Too few projects reach their full potential          

Nearly every new apartment project must pre-sell enough product to obtain development finance.  It is usually the most desirable apartments which sell first.  Often these apartments are the most affordable as well.  More often than not the apartments remaining for sale offer the least value.  Usually, the new apartments left after building settlement have to be discounted to allow development profits to be realised.  The net result often gives a gross realisation well below a development’s potential.

Our analysis of apartment project settlements shows that it is often the lower level apartments which sell first.  Contrary to popular opinion, high-rise apartments do not always sell from the ‘top down’.

Existing pricing methods

Most new apartment developments are priced under the assumption that apartments at higher levels embody a higher value than those closer to the ground.  Typically, prices escalate between $2,000 and $3,000 per floor.  Over a 30 storey building this can translate to a price range of $90,000 for an identical apartment.

Is this process justifiable?  Does the market place greatest value on the highest apartments?  Our primary research conducted with the market would suggest otherwise.

Buyer sovereignty

In the course of conducting qualitative research, buyers explained to us that the most desirable location in many high-rise developments was often between levels five and ten, assuming views were not blocked by other buildings.

Despite the often panoramic views up high, the lower level apartments are more popular because they were high enough to achieve a view but close enough to the ground to not distort ‘human scale’.

Matusik approach

Our approach allows for a more even distribution of pricing, with higher prices for the more desired apartments – often those located between levels five and ten.  We narrow the price range so there is a smaller price variation between apartments on the lower levels and apartments on the top floors.  This often ensures that the higher apartments offer better value for money, thereby creating greater market acceptance earlier in the marketing campaign.  This approach helps to increase the potential sales revenue from the development.

This approach does not only apply to high-rise developments but to lower density projects and residential subdivisions as well, where current pricing strategy is based on outdated industry practices and not what the market really wants.

“This report is republished with permission of Matusik Property Insights.”

The proof is readily available.  Across the south-east corner of Queensland, for example, the price  of vacant land per metre is now 2.3 times (230%) what is was a decade ago.  Established house  prices (which include the price of land) also increased, but at a lower rate – they are 1.5 times (150%) the price a decade ago.  The cost of new project homes, which exclude the cost of land, are just 0.65 times (65% higher) what they were a decade earlier.

Land is expensive because we have a shortage of it.  To the rest of the world, such a statement would be bordering on lunacy. Australia is one of the most spacious countries – based on total land area per capita – in the western world, after all.  And yet, ironically, we are one of the most urbanized places on the planet.

Over-governance, green politics and town planning tomfoolery are corralling us into a handful of already crowded places.  This has created a shortage of land, driving up its price and resulting in fewer economically feasible developable sites.  Land now accounts for about two-thirds of the cost of a new home in our major capitals and close to half in our regional centres.

There is no better place to illustrate how out of whack the system is than on the Gold Coast.  The Queensland Government and the local council are doing everything they can to make housing on the Gold Coast unaffordable, and in turn, undermining employment.

Despite what we read in the daily press, the Gold Coast market – in terms of total stock – isn’t oversupplied.  There is just way too much of the wrong stock and too little of that which is in demand.

The oversupplied stock consists largely of apartments, mostly in high-rise towers and priced over $800,000.  By default, this targets a short-term tourist market, which for the most part cannot afford to pay the tariffs.  In contrast, apartments under $600,000 are undersupplied but are suffering collateral damage, so to speak, given the negative commentary about the apartment market in general on the Gold Coast.

There isn’t enough new detached housing or new townhouse development on the Coast.  The SEQ Regional Plan (which covers a time period from 2008 to 2031), expects 77% of new development on the Gold Coast to be “infill” i.e. medium and high-rise dwellings.

However, just three years into the plan, only half of the new starts are in “infill” areas.  The demand for detached housing is rising and is currently about 70% of the overall demand.  It can only be provided, and at an affordable price, on “greenfield” sites.  There are plenty of these sites available on the Gold Coast.

