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Australian Households Chase Sun to Lead World on Solar Adoption

2015-05-17T02:43:00.001-07:00

Australian Households Chase Sun to Lead World on Solar Adoption

Australian households are world leaders in solar power installation, according to new figures from Australia's peak industry body representing the fossil fuel and renewable energy sector.

The Energy Supply Association of Australia, representing the fossil fuel and renewable energy sector, has sourced data from around the world revealing household solar photovoltaic (PV) penetration in Australia is way out in front of any other nation.

The report shows almost 15 per cent of Australian households have adopted the technology to power their homes.

This is more than triple that of Germans, who are second on the world stage and typically thought of as the most prolific solar adopters.

The report breaks the data down to countries and jurisdictions illustrating where the world's most enthusiastic installers of small-scale solar energy are located.

"Germany, the US, Spain and others are held up as being at the forefront of solar power, but it is Australia, where households have taken it upon themselves to install solar PV, that easily lead the world when it comes to solar penetration," the ESAA report states.

The ACT had 15,637 household installations as of September last year, according to ActewAGL figures. Based on 2011 census data this put the ACT at about 10 per cent of households connected to solar – South Australia leads the way with almost 25 per cent of households connected to solar PV.

Although Australia leads the charge on small-scale installations, Germany is out front with utility-scale solar installations.

In terms of total solar energy produced per million people, Germany's capacity is about triple that of Australia's.

Australian Solar Council chief executive John Grimes said that was due to policies that had focused on domestic solar systems.

"The economics are compelling," Mr Grimes said. "The cost of the technology continues to fall at such a rate that it is already much cheaper to install solar than it is to buy electricity from the grid. And with the advent of cheap energy storage technology – battery technology – that really closes the loop.

"People like the Energy Supply Association and others should rightly be thinking about this. If they don't start to embrace the technology as opposed to resist it, their members companies – the big utilities – are set to become the Kodaks of the future."

See more at: http://australiasolar.blogspot.com.au/2015/05/australian-households-chase-sun-to-lead.html#sthash.248JT0Dp.dpuf

Mortgaging our children’s future: Aussie ticking time bomb sparks fears should new GFC hit

2015-03-16T16:13:00.001-07:00

AUSTRALIAN households are sitting on a ticking time bomb of debt, exposing the economy to risks in the event of another financial crisis, according to new analysis.

The Australian reports household debt in Australia is equal to 130 per cent of GDP, compared with an average across the advanced world of 78 per cent, according to Barclays chief economist Kieran Davies.

Household debt was at 116 per cent of GDP before the global financial crisis and held steady until 2013, when the property boom set it rising again.

Mr Davies said Australia’s debt levels were rising when those of other countries were falling, and the predicted rate cuts were likely to push borrowing even higher.

Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens warned of the dangers of taking on excessive debt last year, saying “we would surely be asking for trouble if we see a big step up from where we are”.

“The tricky thing for the Reserve Bank is that promoting leverage is the key channel for the transmission of lower interest rates through to the rest of the economy,” Mr Davies said.

The high popularity of real estate investment in Australia compared with other countries is being driven by the availability of negative gearing tax concessions and favourable capital gains tax treatment.

The level of household debt is higher now than at any other time in Australia’s history, with records going back to the 1850s. The level of bank lending as a share of GDP is now more than double the share of the previous peak, which was during the 1890s land boom.

Using Super to Buy First Home a 'Pressing National Issue' Says REIA

2015-03-08T05:22:00.001-07:00

Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey appears to have taken the real estate industry lobby group's advice in suggesting people should be able to use their superannuation to buy their first homes, as the peak superannuation body urged caution for such an approach.

The Real Estate Institute of Australia outlined the radical idea in its budget submission to Mr Hockey last month, with the treasurer saying Australians ought to start thinking seriously about the way in which their super savings can be used in the future because people were working and living for longer.

"We are prepared to look at a diverse range of proposals to help young Australians buy their first home," Mr Hockey said, suggesting that super could be used for a deposit on a first home or job retraining.

His comments were quickly criticised by Labor and some economists, but REIA chief executive Amanda Lynch said using super to help pay for a first home could make housing more affordable and build retirement savings.

"We believe that owning a home is the biggest generator of long-term financial security for Australians and the earlier you can access the housing market, the more secure your retirement will be because most Australians aspire to have paid of their home before they retire," Ms Lynch said.

