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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MSI who wrote (8215)	1/18/2003 9:02:51 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

That Australian curve is amazing Australian government rebates on home purchases, "to make homes more affordable", has greatly inflated homes prices. This has required ever larger mortgages to accomodate. Credit card debt has also risen rapidly in Australia. They're a long way from U.S. credit card debt levels, but racing to catch us up. theage.com.au

To: MSI who wrote (8215)	1/18/2003 9:27:23 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Respond to of 306849

Signs of a slowing in Melbourne's five-year property boom and legislation to tighten auction procedures are raising suggestions that some vendors are being scared away from Melbourne's long-entrenched auction system. theage.com.au Any current real estate brochure shows dozens of properties listed for private sale, and Real Estate Institute chief Enzo Raimondo says it is not just the traditional Christmas-New Year lull. "There is no doubt that there are more private sales now than there were," he says. "The adverse publicity about auctions last year did not help." The brochures seem to bear him out. The December-January edition of Hocking Stuart's Property Weekly lists five Toorak properties, all for private sale. Of 14 properties in St Kilda, 11 are for private sale. And all nine listed in Carnegie, and seven of 10 in Elwood, are for private sale. The Jellis Craig brochure, Gallery, lists 57 properties over December-January, only 10 for auction. Jellis Craig agent Tom Ryan says, however, that this is not indicative of the true state of the market. "Mostly, these properties were left over from auctions. Over the Christmas period, you can't auction," he says. David Wood, of private-sale specialists Wood Brothers, says one advantage of a private sale is speed. "The house is for sale the day it goes on the market. You do not have to wait weeks for an auction," he says. South Yarra agent Philippe Batters says the auction scene falls quiet in December-January. He says: "Auctions have a long tradition in Melbourne. Hoddle stood on a log and auctioned the first blocks in Melbourne to establish a value . . . but auctions today are pointless in the far-flungs, or even in the outer suburbs. There are not enough people around." Bills relating to auction laws passed the lower house before Christmas. They were put up by Christine Campbell when she was minister for consumer affairs. John Lenders now fills that position. A spokesman for the minister told The Sunday Age: "Those bills are now null and void because they did not pass through the upper house before the election. They will be reintroduced in the... session starting next month." With Labor now controlling both houses, the laws (which amend the Estate Agents Act and the Sale of Land Act) should be in operation within months. The REIV's Mr Raimondo says: "Once people understand that the auction system does work when used properly, there shouldn't be many problems." The new legislation includes provision for: Fines of up to $24,000 for dummy bidding by vendors or agents. Fines of up to $20,000 for under-quoting or over-quoting by agents. Disclosure of all vendor bids and the auctioneer must indicate when the reserve has been reached. Removal of the $250,000 cap for the three-day cooling-off period for private home sales.