By John Edwards

On the housing front things are continuing to improve, albeit modestly. Auction clearance rates have improved marginally and are now approaching 60% each week. This is still low but a welcomed relief from the mid-50’s of the last few months. It is even more encouraging given the fact that we are now moving to winter, when the markets in the two major auction cities are traditionally slower.

Clearly, we are not out of the woods yet however there are more capital cities moving to quarterly growth. It has been the best part of a year since I was last able to present a number of graphs that were either showing growth or clearly pointing to an improving market. In particular, we are pleased to report that Darwin has moved to growth (see ‘Darwin Units’). Units, being a major component of this market, are presenting a strong and steep upward trend. This is a small market and the recent new resource projects and the location of US troops in Darwin for training will be making an impact. The upward move is very strong and given the size of this market it will tend to exhibit some volatile movement. As a consequence, we should expect a few modest corrections in the short term but this market is again in growth.

Brisbane, Gold Coast and Melbourne have been the main worries in recent times. Each of these markets are now indicating that the worst is over. We still remain cautious about Melbourne as the stock position (oversupply) may not have filtered through sufficiently.

The worst affected market in the correction process was arguably Southport, Queensland. While it does appear that the bottom of the cycle has passed, the upward trend is not currently strong enough to make a definitive call.

Brisbane on the other hand is presenting much more positively. It seems to us that by September, or perhaps even a little earlier, we will be able to report growth in this market again. The rental yield for houses is a respectable 5.1% and our projections as to future median growth, while not outstanding are respectable at 5.1%. This is definitely a market which is now worth exploring for bargains and future quality returns.

- Rental yields remain lower than what they need to be to attract significant investment activity.

-The growth over the last 12 months has not been spectacular but it has been higher than inflation.

- Perth remains the standout performer with rentals for the median house increasing by $65 per week and $30 per week for units. This is significant when you consider the amount a tenant must cover by way of a wage rise to meet the increase. On a before tax basis, a tenant has to get an increase in wages of approximately $4,330 to meet increased obligations for house rentals and a more affordable $2,000 for a unit. The unit increase is probably more affordable as it is close to being equal to an inflation increase in wages.

In short, things have improved but there are some new forming “storm clouds” on the horizon. Notwithstanding the potential storm, it is time to start looking at the Brisbane, Perth, Darwin and Sydney markets for opportunity. In saying this, investments at this time should be made with an eye to cash flow and conservative gearing given the potential for some global international shocks. This process will ensure a positive cash flow outcome if any of the potential negative situations eventuate and interest rates decrease, hence even in a poor outcome the investment will look after itself and produce cash while you wait out any storm.

As always, happy investing!

John E Edwards.

Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Australian Property Market

Technorati Tags: Australian Property Market Update, John Edwards

If you have even the slightest interest around all the hype surrounding USA property investment, then this webinar is for you.
Simply click on the link below to register your interest:

USA Property Webinar

• I am going to share with you my own personal USA Property Journey, my strategy, my portfolio, theoretical returns, actual returns and super importantly all the lessons I have learned along the way!
• You will also have the opportunity to hear from our guest speaker, Stephen McClatchie who will be giving the latest State By State Overview.
• There will also be a special Offer for those who attend the webinar worth over $500.

 Simply click on the link below to register your interest:

USA Property Webinar

Further Details:

This is your chance to hear from Mark Taylor, Managing Director of Keys To Success Club, as he shares with you the “ins and outs” of investing in the USA property market from his own personal experience.
Using his own portfolio he will answer the following questions:

• Does the hype on this investment opportunity match the reality? What do you really get for your money?
• What is the real risk/reward equation and critical entry points for properties
• Is it possible to use finance to buy US properties?
• How it can go pear shaped…  Lessons from the front line!
• What is the ownership experience really like for an Australian Investor?

 Stephen McClatchie, MD of American Property Partners and Loans USA will also be giving us the latest update on:

• Which States to invest in and why
• Financing options

About Mark Taylor….

Mark Taylor is the Founder and Director of Keys To Success Club.   A property investor in his own right, Mark helps other people succeed in property investment by connecting them to property experts through Keys To Success Club.

A key focus on the club is to enable overseas investors to access the US Property Market opportunity.

For more information, click here

Technorati Tags: usa property, Webinar

Cheers for now!

About Mark Taylor….

Mark Taylor is the Founder and Director of Keys To Success Club.   A property investor in his own right, Mark helps other people succeed in property investment by connecting them to property experts through Keys To Success Club.

A key focus on the club is to enable overseas investors to access the US Property Market opportunity.

For more information, click here

Technorati Tags: USA property prices, USA Real estate Trends

It is clearly a negative report, so you might find it slightly strange that I am sending it out, myself having a more positive outlook on USA property investment.  Simply put, I would much prefer that people go into the USA property scene with their eyes open and being aware of the benefits and the risks (and importantly)  how to mitigate them!

