/> Skip to main content
home
news and research
contact
our facebook page linkdin
Property and Finance Brief 15 March 2013

Some recent client feedback

What elements of the service I provided most impressed you? The information that was given to us on how to start to get on the way to start investing in property market and the back up support to guide us through the steps on getting an investment property started.

What did you most like about me? Your honesty on the choices of investments out there and why they might be a good return in the future. Your overall knowledge of what might be good for us but still letting us make the choice of where to invest.

Comments: Thanks for your assistance for getting us started in investing in property. Your team works well and have been always on top of everything. So far so good, thanks.

Conor and Caroline P

>Read what other clients have said

 

Buyers coming back
A recent RP Data survey found that 805 of consumers say now is a good time to buy. 38% expect house prices to rise over the coming six months, with 51% predicting prices to rise over the next 12 months.

$6 billion for the Galilee Basin
Gina Rinehart's part-owned Queensland coal company has joined with Aurizon Ltd to develop new rail and port facilities for the Galilee Basin worth about $6 billion. Freight company Aurizon says the development will unlock Galilee Basin coal reserves and help support the next phase of coal growth in the Bowen Basin.

Aurizon and Mrs Rinehart's joint venture company GVK Hancock plan to develop and manage a port and rail project with the capacity to ship 60 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). The projects involve a greenfield rail project and a development right for a coal terminal at Abbot Point.

"The proposed development of the rail and port infrastructure which is expected to deliver export capacity of 60mtpa could represent an investment for Queensland in the order of $6 billion," Aurizon said in a statement.

Under the proposed deal, Aurizon will acquire a 51 per cent interest in Hancock Coal Infrastructure (HCI), which owns GVK Hancock's rail and port projects.

Aurizon believes the development will unlock Galilee Basin coal reserves, including GVK Hancock's Alpha, Kevin's Corner and Alpha West coal mines.

Data points to upward trend in Queensland
Queensland's population growth 
increased by 75,000 last year - up 50% or 25,000 on 2010's 50,000 annual increase.  History shows that Queensland attracts a third of Australia's annual population growth.

According to the ABS employment figures, 30,000 new jobs have been created in Queensland since late last year. Queensland looks to be heading towards a massive undersupply, with 33,000 new dwellings needed during 2012, yet just 26,000 supplied - an undersupply to the tune of about 20%. 

RBA thinks Feb jobs data over stated
A Reserve Bank of Australia official says the large surge in employment growth in February will not, by itself, have an impact on the interest rate outlook.
The unemployment rate remained at 5.4 per cent for the third month in row, figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday.

RBA assistant governor (economic) Dr Christopher Kent said the employment data was surprising. "Our forecast has been for a gradual edging higher in the unemployment rate," he said in a speech to the Australian Institute of Building at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Dr Kent was asked how many months of good jobs figures would mean an end to the interest rate reduction cycle.

"I don't have an exact number, it's going to be very hard to predict," he said.

"I would personally think we don't turn things around on the basis of one month's number, this figure could be a little overstated.

"You don't put too much on one month's number, the labour market is very important, it's not the full story."

 

Ipswich Wages and Growth Figures Released
Ipswich wages have risen more than 23% in just four years while the city's unemployment rate remains below the state and national average.
T
hese are the pertinent facts to come out of Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released yesterday. In 2005-06 Ipswich wage earners brought home $36,181 on average, but that jumped to $42,824 in 2009-10, an increase of 23.7%.

Meanwhile the unemployment rate for Ipswich for January, 2013 was 5.2%. That compares well with the state average of 5.8% and the national average of 5.3%. The number of wage earners in Ipswich also grew from 63,936 in 2005-05 to 74,499 in 2009-10, an increase of 16.5%.