.
In the Aussie vernacular we call it “dumber and dumber” – The Emperor (Kevin Rudd) prefers to call it “shaking his sauce bottle”. What this really means, is that he instigates a plan, turns it into  a huge economic catastrophe  and leaves it for someone else to sort out! .  The cracks are starting to appear everywhere so let’s look at them.  Political polyfilla is not the answer, as Fort Fumble (Federal Government) experiments and fails miserably with untested, bad policies – their learning curve.

Ross Gittins wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald Rudd ominously silent on climate change. “We know Kevin Rudd has what it takes to win elections and it would be amazing to see him lose this year. So we know he can survive as prime minister. A much harder question is whether he has what it takes to be a good prime minister.” The Emperor has transformed himself from a Yes Minister to a Guess Minister! Or possibly a Guest Minister!  He can’t differentiate between ‘politically correct’ and ‘policy correct’ – The Emperor’s scorecard is displaying the letter “F” (Fail or F#$@ – up).

“Rudd has been frenetically active since Day 1. So it’s truer to say he doesn’t have a lot to show for all his activity. And some of what he has to show isn’t very impressive. His notorious attention to detail doesn’t seem to be paying off.” I would challenge the words paying off – as Australia will be paying – off these bad policies (on the run) for many years to come and with nothing to show for it.

BUY PRINT

Tim Mooney is developing a cult following here and this Paddington capture shows why – maybe one of our Eastern Suburbs real estate agent subscribers can identify which street this is? A timely photograph given last weekend’s ‘Super Saturday’ which is also addressed in this week’s edition.  Maybe the” Mosman Word Smith” can add some light given skylight sales are obviously very popular in Paddington – let there be light and insight! Over to you Billy boy – I’m sure you can’t identify it.

.Back to Ross Gittins “This is true of their reporting of the insulation scheme and the school building program. Even so, you get the feeling we’re seeing an instance of Rudd’s inexperience as a leader – his belief that, by thumping the table, he could make things happen.” Now for another crack – “I think it was veteran journalist Laurie Oakes who said that in Howard’s first term he made every mistake in the book – but he only made them once. Has Rudd got such a steep learning curve? I hope so, but I’m beginning to wonder.” The great moral challenge of our time, climate change, is no longer great and it’s no longer a challenge for The Emperor who has buried this along with his double dissolution threats. Rudd’s home insulation scheme caves in more than $1.500 billion has been spent and there are now concerns that the repair bill for roof inspections and the replacement of botched insulation will consume what money is left in the scheme – an estimated $800 million. Hospitals -next?

High clearance rate makes a Super Saturday wrote Jonathan Chancellor from The Sydney Morning Herald. “Given the weight of auction listings, the 680 weekend vendors did rather well on Super Saturday, the second biggest auction day in the state’s history.” From the 680 weekend auctions Mosman conducted 11, for a clearance rate of 78 per cent according to Domain Property Data. The highest Mosman auction house sale was $3.600 million. “The inner west remains the red – hot epicentre in Sydney, with an 83 per cent success rate from the 100 listings – at an average of $955,000.” Now another crack “the south west – with only a 50 per cent clearance rate – was the weekend’s poorest auction district.” When the First Home Buyers Grant was running this was the strongest region – although this demographic property dashboard is a major concern when interest rates start increasing.  Just like 2006, when property prices dropped significantly. House sales going, going gone for a record and families camping out for land in new ‘town’. Housing shortage set to get worse yet house sales fall in February: HIA report.

Here is why – property market may be overheated, RBA Governor Glenn Stevens says reaffirmed that interest rates were on the way up, countering a belief held by some that rates would remain low after the global financial crisis. Economists are now calibrating a 60 per cent likelihood of a +0.25 per cent cash rate increase when our Reserve Bank of Australia board meets next Tuesday, to share cucumber sandwiches and croissants washed down with copious amounts of herbal teas.

