Buyers who have sold their property last year or have simply come into some money should find 2012  a great year to make a property purchase. It does not matter if one is looking for a new home or an investment property, buyers should be able to find deals waiting for them in most capital cities and states.

RP Data’s newest Property Pulse has pointed to capital city council areas where time on market is skyrocketing as vendors find it increasingly difficult to sell their properties. Analyst Cameron Kusher said vendors now have to readjust expectations with an increase of unsold stock on the market.

“There are record number of properties available for sale in every state and very few are being sold through Auctions with most being offered privately. When there is a private sale situation there is more scope for price negotiation and the buyer will generally save more than in an Auction purchase.

Premium properties are spending the longest time on the market before finding a buyer. Perth’s prestige suburb Mosman Park experienced a 59% increase in time on market for houses, with the average house now taking 123 days to sell. Cottesloe units also have struggled to find buyers, and the average time on market has risen to 160 days.

Now with rates for home loans coming down and property prices coming down as well – it is an excellent time for buyers who can afford it, to make a property purchase.

by Real Estate Melbourne from : realestatereview.com.au

Based on information provided by RP Data, as of the end of the September quarter 2011, almost 5% of property owners in Australia are sitting on negative equity – ie. they owe more on their home loans than their property is worth. If property prices continue to slide this problem will become more serious – mirroring the events in the US during the GFC when people simply handed their property keys to their lenders and walked away.

RP Data’s latest National Equity Report, launched late last year, showed that negative equity has increased from 3.7% at the end of last quarter based on RP Data’s automated valuations.

Property owners who have made their purchases 10  years ago or even earlier are still sitting on very strong profits. It seems that 43% of all properties are still worth more than twice their purchase price.

Far North Queensland, Gold and Sunshine Coasts, have been affected to most by this with some instances of negative equity at 20.2%, 14% and 13.5% respectively.

Meanwhile, Western Australia’s Lower Great Southern and South West and South Eastern Western Australia are also showing high levels of negative equity according to the report.

Australian housing markets have recorded value declines recently with capital city home values down 3.3 per cent from their October 2010 peak to September 2011.

Capital cities have have shown the most resilience against equity falls over the long term, with RP Data saying they have proven less susceptible to ongoing value falls than certain non-capital city markets

source: realetstatereview.com.au

AS PART of its push to ensure there is a 20 – 25 year supply of land available for residential development, the new state government’s development agency, VicUrban, has outmuscled developers for one of the western suburb’s most prominent future development sites. VicUrban is believed to be paying about $21 million for the outgoing Le Mans Toyota car dealership, overlooking the banks of the Maribyrnong River and at the suburb border of Footscray and West Melbourne.

The 1.3 hectare site is opposite the Hopetoun Bridge, which connects Hopkins Street to Dynon Road, near Melbourne’s Market precinct. Any medium or high-rise redevelopment would offer city skyline and bay views, albeit around petrochemical plants dotted around Coode Island and the inner south-western suburbs.

The land is within 15 hectares recently rezoned from Industrial to Priority Development, which allows both commercial and residential proposals. Known as the “Joseph Road Precinct”, the area affected is currently a collection of factories and grassland, south of the train tracks between the Footscray and South Kensington stations.

Since 2007, developers have been buying and amalgamating major sites in the precinct.  Complexes of about ten levels, or more, have been proposed. But despite favourable residential market conditions, no major project has been marketed for sale. Sources estimate VicUrban’s new Footscray site could yield a mixed use project with several towers. Its end value is speculated at between $200 – $250 million, which would make it the suburb’s second biggest proposal.

VicUrban said it purchased the Le Mans property on a 24 month settlement. “The site is a critical gateway to Footscray and is in the heart of the Joseph Road precinct,” VicUrban acting chief executive officer Sam Sangster told Capital Gain. “In considering the plans for this site VicUrban will examine opportunities for partnerships across the site with a number of private developers.”

Colliers International’s marketing agent Shane Dargue declined to comment when contacted about the sale. The Footscray sites have street addresses of 4 Hopkins Street and 1 – 3 Nielson Place. Last month VicUrban awarded local developer Grocon a $350 million contract to redevelopment a site abutting the Footscray train station, nearby.

Grocon plans to replace a disused bowling club on McNab Avenue with a village of shops, offices and apartments. Equiset, Metier3, Salta and Equity Pacific Capital Partners also vied for the opportunity to redevelop that site after VicUrban’s tender campaign launched late last year. Like the Le Mans property, the McNab Avenue site measures 1.3 hectares.

DOCKLANDS next major skyscraper should start appearing on city skylines later this year. Sydney-based developer Mirvac has just started construction of its latest waterfront apartment tower, Yarra Point, on the corner of Lorimer Street and Point Piper Crescent.

Upon completion in 2013, the $200 million tower will soar 31-levels and include 201 flats.  When the project was launched last October, entry level apartments started at a staggering $500,000. Four bedroom “sky residences” have fetched $2.5 million.

The development is located on the doorstep of Marina YE, a full service marina with 24-hour security, and onsite marina manager. Mirvac controls the $2 billion Yarra’s Edge slice of Docklands, which runs between Lorimer Street and the Charles Grimes and Bolte bridges, south of the Yarra River. Yarra’s Edge adjoins the suburbs of Port Melbourne and South Melbourne.

The last major tower Mirvac marketed in the area was Tower 5 in 2002. This tower opened in 2005.

The Melbourne property market has had a strong run once again through 2010 as many had thought there was going to be a slowdown from previous years of strong growth. One contributor to the continued support for property prices increasing in Melbourne has been the strong population growth. While this has helped fuel the need for more dwellings and helped boost economic growth, a small slow down is unlikely to have any harsh effects. The strong population growth has been largely concentrated in the capital, Melbourne. Melbourne has seen 80% of the population growth while regional areas outside of Melbourne have seen the remainder over the last 7 years.