Sunday, July 13, 2008

Beware!

Michael Yardney, who headlines the PropertyUpdate website and report, and is a director of Metropole Projects, has this to say:

Not all real estate markets in Australia are doing well, Yardney says. "We've got a very two-tiered market: inner suburban, or close to the water is doing well; and a lot of the high-rise isn't, off the plan isn't, and outer suburbs are not doing as well."

Yardney is talking to currently New Zealand property investor groups about strategies. "You're really early into what's probably going to be a three or four year slump," he says, but adds that the end of a boom doesn't necessarily mean a crash.

The "scary thing," Yardney says, is most current property investors haven't been in the market for more than four or five years, so they've never lived through a property cycle - they don't know what to expect. He says interest rates will drop, "but when market sentiment has been knocked by a number of things, people won't instantly come back - it's a herd mentality".

Smart investors will invest counter-cyclically, but ensure they have a buffer to see them through difficult times. "There's a huge oversupply of certain properties - you've got lots of apartments, developers have a lot of stock and houses aren't selling, so rents may not keep rising."

Yardney says people shouldn't get carried away by negativity - opportunities remain - and should stay positive.

See New Zealand Herald

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