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen rejected the suggestion, saying it would have the opposite effect.

"[The] plan would have the likely effect of not only undermining retirement incomes but also driving housing prices up further and making it harder for first-home buyers," he said.

Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia chief executive Pauline Vamos said the plan would benefit the rich far more than the poor.

"There are significant equity issues when it comes to allowing the release of concessionally taxed superannuation contributions for home equity," she said, referring to higher income earners paying 45 cents in the dollar in income tax but only 15 cents in the dollar on superannuation contributions.

They would be able use concessionally taxed super money to buy a house and then top up their super, again at a low tax rate.

"There significant equity issues when it comes to allowing the release of concessionally taxed superannuation contributions for home equity," she said.

But Ms Lynch stood by the proposal.

"The fact about buying a house is that you are actually saving all that equity and the compounding interest will be beneficial. To say that investing in superannuation, which is mainly skewed towards shares, is a safe proposition doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

"In the years since the GFC we have actually seen super being more of a financial risk than previously and a lot of people close to retirement have found their super balances have been dwindling."

House Price Boom Must End, Says David Gonski

2014-09-04T19:37:00.001-07:00

ANZ chairman David Gonski has warned Australia's booming housing prices cannot go on forever and the market will eventually experience a correction.

The former Future Fund chairman said ANZ and all the big banks were "very aware of history" when it came to financial lending in the residential mortgage market.

"There will come a time when there will be a correction," he told the Australian British Chamber of Commerce.

"The fact is, anyone who believes prices always go up is, I think, a fool."

Mr Gonski's comments come as the housing market heats up as spring approaches. Capital city markets had their strongest winter since before the lead up to the financial crisis, according to figures released on Monday by RP Data.

Sydney and Melbourne house prices lifted 5 per cent and 6.4 per cent respectively over the three months to the end of August. The surge represents year-on-year growth of more than 16 per cent in Sydney and almost 12 per cent in Melbourne.

Brisbane, which was one of the weaker-performing cities, recorded a 1.3 per cent property value increase in the three months to the end of August.

The Reserve Bank warned in its submission to the Financial System Inquiry that moves to boost competition in the home loan sector could increase risk in the financial system.

Regional banks, credit unions and building societies have urged the federal government to change regulations that give the big banks a significant cost advantage when making home loans.

Mr Gonski also backed ANZ's Asian strategy, questioning why some in the market consider ANZ to be "riskier" than its peers because it is in Asia.

"I believe it's quite odd, I have to say, that we are regarded as a riskier investment because we have investments outside Australia.

"I could very well argue that a good investor has some money in Australia and some money overseas. That's exactly what the ANZ has done."

Australia 'at the Front' of Growing Subprime Mortgage Market

2014-08-30T21:15:00.001-07:00

Australia 'at the Front' of Growing Subprime Mortgage Market

They triggered an economic meltdown in the United States and sparked the global financial crisis, but subprime mortgages are staging a revival in Australia.

Ratings agency Moody's says Australian lenders have doled out $3 billion worth of the non-conforming home loans over the last 18 months.

Prime mortgages are those that typically go to people with good credit scores, secure jobs and existing, well-serviced loans.

Moody's analyst Robert Baldi says non-conforming, or subprime, borrowers tend to have patchier personal financial histories.

"We're looking at things like prior bankruptcies or prior defaults in their credit history past," he explained.

"If the borrower is a non-resident, for example, or it's a jumbo loan, these would all fall outside of the lenders' mortgage insurance criteria and would classify the loan as non-conforming."

Essentially, subprime loans are those going to borrowers with a much higher risk of default that a typical loan.
Australia 'out at the front' of subprime market

While subprime remains something of dirty word in the economies hardest hit by the GFC, Australian lenders are increasingly willing to step up and fund subprime loans by selling what are known as residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS).

"Australia is out there at the front of the market, I would say, so we are the ones that have continued with issuance in this space," Mr Baldi said.

"Since the beginning of 2013, we've seen 10 new transactions in the RMBS market from non-conforming issuers and that's totalled about $3 billion, so that's quite a pick up in volume considering the market did shut down post the crisis in 2008."

While $3 billion sounds like a large amount of money, Mr Baldi says it is a relatively small share of the home loan market, and of RMBS issuance.

"In the year to date we saw roughly about $15 billion of RMBS transactions. Of that, about $1 billion was non-conforming, so we'd say about 7 per cent of issuance this year has been from the non-conforming market," he added.

