motivation, poem, time