I always like to watch media reports.  Of course, you have to remember that the media love a good story, preferably skewed to the negative.  Having said that, there are some key lessons to take away.

• It is absolutely true that there are many sharks or simply poor operators floating around; it is always the case with opportunities, so choose who you work with carefully and take personal accountability for the decisions you make
• When investing in the US you need to look at the whole package not just the theoretical numbers.  The area, the vacancy rates, the quality of the property manager in place and the support you are likely to get after purchase.
• There are areas that are not good places to invest, Detroit and Las Vegas – the two horror stories mentioned do not stack up on even preliminary investigation.  I would be very careful with single state operators as they are likely to be prejudiced to their state
• Listen to media, but be aware of their agenda and credibility.  For example in this case, their lack of understanding of LLCs and why they are used exposes their own lack of knowledge of the US property market.  One of our partners was in fact interviewed and his take and experience on the market was not included in the piece.  He clearly didn’t have enough horror stories to add!

Cheers for now!

About Mark Taylor….

Mark Taylor is the Founder and Director of Keys To Success Club.   A property investor in his own right, Mark helps other people succeed in property investment by connecting them to property experts through Keys To Success Club.

A key focus on the club is to enable overseas investors to access the US Property Market opportunity.

For more information, click here

Technorati Tags: usa property

About Mark Taylor….

Mark Taylor is the Founder and Director of Keys To Success Club.   A property investor in his own right, Mark helps other people succeed in property investment by connecting them to property experts through Keys To Success Club.

Technorati Tags: UK Property Market Update

About Mark Taylor….

Mark Taylor is the Founder and Director of Keys To Success Club.   A property investor in his own right, Mark helps other people succeed in property investment by connecting them to property experts through Keys To Success Club.

A key focus on the club is to enable overseas investors to access the US Property Market opportunity.

For more information, click here

Technorati Tags: Memphis property, usa property

About Mark Taylor….

Mark Taylor is the Founder and Director of Keys To Success Club.   A property investor in his own right, Mark helps other people succeed in property investment by connecting them to property experts through Keys To Success Club.

A key focus on the club is to enable overseas investors to access the US Property Market opportunity.

For more information, click here

Technorati Tags: USA Property Tour

I have been contact by Simran via the web, who wanted to let me know of certain restrictions with foreign nationals investing in the USA.

“Yes, you can invest with an American Investment account, as long as you comply with certain regulations.

Here is a direct quote from my broker/dealer: Non-Resident Alien: An individual who is not a citizen and who does not have his permanent (tax) residency in the United States. A nonresident alien is subject to 30% NRA withholding on some types of U.S. income, and he must file a nonresident tax return on that income.

The U.S. has tax treaties with many countries allowing a resident of any of these countries to claim reduced rates of withholding. A nonresident alien is required to file an original W-8BEN with the payer or he will be treated as a U.S citizen and be subject to backup withholding according to TEFRA rules.

Here is a list of countries that the U.S. has sanctions against, with the date the sanctions were instituted. Residents of these countries may not have an American nvsentmeit account:OFAC Country Sanctions Programs Program Last Updated: Balkans Sanctions 05/22/2006 Belarus Sanctions 02/27/2007 Burma Sanctions 05/22/2006 Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) 09/19/2006 Cuba Sanctions 05/23/2007 Democractic Republic of the Congo Sanctions 03/30/2007 Iran Sanctions 04/04/2007 Iraq Sanctions 07/21/2005 Former Liberian Regime of Charles Taylor Sanctions 05/23/2007 North Korea Sanctions 02/02/2007 Sudan Sanctions 04/04/2007 Syria Sanctions 08/15/2006 Zimbabwe Sanctions 05/22/2006″

About Mark Taylor….

Mark Taylor is the Founder and Director of Keys To Success Club.   A property investor in his own right, Mark helps other people succeed in property investment by connecting them to property experts through Keys To Success Club.

A key focus on the club is to enable overseas investors to access the US Property Market opportunity.

For more information, click here

Technorati Tags: foreign nationals, US property

My presentation was well received at the recent USA property events I attended as guest speaker.

People seemed to appreciate the sharing of my personal journey (both good and bad) to help them with their own USA property journey.

I will be using an update version of the same material in a series of webinars, for people who were not able to come to the live events.

Stay tuned!

Mark

About Mark Taylor….

Mark Taylor is the Founder and Director of Keys To Success Club.   A property investor in his own right, Mark helps other people succeed in property investment by connecting them to property experts through Keys To Success Club.

A key focus on the club is to enable overseas investors to access the US Property Market opportunity.

For more information, click here

Technorati Tags: USA property Webinar