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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (8459)	8/20/2006 9:28:34 PM
From: Moominoid	Respond to of 217784

Sounds right, only thing slightly off is: If they pass the new law, he pays tax on his future capital gains, as you would in most countries. In most countries you only pay CGT when you sell and make a realized gain (except for employee option exercises). But under the law you need to pay on unrealized gains so if QCOM goes up he will have to sell some of those precious shares to pay the tax. In Aus unrealized foreign mutual fund shares are taxed on unrealized gains, unless in an employer sponsored retirement scheme or many other exceptions... but for stocks, bonds, property etc. it is all taxed on realized gains only.

To: Elroy Jetson who wrote (8459)	8/21/2006 2:41:16 AM
From: Proud Deplorable	Respond to of 217784

Home Prices ‘Crash’ In Australia The Sydney Morning Herald reports from Australia. “A three bedroomhouse in St Clair sold for just $260,000 at the weekend, down about 42 per cent from its last sale at $450,000 in 2003 in a further sign of the depressed state of the Sydney property market.” “Only one person bid on the house in the city’s west. The mortgagee sale was forced after the owners could not meet the interest payments on the $405,000 they borrowed to buy the house at the peak of the market.” “Auction clearance rates are hovering around 48 per cent since the recent interest rate rise, but plummeting property prices have meant many vendors are confronting negative equity, where they owe more on the property than it is worth.” “The Herald checked 16 properties in south-western and western suburbs listed at the weekend and found 60 per cent had prices or had attracted offers at a discount to their last sale price.” “Lethbridge Park, near Penrith, recorded the second highest fall, when a townhouse that sold for $257,000 in 2003 was resold by mortgagees for $156,500, reflecting a roughly 40 per cent fall. At Heckenberg, a four-bedroom house that sold for $330,000 in 2003 resold at $255,000 in another mortgagee sale. Four of the seven registered buyers put in bids before the Adaminaby Street house sold at an approximate 22 per cent discount to the property-boom price.” “At Parramatta, mortagees accepted $541,500 for an unrenovated house that fetched $736,000 in 2003 when it was sold as a deceased estate. The bank lent $580,000 on its 2003 sale.” “Even the inner-suburban areas are showing signs of depressed prices. In Lilyfield a four-bedroom house on 607 square metres last sold at $1,355,000 unrenovated in boom-time 2003. It attracted a $1,179,000 top bid after its recent renovation by its owner-builder.” “Given it has been 16 years since the last recession, long-time estate agents fear the fate of a generation of owners who had not experienced having a loan when times were tough. St Marys agent, Michael Beatty said: ‘There was a wave of people punting on the expectation of constant price rises until well into 2004, even after the three interest rate rises of late 2003. There has been significant price deflation and many now have negative equity in their homes.’” “‘There are some sad stories. But we have to show the sellers the comparable sales and say honestly this is where the market is realistically at,’ he said.” The New Zealand Herald. “With an estimated $40 billion worth of fixed interest rate mortgages up for renewal this year, lenders are bracing themselves for increasing numbers of people defaulting on their mortgages in the coming months.” “Real estate agents, usually among the first to hear about mortgages gone wrong, are already seeing it. Carey Smith, chief executive of Ray White, says there has been a 22 per cent increase in the number of mortgagee property sales over the last quarter.” “General Finance subsidiary Cairns Lockie Mortgage Bankers says there has been a big increase in what it calls its ‘dishonour roll,’ people failing to make their monthly mortgage payments. ‘Over the past three months, the number of missed payments has doubled,’ says director James Lockie.” “Dave Shatford, at NZ Mortgage Finance and Approved Mortgage Brokers, says some New Zealanders simply cannot sustain a mortgage. ‘We sometimes say to people, ‘there’s no point in continuing to go backwards.’” “Lockie tells customers consolidating their debt to cut up their credit cards. ‘They cut up their store cards and come back with another $10,000 or $20,000 of debt a year later. We turned down some loans the other day, the people were spending the equity in their house and… racking up consumer debt,’ he said.” “Shatford says it is anticipating activity in the next few months. ‘All the signs are there. Our feeling is that we are going to see a lot more,’ he says.” “Registered valuers Seagar and Partners say they have noticed a few more properties in the sought-after suburbs of Auckland getting into trouble. Principal Chris Seagar says often the owners have been trying to sell at a price they feel they have to, but the market thinks is too high. ‘If they’d been more willing sellers they may have sold without having to go to mortgagee sale,’ he says.”