Overseas Property

Buying or renting in Australia

JSB — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:20:00 GMT

Buyers will get good value for money in Australia, and if you've saved up a bit of a deposit it might be worth buying as soon as you can because rental properties are in short supply.

Buying property in Australia

Property prices dropped in 2008 in all capital cities, except Adelaide, and analysts and agents say it is a good time to pick up property.

Right now it is a buyers’ market, despite interest rates being at their highest level for 12 years.

House prices

Sydney $550,890
Melbourne $443,203
Brisbane $439,210
Adelaide $411,885
Canberra $494,456
Perth $513,771
Hobart $268,773
Darwin $463,560
- March quarter 2008

Unit prices

Sydney $363,438
Melbourne $334,585
Brisbane $324,457
Adelaide $264,503
Canberra $346,231
Perth $359,627
Hobart $218,038
Darwin $323,051
- March quarter 2008

Source: Australian Property Monitors

Renting in Australia

While the news is bad for owners looking to sell, it is even worse for renters. Increased demand for rental properties a fall in supply has resulted in an astronomical rise in rents, with price increases in the double-digit range in the major capitals over the past 12 months, according to Australian Property Monitors.

Tenants in Perth and Sydney are facing the highest rises, with rents for Sydney houses and units jumping by 15 per cent and 11 per cent over 2007/08.

Weekly house rents

Sydney $420
Melbourne $350
Brisbane $350
Adelaide $290
Canberra $410
Perth $350
Darwin $450
Hobart $285
- June 2008

Weekly unit rents

Sydney $400
Melbourne $310
Brisbane $300
Adelaide $240
Canberra $385
Perth $350
Darwin $350
Hobart $235
- June 2008

Source: Australian Property Monitors

Buying or renting in South Africa

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:21:00 GMT

After years of booming house prices, South Africa’s housing market is now cooling off.

Lucky investors who snapped up properties at the start of this decade have cashed in on an almost guaranteed lottery win, as prices soared across the country, taking the average price of a new home to over R1 million (a little over £68,000) for the first time, with prices for existing homes only slightly under that mark.

Buying in South Africa

At its peak in 2004, the price of an average property increased by more than 30%, giving South Africa the world’s fastest rate of house price growth. Of course, it couldn’t last forever—and in 2008 the pressure valves opened to let out some steam.

Meanwhile, investor confidence has taken a knock. The FNB Residential Property Barometer, a quarterly indicator based on the market sentiment of 150 real estate professionals, hit its lowest recorded level at the end of the June. In a report, the bank noted that properties are now viewed for an average of 15 weeks before selling, far above the time taken at the peak of the market

Investors looking to get into the market are advised to hold tight until 2009, when the market is expected to bottom out and good deals will start to emerge again. Not much growth is likely before 2010, although buy-to-let investors will probably experience stronger rental demand during this time. Even so, rental income remains relatively low for landlords.

Average house prices

Eastern Cape     R865,458
Free State     R733,256
Gauteng         R1,032,773
KwaZulu-Natal     R871,454
Limpopo         R806,376
Mpumalanga     R823,191
North West     R784,493
Northern Cape     R663,376
Western Cape     R1,090,778
Source: ABSA housing review, Q2 2008

Renting in South Africa

In May 2008, the average yield for a R1 million home was 7.1%, indicating a monthly rental of about R5900 (about £400).

“At present, renting may seem a better option for some,” says John Loos, a home loans property strategist for FNB. “Given the currently low yields that exist in the rental market, generally a tenant will have lower monthly payments than an owner paying off a 100% loan on the equivalent property.”

According to FNB, rental demand in the second quarter of this year was 43% higher than it was six months earlier.

The bank’s research shows that Johannesburg costs more to rent in than any other of the country’s main cities.

Average rent prices

The average monthly rental cost of a mid-range house in Johannesburg is now about R7,250. Cape Town comes closest in price, touching on R7,000 a month, while Pretoria offers the best value at just R4,850. Back down at the coast, Durbanites can expect to pay R5,800.

Buying or renting in New Zealand

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:20:00 GMT

A couple of years ago the New Zealand market was booming and everyone wanted in on it. But these days the boom that peaked around May 2007 is long over and the market has been steadily sliding.

So the question is, if you’ve had enough of the UK and are itching to return to claim your quarter acre of paradise, when do you buy or do you when do you rent?

Buying in New Zealand

When to buy

Even though house sales are down — prices dropped only 2.2 per cent on average around the country in the year from 2007-08 and many experts are predicting the current slump has a long way to go.

But there's still a consensus that prices will continue to fall for the rest of the year at least, and that means you could pick up a much bigger bargain towards the end of 2008 and 2009.

Where to buy

Most people will hit the cities purely for work reasons and unless you’ve really lost touch with New Zealand, you’ll know that buying a house in Ponsonby is going to be a lot harder on your pocket than picking up something on the outskirts of Dunedin.

If you’re after a bargain, you might want to go south to Invercargill, although statistics are showing a massive flight of Kiwis leaving the mainland in search of the sun, with population growth in Bay of Plenty and Auckland rising.

No matter where you go in New Zealand you won't have any trouble finding houses to look at – it’s a buyers’ market at the moment.

Cost of housing

If you $400,000 to spend on a house when you got back to New Zealand … what would you get?

In Auckland’s Mt Eden $395,000 gets you a two-bedroom residential unit, while for just three grand more, over the bridge you’d get a three-bedroom house in Glenfield.

Down the line in the Wellington suburb of Newlands, $395,000 would buy you a brand-new, three-bedroom home with views.

For $399,000 in Christchurch’s Templeton you’d get a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, 18-month-old house, while further south in Dunedin, for 15 grand less, you’d get a five-bedroom, double-garaged house with study.

Renting in NZ

In New Zealand in 2008 it might make more sense to rent, as far as cash-flow is concerned. For example for just $500 a week, you can rent a two-bedroom waterfront apartment in Auckland central with sea views and a carpark.

Meanwhile in the upmarket Christchurch suburb of Merivale, $485 a week will get you a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house just a short distance from the central city. You'll pay more than that to pay back a loan on a similar house so it seems, therefore that renting on your return for a few months could be the way to go.

More information on NZ real estate

The Real Estate Institue of New Zealand and Quotable Value Limited (QV) has useful market facts graphs, residential housing facts, residential rent reviews and links to Massey University property surveys and AMP home affordability reports. Of use also is the Property ValueMap.