Moody's says most of these loans are being written by non-bank lenders.

However, Mr Baldi is confident that there is enough regulation in place to avoid a subprime crash similar to that in the US in 2008.

"One of those is the National Consumer Credit Protection Act, and this basically requires lenders to take reasonable steps to verify a borrower's financial position and their ability to repay the loan," he said.

"Essentially this gets around the fact that in the US you saw those loans being written to borrowers pre-2008 with little to no income verification. In Australia that just can't happen."

The United States is still managing the fallout from its subprime crisis.

Last week, finance powerhouse Bank of America Merrill Lynch agreed to an almost $US17 billion settlement for its role in the crisis.
Australia's biggest danger in prime mortgages

Despite that history, banking analyst Martin North sees Australia's non-conforming market as much safer.

"Most of the investors now, the people who are buying these mortgage-backed securities, are now Australian investors rather than overseas investors," he said.

"So there is a bit of a feedback loop going on, and that does mean that some of the other players who might be buying those securitised loans now are essentially home-based rather than offshore-based."

Mr North says the subprime segment of Australia's market is so small that it is unlikely to destabilise the financial system, even if a lot of the loans go bad.

However, he says Australia's banks, households and the economy in general is too heavily reliant on real estate.

"This is a very small proportion of a much bigger question about leverage into property," he warned.

"We have a massively leveraged financial services system into property more broadly.

"If we have the sorts of defaults we're talking about in the non-conforming sector, then you would also be having, I think, similar defaults more broadly across the market, and it's those broader defaults across the market that would be of much more concern rather than the non-conforming element, which I think is quite small and quite isolated."

Don't Get Burnt by The Property Market

2014-08-30T20:49:00.001-07:00

Don't get burnt by the property market

How seriously should property investors take recent warnings that Australian property prices are 20 per cent to 30 per cent higher than they should be and that there is an impending apartment glut in 2017?

Whatever the fundamental basis for these and similar warnings, existing and new property investors need to be aware of the potential downside.

The basic issue is to understand the risks involved with investments already owned or being purchased. While less popular for purchases of listed assets including shares and property trusts as well as managed funds, large levels of borrowing are widely used to help acquire direct property holdings.

This high level of gearing helps to drive up property prices in good times such as the present and down when markets turn down, for example due to increased levels of vacancies and/or falling rents. Currently, strong foreign buying interest, low interest rates and a shortage of available stock is forcing and encouraging new investors to bid up prices.

While it may be some time off, a similar downward ratchet in prices will start when interest rates rise again and when new housing developments result in an oversupply in the major locations. Compared with share market falls which can be brutal and swift, downward property price movements are generally protracted as sellers holding out for higher prices ultimately are forced to lower their expectations.

A special feature of the apartment market can, however, result in distressed forced sales. This is when a large number of off-the-plan sales negotiated before or during construction fall through. A recent example of this occurring is the setback in the Canberra apartment market due to over-supply and reduced public sector employment opportunities.

In this situation, a significant percentage of off-the-plan buyers were either unable or unwilling to complete their purchases. The resulting forced sales depressed asset valuations and made it more difficult for heavily geared purchasers to obtain credit to meet their commitments.

The key message for individual investors is to be aware of these and other risks before entering into off-the-plan contracts. While one benefit of off-the-plan purchases is what can often be a lengthy time lag before money is required to complete the purchase, this can be a negative if personal circumstances change or property valuations fall before the settlement date..

The chances of both of these changes increase with the amount of time before completion. The risks are also greater in situations such as the present time when contracts are entered into in a buoyant market. So even if the warnings of problems ahead don't prove accurate, they are a timely reminder to avoid becoming over-committed to a future large heavily geared property purchase.

Sydney Inner-City Apartment Market Glut Predicted to Push Prices Down

2014-08-25T06:09:00.001-07:00

Sydney Inner-City Apartment Market Glut Predicted to Push Prices Down

A leading economic forecaster is warning that oversupply will cut Sydney apartment prices by up to 10 per cent.

The report by BIS Shrapnel estimates that 5,800 apartments are being built in inner-Sydney right now, with almost as many again planned to be completed over the next few years.

The report says the peak annual output of 4,500 units in 2016-17 is comparable to the last boom in 1999-2000, but the average of 3,800 new inner-city apartments per year over three years will be a record.