There is little government can, or should, do about the price of “infill” real estate.  But there’s a lot they can and should do about affordable housing in “greenfield” areas.  This is where there’s an infinite supply of land available and a housing industry ready, willing and able to build top-quality houses at unbelievably low prices.

The Gold Coast doesn’t just need a new police helicopter, the Commonwealth Games or even a light rail system; what it needs is jobs.  Close to 25% of the region’s economic growth comes from new construction, with over 30% of its workforce employed (directly and indirectly) in the building trade.  It needs much more new detached housing.

It also needs to open up its industrial land bank to new business.  It must incentivize new operations to move to the Coast.  It should be all about permanent jobs and industries which have higher employment multipliers, rather than one-off feel-good events, white elephants and election stunts.

Thousands of people are being denied the opportunity to replicate what those now running the show were able to do, i.e. to get a start in the housing market.  This is not only socially and economically unsound, but morally wrong!

Michael Matusik is Australia’s leading property analyst and this report is republished with permission of Matusik Property Insights.

We don’t have expensive housing in Australia – we have expensive land.

“Doubts are mounting about the health of China’s property market, Beijing’s ability to control inflation and the true extent of government debt. Last week, the central government disclosed that local governments owed debts equal to a quarter of gross domestic product. It’s hard to imagine a large chunk of those borrowings won’t turn sour.” – The Wall Street Journal

It is hard to imagine.

That’s why we believe the China Ponzi economy will burst.

And when it does, it’ll have a major and disastrous impact on the Australian economy. It’ll make the Aussie property crash look like a blip.

As you know, it’s been a while since we’ve had anything good to say about the Chinese economy.

We were happy to play the boom until late 2009. But since then we’ve grown too suspicious to risk big money on it.

And in the past few weeks our doubts have grown…

Shareholders to dig deep again

First, we noted this announcement from rare earths company, Arafura Resources [ASX: ARU]:

“Arafura expands scope for Nolans Project bankable feasibility study”

On the plus side:

“Additional work has significant potential to reduce operating and capital costs and de-risk the proposed Rare Earths Complex at Whyalla.”

But the down side was this:

“The Company estimates that additional funding in the order of A$50-A$60 million will be needed for the expanded BFS and other costs originally envisaged as part of project financing.”

In other words, things are looking really good… but can we have another $60 million please!

Arafura shares fell 26% following the news… they’ve gained about 10% since.

Last week, competing rare earths miner, Lynas Corp [ASX: LYC] suffered what could be a setback in its plans to start processing rare earths at a yet-to-be-built plant in Malaysia. It followed a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The report emphasised the need for more details covering waste management from the proposed processing plant.

Yet Lynas claims:

“The schedule impact of meeting the requirements of this report is estimated to result in commissioning being completed by the end of 2011, with full production capacity of Phase 1 of the LAMP achieved by the start of the second half of 2012. Lynas does not believe the schedule for Phase 2 will be impacted.”

Lynas shares fell more than 10% on the news.

Costs rise

And then this morning, Murchison Metals [ASX: MMX] released details of its Oakajee iron ore project. According to the Australian:

“Costs for the Oakajee iron ore export project being joint-managed by Murchison Metals and Mitsubishi have blown out by more than a third to $5.94 billion and the first ore will not be delivered till 2015…”

Murchison shares are down more than 12% in early trade today.

The old saying in the stock market is, “buy the rumour, sell the fact.”

It means the reality is rarely as good as the promise.

We get the feeling that’s how investors see China right now. And if they don’t yet, they soon will.

At various times over the past 10 years, investors have “bought the rumour” on China… at other times they’ve “sold the fact.”

You can see that on the chart below of the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index:

Source: CMC Markets Stockbroking

The resources bull market has had two good runs… 2003 to 2008… and again from 2009 to 2011.

Here’s the thing. It’s got something of the “heard it all before” story.

In other words, how many investors – even those bullish on China – can still get excited about China’s demand for resources? A few years ago, the China story was new.