Of course the bull in our property china shop will be discussed. The Emperor, for unknown reasons, lifted foreign ownership restrictions which previously were set in stone. Chinese buyers underpin housing prices prompting RBA governor to request data from the Foreign Investment Review Board in order to ascertain and pinpoint their exact participation – good luck!

Last week, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that Australia’s population reached 22,066,000 on September 30, 2009. 66 per cent of population growth was due to overseas migration and 34 per cent was due to births over deaths. Let’s get real on population and The Emperor cracks a century 100^th asylum boat intercepts navy patrol where our latest arrivals sailed in undetected at Flying Fish Cove then called Australian authorities to advise that they were ready to book in – room service? Of course not, the island is not, named after Father Christmas for nothing. Fort Fumble has been forced to run a series of advertisements in Indonesian newspapers – ‘No Vacancies presently at our Australian island resorts on our west coast yet vacancies remain on Hayman and Hamilton Island. Please take a minute to observe this video Queensland beautiful one day – perfect the next.’

Cap no solution to Australia’s population challenges said Wayne Swan “that is why we are investing so heavily in our infrastructure.” Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens says Sydney property boom will make it hard for his children to buy home then the Mad Monk – Tony Abbott ran in and said Rudd has presided over rip off after rip off yet our Australian population growth is double the world average. So what we need is more policy when Julia Gillard announced that Tony Abbott should be making policy, not running. Julia, he did announce policy when, prior to commencing the Iron Man competition, he said he would break 14 hours!  Well he delivered 13:57:01 and that is a political announcement that came within time! Home insulation, schools, border protection and population are sensational policies too, as is the demoting of (the human headline) Barnaby Joyce.

I agree with Ms. Gillard that the Mad Monk should concentrate on policy not running (although Julia’s policies are fast becoming a national embarrassment). However, we must give credit where it is due and our Fort Fumble is addicted to buying credit (apparently endemic within the teachings at the School of Economic Conservatism).  Plenty to report next week on that.

Have a fantastic and safe Easter (just a bit of trivia) it was six years ago when Sydney last had a totally dry Easter and I’m not talking about alcohol! To the Virtual Realty News blog we go.

Cheers ^__^

Note: this is the strongest sales evidence we have seen since the global financial crisis entered our lives. This week’s sales Mosman real estate, Beauty Point real estate, Clifton Gardens real estate, Balmoral real estate, Cremorne real estate, Cremorne Point real estate, Neutral Bay real estate, Cammeray real estate Click Here

Follow Me on Twitter

1.04.10Robert Simeon6 Comments »

.
An extraordinary week in Australian politics that resembled the “Battle of Sydney Harbour” or maybe “Battleships in the Big Bathtub” – where part of all contestants’ boundaries (by coincidence) were the high water marks of Sydney Harbour. The “Mad Monk” won line honours and yet, as with any race (fluid spill motions) there are always protests and on the very same day, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) broke tradition and raised the cash rate (+0.25%) for the third consecutive month – a day of threes!

The cash rate, now at 3.75 per cent, keeps heading north and whilst on north, rumours that “The Emperor” Kevin Rudd is auditioning for Getaway, remain totally unsubstantiated. We can however, be sure that somewhere, he is up – up – and away and if he does call a double dissolution, will have to return to our shores sooner rather than later.

Gerard Henderson wrote an interesting article that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald – Lodge is a long way off, but the new man will shore up base. “Since its formation in 1944, the Liberal Party has won office from Labor on three occasions, Robert Menzies defeated Ben Chifley in 1949, Malcolm Fraser prevailed over Gough Whitlam in December 1975 and John Howard vanquished Paul Keating in March 1996.” What I did find amazing was this “It is most unlikely that Abbott can lead the Coalition to victory in next year’s election. No government has been defeated in its first election since 1931, when Labor prime minister, James Scullin, faced not only the impact of the Great Depression but also splits within his own party.”

