It appears Melb is starting to drop quite a fair bit now. The prices in Melb has been quite strong even going back 6-7 months back. I don't live in Melb so i don't really know.

I have a few friends living in the Western suburbs (1 hour drive from CBD Sydney) and the houses there have dropped more than A$100k (price range around A$600-800k). People are now putting a For Sale with a price on it. This has never been the case!! People were using Auction before so you don't really know what price the seller wants - in other words, (if you are a poker player) they are showing you their bottom card nowadays. This is usually the signs of a soft market.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Sep 25 2018, 07:33 AM

Auctions is the best way to go in a strong market as you don't know what people are willing to pay. You may have a price in mind but sometimes buyers will go crazy to 'chase' your property. Auctions cost a lot more as you have to pay for the auctioneer and the place to host the auction. I have bought and sold many properties in Sydney so i know the process very well.

Auction will only work when the market is very strong (like 18 mths ago) because you don't really know how much people are willing to pay unless you test them out (by auction). Now the market is dropping and sellers still hope to get a decent price because there are still some bullish people around who thinks that it is only short term and market will rebound. What happens is as soon as there is a decent offer, they accept the offer and pull the property out of the market. This is what is happening now. When the market gets really weak, you would never opt for auction but instead put a For Sale (with a price on it) and hopefully you get someone who will make you an offer (close to your price). To put a property for auction cost a little bit more because you have to engage an auctioneer and also book a place to host the auction.

There are a lot of tricks that real estate agent uses to 'con' a buyer to pay a higher price but these kind of things you will slowly learn as you buy and sell properties more often. My sister sold a property about 10 years ago and i was bidding against a 'sucker' who didn't realise that i wasn't a serious buyer and that i was just 'making the market' so that the buyer will have to fork out a lot more for the property. If the bidding doesn't reach the price that we want, we just pass the property in and put a For Sale (with a price on it). There are many tricks that sellers use to obtain a higher price so if you are inexperienced, it is better to learn from the more experienced people. A lot of new migrants don't know there are so many crafty real estate agents and learn a painful lesson by paying too much!!

The reason why prices kept going up was because the banks were dishing out money freely. After the royal commission, they have tightened borrowing standards and now it is very difficult to get 'interest-free' housing loans. Banks were giving these 'interest-free' loans to a high percentage of their borrowers who were using this to speculate. These interest free loans were renewable loans with 3 to 5 year expiry. Speculators felt this boom will never stop - looks like this time, speculators are in for a big shock. According to a friend who i had dinner last night, banks have stopped lending to SMSF (self-managed superfunds) as well so it appears that it is very difficult to get funds to speculate on housing.

Usually housing price growth is highly correlated to housing credit. With credit (lending) tightening, house prices seem to be falling now.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Sep 26 2018, 03:16 AM

You wouldn't see that happening now. With current market, sellers are dropping their price to meet buyers nowadays. What a change in atmosphere!!

Agree - Perth and Brisbane are better places to buy. Only thing is i don't have friends in those cities. Sydney and Melb probably has a long way to go before it bottoms.

P/s: I prefer Brisbane because it is warmer. I am now very afraid of cold. Brrr......

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Sep 26 2018, 09:11 AM

I don't know about Melb but Sydney has so many units (new) and this has added to the supply. I feel there is a slight over-supply of new properties (rents are dropping as well) in Sydney and with the tightening of credit, people are generally feeling less bullish because of so many negative reports coming out.

Read this:

Australian property prices facing 'longest downturn in decades', says UBS

https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy...926-p5060e.html

Yes - i love Surfers Paradise.

575 cannot even buy a run-down 1 bedder where i live. In my area, rents are all dropping. 2-bedder (units) that were $670/wk are now asking $580-600/wk. Rents have never dropped at all in my area. This is the first time (ever since i came here in 1981) that rents have dropped. Maybe an indication of something happening?? There has always been tight supply in Randwick (for rental) but now everywhere i go around here, i see <For Lease> signs.

Now with the drought in NSW, milk gone up 10%. I buy 3 litre milk - used to be $3.00, now $3.30. Bread also gone up 20c about 5 mths ago. Used to be $3 a loaf (Tip top), now $3.20

Petrol now $1.65/lit for Ethanol blend 91RON. Gone up so much since beginning of the year!!

You mean Malaysian Hall down in Alison Rd? Yes - it is still there. I go past it everyday to and from work. It is very close to where i live. When i go and walk (weekends sometimes), i go past it as well as it is very close to Centennial Park.

Yes - that piece of land would easily be worth A$12-15mil. They have a big party every year (outside the compound) on Malaysian National Day (31 August). They are building a light rail from the city to Pagewood (via Alison Rd) so now Alison Rd looks very ugly since the project has been delayed and delayed. The traffic along Alison Rd is so bad during morning peaks!! Lucky for me, i don't go in to office until about 10.30-11am so i miss the morning peak hour.

I attended an inspection in Randwick last Sat (2 bedroom unit). Last year this unit would have fetched A$1.1mil but owner is putting a price guide of $880k which is more than $200k lower than last year. The agent rang me on Sun (which is the next day) and told me the owner wants to sell urgently and asked me to make any offer. Wow! It appears that the market has really turned around and it appears that it is still heading downwards as there are a lot of desperate sellers!

