Excess in the Australian housing market has been widely discussed by investors and commentators for a number of years. Underpinned by cheap money, house prices have risen significantly resulting in extreme valuations (house prices are nearly 9x average incomes). Show More
I distinctly remember one investor telling me how lonely he felt undertaking the task of running his super. Alone with lots of information and no one to speak with or use as a sounding board. I’d never really thought about it until this man described the challenges of making important... Show More
With the housing market continuing to make news, we examine nationwide house prices relative to changes in income, lending rates and a measure called ‘hypothetical borrowing power’, to assess how they compare to 'fair value'. Show More
Sydney property prices are now off more than 10% according to Corelogic data. While painful for property owners and investors, the effects go far wider than that. Speaking at a recent event held by IRESS and Livewire, Ben Griffiths from Eley Griffiths Group looked at the wider impact. Show More
As a provider of asset allocation advice to fund managers and advisors, Brad Matthews provides an expert view of the big picture for each asset class. Weeks before 'Red October', Brad gave Livewire readers an explicit early warning in his wire offering ‘Three reasons to lighten your equity exposure'. Show More
Asset quality is more than just an attractive building. Most properties are valuable because of something else entirely. Show More
With Labor tipped to win the next election, and franking credits in their sights, here are eight reasons we believe conservative investors looking for sustainable income over the long term should consider AREITs for their portfolios. Show More
If house prices are falling as rapidly as some headlines impute, can we expect this to impact AREIT investors? Let’s begin by looking at the facts, rather than the headlines. Housing demand and supply ebbs and flows. Because of the lower barriers to entry there’s often volatility in residential housing. Show More
The June property market became a little like the movie Groundhog Day, with repetitious news reports on conditions and auction outcomes along with an overall funk in the market that was hard to shake. Show More
In the last decade, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth have become home to an additional 3 million people*. The rate of growth is unlikely to abate, either. Infrastructure Australia estimates population growth of 11.8 million people over the next three decades, much of it focused on Sydney and Melbourne, the... Show More
A lot has been written about financial market volatility and the impact on investor sentiment. Volatile markets are characterised by wide price fluctuations and large trading volumes. Simply put, volatility is the amount of price change experienced over a given period. Low volatility means that a security's value does not... Show More
Australia remains a nation of car lovers. Some of us enjoy the engineering and craftsmanship, others have fond memories of lazy Sunday drives and long holiday road trips. In reality, many of us have little choice. Our low population density and poor public transport means most of us are car-dependent. Show More
Australian capital city home prices fell 0.2% in March, their fifth monthly fall in a row. This has brought annual growth down to 0.8% from 11.4% in May last year. Most of the recent weakness relates to Sydney and to a less extent Melbourne. Show More
Commercial and residential real estate developments in the United States are probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Hollywood and Hawaii. Show More
In my AFR column I explain the consequences of Labor leader Bill Shorten's proposed new taxes for shares, property and hybrids---it's worth noting that even the Greens appear to have a problem with the notion of king-hitting prudent retirees with the Greens' leader vocally criticising Shorten's desire to deny retirees... Show More
Labor leader Bill Shorten is certainly bold when it comes to assaulting the financial heartlands of Australian housing, equities and super. Show More
One month into 2018 and the AUD has punched above 80 US cents and is looking pretty perky. It is trading around its highs against the beleaguered USD since 2014. So, why is it up here again? Can it last? Is it time to sell? Or strap in for a... Show More
Guns N’ Roses released their first debut album titled “Appetite for Destruction” in July 1987. Three months later one of the most violent and unexpected equity market corrections in US history occurred. The Dow lost 22.6% of its value on Black Monday, and the causes behind the dramatic fall are... Show More
We have written on the China “marvel” before and continue to scratch our head on this enigma and the sustainability of it. You have to give them huge credit for what they have achieved – the greatest economic expansion in history improving the lives of so many people in a... Show More
There seems to be a theme developing in the Australian market at the moment. We have further evidence of a cooling in the housing market, and a coincidental lift in the value of the ASX hinting that those with money to invest are avoiding the ultra-expensive, low yielding housing market,... Show More