BIS Shrapnel's senior manager of residential property Angie Zigomanis, who wrote the report, says developers have been playing catch-up after a decade of undersupply in Sydney, but they look like soon getting ahead of themselves.

"The population growth in Sydney still stays pretty strong, rental demand will still be fairly strong, but it's just that the level of apartment construction now is moving up to a level that's probably approaching a level that's too high and that's unsustainable in the long-term," he told ABC News Online.

Mr Zigomanis does not expect this to occur in the short-term, but warns that the wave of new developments over the next few years is likely to result in supply exceeding demand.

"Once the market starts getting into oversupply then rents either flatten out or start falling," he said.

"This has the potential to also coincide with the Reserve Bank looking to start tightening interest rate policy as well and that combination will see the investment equation change and investors start becoming less confident about the market and prepared to pay lower prices for dwellings.

"So any new apartments that come back onto the market are likely to experience some sort of loss two or three years out from now."

Mr Zigomanis says the losses are unlikely to be large, but may prove a serious setback for those buying off-the-plan now expecting capital gains.

"Depends on location, etc, but I wouldn't be surprised if from their current purchase price they don't experience losses of perhaps 5 per cent, and perhaps selected developments up to 10 per cent."

In results released last week, property developer Mirvac said it planned to focus heavily on increasing apartment developments in the Sydney market, expecting that segment to remain strong for the next five years.

Mr Zigomanis says a lack of pre-sales a couple of years hence may force a rethink of such optimistic strategies.

"They require a certain level of pre-sales before they go ahead with construction," he said.

"Over the next couple of years we expect pre-sales will be pretty strong so it should be able to sustain the number Mirvac are talking about, but if they were assuming that demand would stay at current levels over the next say five years we suspect that won't be the case.

Property Sydney: Chinese Investor Frenzy Adds Fuel to Inner-City Sydney Apartment Boom

2014-08-25T05:49:00.001-07:00

THOUSANDS of Chinese investors piled into a property expo in Sydney’s Town Hall on the weekend as analysts tip overseas buyers will keep the city’s inner city apartment market booming for the next two years.

Close to 50 companies jockeyed for the attention of the cashed up Chinese buyers, with apartment projects being spruiked by development giants Greenland Holding Group, MAB Corporation and Frasers Property Australia

About 50 companies jockeyed for the attention of the cashed-up Chinese buyers, with apartment projects being spruiked by development giants Greenland Holding Group, MAB Corporation and Frasers Property Australia.

The property frenzy came as Sydney and Melbourne kicked off the spring auction season with strong results, posting clearance rates of 83.4 per cent and 75.3 per cent respectively on total sales of $545.7 million, according to preliminary figures released by Australian Property Monitors.

“The (auction) results were extraordinarily strong,” said APM senior economist Andrew Wilson. “The Sydney market just keeps rising. Certainly there is no sign of a waning of activity.”

He said a lot of the buyer action was driven by investors rather than owner-occupiers.

At the Sydney property expo Maggie Wang bought a house in Bellevue Hill, in Sydney’s east, for about $6m.

Ms Wang, who migrated three years ago, ran an IT and property development company in China and had recently started a wedding planner business in Australia. She said Chinese interest in Australian property was about more than just making money.

“People like the lifestyle, the country and the environment, it’s not just about investment,” Ms Wang said.

Another buyer, 26-year-old Crystal, bought a home in one of Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs, Vaucluse, for more than $5m, with plans to buy more Australian investment properties.

The expo also featured agencies, such as ABC World, which give Chinese investors advice on migrating to Australia through avenues such as the Significant Investor Visa. The visa, implemented by the former federal Labor government, allows foreigners who invest more than $5m in Australia the potential for permanent residency.

Black Diamondz director Monika Tu, who represents wealthy Chinese looking to buy Australian homes, said the visa’s introduction had led to a surge in interest for local trophy homes worth more than $5m.

Ms Tu said inquires to her agency from Chinese property hunters had increased by about 50 per cent this year.

Also at the expo, one of China’s largest developers, Greenland Holding Group, held expressions of interest for its second local project, the $200m Lucent apartment tower in North Sydney, while Singaporean-backed Frasers Property Australia marketed apartments at its $2 billion Central Park project at Sydney’s inner-city Chippendale.

The high investor demand for off-the-plan apartments is expected to keep Sydney’s inner-city market in boom mode for the next two years, according to forecaster BIS Shrapnel.