I would stay away from buying now for the next 12-18 months. There are a lot of buyers who bought with interest-only loans and i mean a lot!! Once these loans come due, they will find that no banks will re-finance them as the banks are getting tougher in giving out loans and they will have no option but to sell. With these interest-only loans coming due in the next couple of years, there will be a lot of 'bargains' on the market.

Baulkham Hills to Rouse Hill is a nice and peaceful area. I have a lot of relatives living in the Hills district.

How are you settling in Sydney? Do you like Sydney? The bloody light rail construction is looking so ugly and won't be finished until mid-2020. What a mess!!

Nice to hear your story. You must be staying in Mascot for a while then. I have some younger friends living there in Church Ave (Mascot) which they bought about 2 years ago for A$670k (1-bedroom unit). It went up A$100k within 12 mths but has since dropped back. There are so many units in Mascot!!

Kellyville is very nice and the land sizes are so big!! It is fantastic to see someone get into the property market so soon after arriving in Sydney. You probably need to drive to a train station to catch the train for the city, wouldn't you? Using the M2 or M4 would be a killer during peak hours to the city.

You are allowed to buy any residential properties in Aust if you are PR/citizen. Without a job (in Aust), you may find it hard to secure finance with the Aust banks. I think some foreign banks (like HSBC) will still accept income from overseas if you are a PR/citizen.

They are 2 different entities - HSBC Msia and HSBC Aust (even though they belong to the HSBC group). The loan assessors in Aust will have to comply with the Aust law so any information that you reveal may have implications on your tax standing in Aust. The ATO is now very strict on foreign income as there is a lot of rort on welfare and Centrelink is working closely with ATO. If you are claiming welfare in Aust, you need to be aware of this or you may lose your Centrelink concessions/benefits when it is found that foreign income is not being declared. On the other hand, HSBC may not disclose your foreign income if they deem it not necessary (unless compelled to by ATO due to an investigation).

I have actually done quite a lot of research into this as i was wondering whether i will still be a tax resident when i retire in Msia next year. Apparently by defn, you need to live here at least half the time (i.e. 183 days/yr) in Aust to be classified as a tax resident. I intend to take all my long service leave on half pay (i have more than 40 weeks LSL which equates to about 90 weeks on half pay). Together with all my annual leave, i will have close to 2 years of leave. I was wondering whether i will still be a tax resident during the 2 years (on leave) when i am in Msia so i checked with my accountant - he tells me that since i have been in the same job with an Aust employer, i will be classified as a tax resident even though i am on leave with no intention of going back.

I have also called up the ATO about my super and was told all my super is tax free once i fully retire (i.e. no more working after 55 years old) even though i live overseas. This is important to me as i want to leave my super as is for a while. Apparently if you are on welfare then you will not be able to retire in Msia and still claim the welfare (like the old age pension). Since my wife and i are self-funded retirees, i am free to live anywhere in the world.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Oct 18 2018, 05:21 AM

Great to hear a success story like yours!!

When you are earning Aussie, best not to convert otherwise you will not buy anything. With my pay, i take home a little more than A$6k/mth (after contributing max to my concessional super) and at the end of the month, i am left with about A$3.5-4k/mth after paying all bills/groceries/eating out. Even though my wife doesn't work, i find ourselves quite comfortable and we eat out quite regularly (4-6 times a week) in Chinatown/Kingsford. I guess mortgage is probably the biggest expense in Sydney but once it is paid off, life can be quite a blessing. I just find that winter a bit dreadful for me even though i have the heater on all day!!

Nice to hear a good story for you younger people.

I am close to retirement now so i tend not to save as much as before when i was younger. My super balance went up close to A$150k last financial year so i feel that i should not be too hard on myself. However, my main enjoyment in life is basically food so we tend to go to Chinatown for dinners quite often.

When i looked at my earlier days, my super balance hardly moved every year but once you have a good balance, the compounding effect is very significant. I can't imagine my super balance if i work another 5 years but i think everyone of us must be contented and know when enough is enough. I have a very cushy job so all my friends feel very 'sayang' for me to give it up.

It appears rent is coming down due to the completion of new units. In Randwick, 2 bedroom units were all going for high $600s/week (average) last year and i see a lot of those units coming on now for $100/wk less.

Employment figures came out today and it is looking good.

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https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy...018-p50aep.html

Unemployment rate hits seven-year low

The jobless rate has hit a seven-year low, dropping to 5 per cent in September on the back of the continuing jobs boom in Victoria and NSW and hitting the Reserve Bank's measure of the natural rate of unemployment for the first time since 2012.

Employment increased by only 5600 jobs in seasonally adjusted terms, but the 0.3 percentage point decrease in the number of people looking for jobs was also a factor in the overall unemployment rate dropping from 5.3 per cent in August.

The participation rate fell from 65.7 per cent to 65.4 per cent, its lowest level in 11 months.

In NSW, jobs growth has pushed ahead of population growth, recording a 3.4 per cent jump in the past year compared to a 1.4 per cent increase in the number of people in the state, meaning wages growth should start showing as the jobless figures move below the natural rate of unemployment.

But Victoria is barely keeping up, with a 2.6 per cent result, just ahead of the 2.4 per cent annual increase in the population rate and behind the 2.7 per cent growth rate of greater Melbourne, where most of the state's jobs are located.