But now it’s not. And while it may still be exciting for some, many investors are left wondering when their stocks will actually make money from China.

Because for every stock making a buck from China, there are tens – maybe hundreds – that don’t. And probably never will.

Simply because while these companies may have huge resources in the ground, the cost to recover them is equally huge; they’ll never raise the financing to dig it out. And if they do raise the money, there’ll be so many new shares on issue that it will dilute returns.

Commodity prices hit another record high

Still, the question is, when will the China Ponzi bubble burst?

Currently, commodity prices are at a record high:

Can they really go higher? They have in the past. So why not now? Anyone who’s studied financial bubbles will tell you that kind of thinking is a slippery slope to ruin.

That’s why we’ve got the commodities market on a high crash alert.

If all but a handful of Aussie resources stocks can’t figure out how to make a buck from the biggest resources boom Australia has ever seen… when commodity prices are at a record high… why should you believe they’ll make a buck in the future when prices are lower?

Right now, Aussie resources stocks should be making money hand over fist.

Instead, many are giving their shareholders no more than rumours and promises of future profits. To avoid disappointing shareholders again, these companies need to hope commodity prices are at least no worse in the future than they are today.

We suppose that’s possible. But it’s a big risk. And it means you need to pick your resources stocks with extreme care.

Cheers.

Kris Sayce
Money Morning Australia

I believe house prices, in the main centres, will continue to appreciate, especially Auckland which has already started to occur. This is due both to supply and demand. There are less new dwellings becoming available as there are fewer being built (especially in the apartment market), demand is increasing due to higher immigration figures, more Kiwis returning home and a natural population increase.

Interest rates will go up but in the second part of the year only as the Reserve Bank honors it’s commitment to the nation when it said it would keep rates low. The amount they go up all depends on the recovery happening, how strong it is and if unemployment is starting to fall.

Finance will be difficult to obtain for self employed, businesses and construction projects due to the demise of virtually all second tier lenders. This is a serious issue for the country and will hinder our future growth.

Each month the international credit crisis moves further into the background and hopefully next year it can be consigned to part of global economic history.

As you will see by reading the article Property has not been something Financial Planners in Australia could traditionally recommend (unless like me you also had a full real estate license).

Property investment specialist “Quantum Group” has launched a real estate product for financial planners to support clients investing in residential property.

Quantum PropertyLink Warrant allows financial planners to find, fund, purchase, settle and manage a residential investment property for their clients.

The product has been designed for the fee-for-service advice model where sales commission normally earned by a real estate agent is rebated to the financial planner, who can then choose to reimburse the client.

Quantum managing director Peter Gribble said financial planners have traditionally been limited to direct shares and managed funds because the industry was not equipped to recommend and manage retail property investment.

“We have overcome this problem by designing a very simple structure to encompass an investment property as a financial product, with a product disclosure statement and an independent research rating,” he said.

“Real estate agents generally aren’t qualified to provide financial advice and planners aren’t set up to search and find appropriate properties, so Quantum’s PropertyLink Warrant meets them in the middle.”

The product is designed so that financial planners can establish diversification for their clients with a prudent level of gearing of up to 70 per cent loan-to-value ratio, Gribble said.

“There is a big opportunity in real estate for financial planners as many of their clients are still jittery from the last sharemarket crash and want to diversify into property,” he said.

source:
Quantum bridges property gap for planners
Launches real estate product
By Victoria Papandrea

Investor Daily.com.au

Real estate investing has created more millionaires than any other form of investing because of its many advantages and the attitude us Kiwis have towards Real Estate.

Whether you’re investing for cash flow or capital gains, your success is dependent on good information. Ultimately investing is only risky if you don’t know what you’re doing. The wealthy know the many advantages that investing in real estate offers and how they can benefit from them.

In New Zealand there are many benefits that can only be gained by investing through Real Estate however Real Estate should only be added to your investment portfolio if it is appropriate.

To determine if Real Estate is appropriate we need to establish your long term goals, current financial situation and risk profile.

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