First time buyers are expected to be the major players in the property market this year, according to a nationwide poll of mortgage brokers. The Loan Market poll of 252 of its brokers found that 36% of respondents expected first time buyers to dominate the housing finance market in 2012.Investors came in at a close second, with 33% of respondents picking out Australia’s property investors as this year’s expected dominant force, while refinancers came in third with 30%."Our brokers are divided on which consumer group will dominate in 2012, but the majority think first time buyers will be the most active," said Loan Market chief operating officer Dean Rushton.

read more

Posted via email from Barry Plant Reservoir

Share/Bookmark

Soccer champion Harry Kewell has reportedly taken a $3,250 a week newly built Brighton rental property as his Melbourne base. The Nicholas Day-designed property was briefly marketed by Hocking Stuart as the "finest fusion of style, space and quality", with a $3.3 million asking price. But the three-level house has been withdrawn and reportedly the Kewell family will move into the rental residence, according to The Sunday Age. It would reflect a 5% yield if the undisclosed, unconfirmed figures are correct. The Brighton suburb was identified as the location in an earlier Herald Sun report. Since his arrival last month to play for the Melbourne Victory, Kewell has been staying at Crown. The couple, Kewell and his wife, the soap star Sheree Murphy

read more

Posted via email from Barry Plant Reservoir

Share/Bookmark

Rat Island, a 10,117-square-metre rocky outcrop off the Bronx, New York, has been sold for US$160,000.

Ozzie Crisalli, the Syracuse Realty selling agent, says it was a rare chance to own a unique piece of real estate with a history dating back over 350 years.

Originally part of Thomas Pell’s land purchase from the Siwanoy Indians in 1654, the island did not become part of the city until the 1880s.

It was used in the mid-17th century as a typhoid quarantine hospital and was called the Pelham Pesthouse.

It was a writers’ and artists’ colony in the early 1900s.

It was sold by Red Brennen, a retired marine contractor who bought it for about $5,000 in 1972 and used it to store equipment and salvage barges.

It comes with no jetty, no electricity and no power. Much of it is underwater during high tide. Located on City Island Harbour, part of Long Island Sound, the island is zoned residential.

Its buyer can see it from his back garden on nearby City Island.

The land was most recently officially valued by the city at $426,000.

The New York Times suggests the name was related to prisoners, called rats, escaping from Hart Island, swimming with cardboard boxes over their heads to look like bobbing trash, but it is not clear if that is true.

read more

Posted via email from Barry Plant Reservoir

Share/Bookmark

The first two of the six auction offerings that precede the October finale of the Channel Ten series The Renovators have been put to auction. The other four houses also face the auction reality test this week.

The Century 21 listing agents are under confidentiality agreements until the October 9 auction screening finale. And even those who attended the onsite auctions have been asked to keep the prices under wraps. The sale amount over the undisclosed reserves goes into the collective prize pool for the eventual winner to keep. While the auctions were underway some 803,000 viewers were tuned into the latest elimination. Melbourne’s audience was the highest at 302,000, followed by Sydney’s 164,000 and Brisbane’s 162,000.

SPOILER ALERT

Suggesting Sydney’s spring sales market is a pricing test, both did sell, but barely above cost price. The weatherboard, at 51 Franklin Street, Parramatta, was sold at an auction with 100-plus attendees for $575,000. It had been bought at $460,500, with stamp duty taking it to $478,000. It had been in the same family for five decades. It is now a modern family home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms with an entertaining space and backyard area. Its renovation budget was $95,000, making the breakeven point before its auction campaign conveyancing costs $573,000.

http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/pfproperty/buying/8353918/the-renovators-ambitiously-seek-secrecy-on-auction-results

·        

Posted via email from Barry Plant Reservoir

Share/Bookmark

Apple shares dropped more than four percent on Wall Street on Tuesday as the California gadget-maker unveiled an updated version of the iPhone but not a new model many had been expecting. Apple’s new chief executive Tim Cook, who replaced ailing founder Steve Jobs in August, presided over the launch of the iPhone 4S at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California. The iPhone 4S features a speedier processor, a built-in "personal assistant" that responds to voice commands and a more powerful camera, but it was not the revamped next-generation iPhone 5 smartphone many Apple fans had hoped for. The iPhone 4S will be available in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Britain on October 14 with pre-orders commencing a week earlier.