BIS Shrapnel said about 5800 apartments were under construction in Sydney while about 11,500 new apartments would be completed over the next three years — the biggest number in the city’s history. CBRE managing director of residential projects David Milton said the uplift in interest from Chinese investors allowed local apartment developments to stack up financially.

Home Owners Forced to Take Super - Australia Mortgage

2012-08-18T19:42:00.001-07:00

HOME owners have raided their superannuation funds of a record $100 million in last-ditch bids to avoid foreclosure, new government figures have shown.

The surge in mortgage-holders seeking emergency access to their savings has alarmed housing and social welfare groups, who warn many families are still struggling to meet loan repayments despite steep cuts in the interest rate

With distressed owners receiving an average of $15,250 each, there are also concerns some super accounts could be drained of more than a third of their value. The number of households in serious financial trouble has worsened despite mortgage lending rates falling about 1 per cent in the past six months and nearly 3 per cent since their peak in mid-2008.

Figures obtained by The Sun-Herald showed 6500 home owners were given emergency access to their super last financial year to prevent an imminent foreclosure.

A Commonwealth Department of Human Services report found $99.38 million was released, up 25 per cent on 2010-11 and well above the disbursements in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
It also marks the third year in a row that the number of people applying for, and being granted access to, their nest-egg has increased.

A campaign manager for Australians for Affordable Housing, Sarah Toohey, said years of house price growth had seen debt balloon and forced households to devote an unsustainable amount of income to meeting mortgage repayments.

''It's alarming and it shows that housing affordability is about more than just interest rates,'' she said.
''The sheer size of what people have to borrow to get into the housing market now really puts household finances under strain.'

Top Ranking Hotel Accommodation Gladstone, Queensland

2012-06-11T06:20:00.001-07:00

5 of the Top Ranking Hotel Accommodation providers in Gladstone, Queensland

Rydges Gladstone
100 Goondoon Street, Gladstone QLD 4680
(07) 4970 0000 ‎ • rydges.com

Xenia Central Studio Accommodation
166 Auckland Street, Gladstone QLD 4680
(07) 4972 2022 ‎ • xenia.net.au

Toolooa Gardens
79/83 Toolooa Street, Gladstone QLD 4680
(07) 4972 2811 ‎ • toolooagardens.com.au

Quality Inn Harbour City
20-24 William Street, Gladstone QLD 4701
(07) 4976 7100 ‎ • qualityinn.com

Harbour Sails
23 Goondoon Street, Gladstone QLD 4680
(07) 4972 3456 ‎ • harboursails.com.au

Metro Hotel and Apartments Gladstone
22-24 Roseberry Street, Gladstone QLD 4680
(07) 4972 4711 ‎ • metrohotels.com.au
Top Ranking Hotel Accommodation Gladstone, Queensland

Accommodation in Perth: Hotel Accommodation in Perth - Map to pick your perfect perth accommodation

2011-06-18T01:18:00.000-07:00

Accommodation in Perth: Hotel Accommodation in Perth - Map to pick your perfect Perth accommodation

Accommodation in Perth

2011-06-18T01:16:00.000-07:00

Accommodation in Perth

Sydney Metro: NSW releases metropolitan plan for Sydney - Sydney Metro

2011-01-15T20:22:00.001-08:00

Sydney Metro: NSW releases metropolitan plan for Sydney - Sydney Metro

2011-01-15T20:22:00.000-08:00

Sydney Metro: NSW releases metropolitan plan for Sydney - Sydney Metro

Accommodation Options in Sydney, NSW

2010-07-02T03:40:00.000-07:00

There are many accommodation options available to a traveller visiting sydney such as Hotels, Inns and Serviced Apartments.

Below are just some of the many well rated accommodation options according to customer guest reviews such as trip advisor.

Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney
www.shangri-la.com - (02) 9250 6000

Quest on Dixon Darling Harbour Serviced Apartment Hotel Sydney
www.questondixon.com.au - (02) 8281 4700

Grace Hotel
www.gracehotel.com.au - (02) 9272 6888

The sydney casino
www.starcity.com.au - 1800 700 700 - 275 reviews

Ibis Sydney Darling Harbour
www.hotelibisdarlingharbour.com.au - (02) 9563 0888 - 187 reviews

Four Points by Sheraton, Darling Harbour, Sydney
www.fourpoints.com - (02) 9290 4000 - 346 reviews

The Observatory Hotel
www.observatoryhotel.com.au - (02) 9256 2222 - 280 reviews