photo credit: Ian Sane On the one hand, the market delivers the best for the least cost. But on the other hand…. few are willing to call it as it is. Yesterday’s National Housing Supply Report used coded language to hint at a ‘possible over-supply of housing’ due to housing investor tax breaks (p50). However [...]

The 2009 I Want to Live Here report reveals how speculative vacancies are overlooked in housing supply analyses. “Inner city suburbs such as Richmond (7.40%), Princes Hill (8.76%) and Flemington (8.83%) had Genuine Vacancy Rates more than five times greater than the REIV’s vacancy rate of 1.4%” stated Earthsharing Australia spokesperson Karl Fitzgerald. “By including [...]

Vacancies in Melbourne Report Andrew Sadauskas EXECUTIVE SUMMARY – Broad Scope: Our research evaluated 652,695 properties across 23 different municipalities in the western, inner, southern, and south eastern suburbs of Melbourne. This represents nearly half of Melbourne’s 1,471,155 private dwellings. – Genuine Vacancy Rate: The Genuine Vacancy Rate includes all vacant properties, including those not [...]

photo credit: euzesio Mason Gaffney February 2009 “Phantom faces at the window.
Phantom shadows on the floor.
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will meet no more” – from Alain Boublil, Les Mis Many stores have closed in the last year; they stand empty behind signs reading “Available”, “For lease”, or “First month free”. So have [...]

photo credit: °Florian C’mon you can’t be serious but that’s what the lobbyists are looking for with commercial property in dire straits in the US. The NY Times reports: Just as home loans were pooled, then carved up and sold to investors as securities over the last two decades, commercial property loans were repackaged for [...]