SOLD

60 Mayfield Road, Moorooka

$449,000

Los Angeles Times Axes Real Estate Section

Glenn Batten reports on 5th August,

Inman News has reported that the LA Times newspaper is ceasing its publication of its weekly newspaper section. A section that has been a feature of the paper for over a century.

Like many newspapers around the world, the decline in revenues due to the take up of online technologies would have been one of the factors but I would suggest it was further accelerated by the shocking real estate market in the states at the moment. I can't see too many agents throwing money at any sort of advertising whilst they are not selling anything.

Newspapers around the World have been doing the best of holding back the tide of the online world. These cutbacks across the board by a major Newspaper like the LA Times appears to be one of the first major cracks in their defence, at least as far as the real estate industry is concerned. It can't be too long before we start to see similar decisions being made on a local level. 2009? maybe 2010?

There are some differences in our market in comparison to the US with regards to real estate revenue at least which may insulate print for a little while yet. The prime example of this is that in Australia we have to pay for our online advertising due to their subscription based model on the major two real estate portals which between them have a massive market share. In contrast there are substantially more portals in the US, none with a major market share and each are free to the agent and operate on an advertising based model.

Print is not dead in Australia yet, but this may just be the harbinger of things to come.


Note: As the only newspaper in our growing city The Courier Mail charges huge prices for their advertising which ultimately is then passed onto you, the seller, hope they read this article! Lyn

Land banking

I have noticed an increasing number of agents advertising the larger blocks as "suitable to start your own landbank".

How absurd! Thought you might be interested in the following information on "Landbanks".

John McCarthy of the Courier Mail reports, Councils have threatened to take developers to the competition watchdog over practices they claim force up the cost of housing in Queensland.

The Local Government Association yesterday started a Dob in a Developer campaign aimed at gathering detailed information on land banking - or holding land back from the market until prices rise.

The campaign was labelled by the industry as a stunt to divert attention from councils' own inefficiencies.

The public fight comes as the State Government reviews southeast Queensland's urban boundaries, and coincided with the release of figures showing land supply on the Gold Coast would be depleted by 2015.

But the LGAQ said there was plenty of land in the hands of a few companies and pointed to findings by the State Government that there were 55,000 lots available to be developed in the southeast. "We are greatly concerned that the excesses of a minority of property developers need to be reined in," LGAQ president Paul Bell said.

The LGAQ also has the support of councils to gather data on who owns undeveloped land. It also started its own website (www.dobinadeveloper.com) for the public to supply information.

"The objective of the survey is to determine the extent to which one or two major developers in each growth area control the available stock of land," a briefing paper on the LGAQ campaign said.

Findings could be referred to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Property Council executive director Steve Greenwood said councils were still the biggest hurdle in land supply, with development applications taking too long and infrastructure costs being too high.

He said no company could afford to hold back land from the market for an extended period.

Brisbane House prices tipped to fall 10 per cent

Melissa Ketchell of the Courier Mail reports that values in Brisbane have dropped 1.3per cent in the June quarter, with predictions that values could plunge by up to 10 per cent this year.

Australian Property Monitors' latest housing data shows units in Brisbane have fallen 3 per cent over the same period.

And the worst was still to come, APM general manager Michael McNamara said.

Mr McNamara said that nationally, the market was at its weakest in four years.

"The Brisbane market is looking quite soft," Mr McNamara said. "It's the only capital to see drops in both house and unit values."

He expects values will drop 10 per cent over the year, cutting almost $44,000 in value from the average priced home.

He said high borrowing rates, finance being harder to get and a big drop in consumer confidence were hitting hard.

And Mr McNamara warned that if banks continued to increase mortgage rates and the Reserve Bank lifted cash rates then price drops would be even more severe.

"We are already seeing housing finance decrease and building approvals slip away," he said.

Latest building approval figures released yesterday showed a fall of 1.5 per cent in Queensland. New home sales have fallen 7.3 per cent during the six months to June, the worst performance in the country.

Housing Industry of Australia state executive director Warwick Temby said the residential sector was being heavily weighed down by tighter credit controls, higher interest rates, excessive statutory costs and rising living costs.

If you are thinking of selling now, call me for up to date advice on 3426 8309 or 0411 664 490