read more

Posted via email from Barry Plant Reservoir

Share/Bookmark

Economists at one of Australia’s biggest banks are urging the central bank to cut interest rates before the end of the year after a new survey showed the manufacturing sector continues to deteriorate. But two speeches from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s top brass in recent days suggest it is in no haste to move rates, let alone cut them. The Westpac-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry quarterly survey of industrial trends recorded a second consecutive quarterly contraction in manufacturing conditions. Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said the survey sent a very clear message on interest rates.

read more

Posted via email from Barry Plant Reservoir

Share/Bookmark

Australian football sensation Harry Kewell landed at Melbourne Victory earlier this week and The Barry Plant Group was among those in the welcoming party.

Barry Plant recently signed a two-year sponsorship deal with Melbourne Victory, the most successful club in the A-League.

Barry Plant Reservoir Principal Harry Kontossis, said the timing of the sponsorship announcement couldn’t have been better, with Kewell arriving at training at the same time Barry Plant was putting pen to paper.

Harry Kontossis said Barry Plant had been speaking with Melbourne Victory for the past 12 months in a bid to come to an arrangement.

“There are real synergies with the Melbourne Victory community and the Barry Plant community,” Harry Kontossis said.

“The Victory membership base is very strong in the Reservoir area. The sponsorship allows us to bring the club to our community.

“With Victory, we will be looking to hold a community clinic, and we’ll be doing our best to host Melbourne Victory player appearances over the next six months.

“Having the stars of Melbourne Victory meet and greet young fans in our community was the key contributor to striking the arrangement,” Harry said.

-ends-

Caption: Barry Plant CEO Mike McCarthy with Melbourne Victory coach Mehmet Durakovic and former skipper Kevin Muscat.

For further information, contact Barry Plant Reservoir Principal Harry Kontossis, on 0419 337 719

Posted via email from Barry Plant Reservoir

Share/Bookmark

YOUNG battlers are resorting to unconventional ways to break into the housing market. A growing number of parents are using their own homes as security so their children don’t have to stump up a deposit. Others are buying with friends and family, renting out a room or buying an investment property to make a start. Aussie Carnegie mortgage broker Mark Daly said family equity loans, which can allow applicants to borrow the entire value of a home and avoid costly mortgage insurance, were becoming more popular with younger cash-strapped buyers.

read more

Posted via email from Barry Plant Reservoir

Share/Bookmark

THE surging Australian dollar and the strength of the inbound Asian tourist market has pushed up hotel prices in Melbourne and Sydney, a survey shows. Melbourne prices were up 11 per cent in the six months to June 2011 compared with a year earlier. It was the equal fourth highest rise in the world with Buenos Aires, according to a survey of hotel prices on the website hotels.com. Sydney hotel prices were up 10 per cent, sharing sixth spot with Florence. They outstripped the average global price for a room rose of 3 per cent. Most Australian capital cities recorded increases, but Canberra bucked the trend with an 8 per cent fall. However, the national capital still had the highest average price in the country, at $A177.

read more

Posted via email from Barry Plant Reservoir

Share/Bookmark

We are proud to announce that we support the Northern Bullants in our local community, and will continue to provide them with ongoing support through the 2012 season.

Unfortunately season 2011 was not as much of a success on the field as it was off the field although the Preston based club will continue to grow and progress in the competition.

We would like to extend our thankyou to the Bullants and urge anyone to purchase a ticket to this weeks Gala Auction Dinner on Friday 2^nd September from 7pm to be held at the Preston City Oval Function room on Cramer Street, Preston. Tickets for the event are $85.00 per person which includes a three course dinner, Beverages & Entertainment along with Harry Kontossis conducting all the Auctions for the evening. Should you wish to attend please contact the Bullants on 9470 2224 or 9460 5066 and we can arrange the booking for you.

Get on board  the Bullants for 2012 buy a memebership and support your local football club.  GO BULLANTS!!

read more

Posted via email from Barry Plant Reservoir

Share/Bookmark