Was the Mad Monk bunkered down at his Mosman headquarters – whilst observing troop movements at the harbour bunkers of Turnbull and Hockey? Loose lips sink ships. We asked Tim Mooney to fly over Tony Abbott’s Mosman bunker.

www.timmooneyphotography.com

Westpac has jumped the starting gun where as quick as a flash it raised its standard variable home loan by 45 basis points to 6.76 per cent which comes into effect today. On November 5, 2009 John Rolfe from The Daily Telegraph wrote Cut Government taxes on savings, says Westpac boss Gail Kelly. It would appear to some, that raising rates has nothing to do with household savings. National Australia Bank (NAB) increased its home loan rates by +0.25 per cent and then attacked Westpac with this announcement “We are determined to be competitive, to offer our customers a better deal and attract new customers to NAB. Today we are sending a message to customers at Westpac, and the other banks, that NAB can offer them a better deal.”

“Westpac CEO Gail Kelly argued yesterday (November 4, 2009) that if we all had more money salted away the country could have ducked the global financial crisis.” So in the aftermath now that the crisis has passed one can only then assume that Westpac is quickly making up for lost opportunities. Business Spectator – THE DISTILLERY: Waving Westpac through John Durie of The Australian concludes that the bank “is acting entirely rationally by extending the duration of its loans, chasing deposits aggressively as evidenced by its present campaign offering 6.8 per cent for 12 – month money and raising the cost of loans to protect profits. Its deposits now offer 130 basis points more than its closest competitors and 145 basis points more than the ANZ. This is a bank demonstrating its market strength emphatically, unworried by the potential for either market or political downside.” Or “roughly in simpatico is Matthew Stevens of The Australian who reasons that “Westpac’s decision to confront its customers with the nasty realities of our national funding dilemma serves to, once again, demonstrate the shaping dislocation of the Australian banking system triggered by the GFC. The latest credit growth numbers, for example, confirm the widening schism of the Four Pillars into a two – and – two – configuration. The data shows that the Commonwealth and Westpac now dominate the system growth like never before, speaking for 80 per cent of loan growth over October.” Wayne Swan approved the acquisition St George Bank by Westpac.

Market share of the big four banks, including BankWest and St George as at September 30 / Source: The Australian

.

Macquarie Economics Research wrote Interest Rate Outlook – Gradual gets quicker

• “The RBA lifted the cash rate by 25bps in December. While the RBA’s view of the world has changed little since November, the news over the past month has reinforced their view that the recovery in train is on stable ground. We expect the cash rate to reach 4.50 % by the end of 2010.”

.

.

.

Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Ric Battellino is indeed very upbeat about the Australian economy in that we can expect and look forward to years of economic growth on the back of booming resources, escalating population growth with rising household incomes. The RBA is predicting a strong escalation of house prices because Australia had entered “a new upswing” that would extend its record 18 years of continuous economic expansion.

RP Data revealed this week that house prices have doubled to an average $600,000 over the past ten years – the average Sydney house price was $300,000 back in 1999. The average price for an apartment in 1999 was $270,000 today it is $457,274.

The latest BIS Shrapnel Residential Property Prospects report identified that residential rent are expected to rise by an average 5.8 per cent a year over the next three years. This compares with a 5.7 per cent increase in 2009 and an average annual rate of 4.4 per cent between 2002 and 2008. Throw in an electricity bill expected to rise by 60 per cent over the next three years (according to an IPART report).

Fort Crumble was at it again and we now have our fourth premier in four years – recruitment companies would be well justified in opening up a sacked premier’s division. Now we have our first female premier – Kristina Keneally (no strings attached)! Can’t wait to see who makes up her front bench? Not that she will have any say in it! The Daily Telegraph is running a petition for an early election (To Sign)

Last edition of Virtual Realty News for 2009 next week – the chaos of this week would be very hard to beat. Thankfully it is controlled – however we all know that elected politicians make great puppeteers.

Cheers ^__^

For this week’s recorded Mosman real estate, Cremorne real estate, Cremorne Point real estate, Neutral Bay real estate and Cammeray real estate sales www.rwm.com.au/news/

Follow Me on Twitter

4.12.09Robert Simeon1 Comment »