NEW!!! Port Douglas Property Guide



Click here for a free copy...

Ray White steps up a gear now they pass one hundred.

At a recent briefing Peter Camphin, CEO Qld, said Ray White Real Estate was seeing unprecedented growth with 17 new offices ready to open in early 2005. He went on to say that to maintain the highest standard of professionalism the group would be providing an in house alternative to the present REIQ courses. He believes that this was the only way that the Group could keep up with the demand for new blood; Ray White will be offering an increased number of Cadet places this coming year for those leaving School and Uni, as well as more openings for those looking to enter the real estate industry the more traditional way.

Ray White Surfers Paradise is one of the many great success stories of the Ray White group Andrew Bell, the Chief Executive Officer recently wrote this article for distribution.

As the year winds to a close, it is interesting to listen to the comments from a leading social and economic commentator and forecaster. Mr Ruthven, Chairman of IBISWorld, recently presented his views on business and economic matters. Mr Ruthven is usually noted for being more pessimistic than optimistic, so his comments were very fascinating.

He rejects forecasts by other economists that interest rates will climb significantly in the coming two years and said that any rise would be slow and on a small scale. This is interesting because an increasing number of forecasters, including the Reserve Bank, are now predicting there is no significant threat of an interest rate rise in the foreseeable future.

Mr Ruthven went on to say "I would be surprised to see more than one and a half percent interest rate rise over the next perhaps two to two and a half years". "You are not going to prick this housing bubble or property bubble with high interest rates any time soon; I can assure you of that". "If they are going to rise, they are going to rise very, very slowly".

Mr Ruthven also commented that with high consumer confidence and a share market that is performing strongly, Australia is positioned well for good economic growth prospects over the next few years. "The only country that is matching us in consumer confidence around the world today is Canada", Mr Ruthven said. "We've got the lowest national debt in the entire western world. This is nearly as good as it gets, I've got to tell you".

Queensland has the upper hand over other states, with its rapidly growing population. This was supported recently by the Queensland Government's report stating that they expect over 1 million people to migrate to this region over the next 15 years. Even at current construction levels we are simply not building as fast as we need to meet the demand. This will put enormous pressure on real estate prices, no matter what the economy or trends are in other states.

Mr Ruthven said Queensland had grown the fastest in the last five years and was expected to do the same over the next five years. "You are by far and away the champion state of growth in the nation so there's no need to migrate south at this point in time," he said. With 13 years of growth behind us, Mr Ruthven said it would be difficult to cause a recession in Australia. "You've got to work at it for a very long time,"he joked. "I cannot see a recession this side of 2011, I just can't see it. It doesn't mean it can't happen, but I just don't see it".

He attributed the strong growth in Australia's property market largely to the recent collapse of the share market. "If ever you have wondered why you have had such a phenomenal boom in housing prices over the last three years or so, it's due almost totally to one factor and that's the collapse of the world share market".

"In other words, you saw one of the most dramatic stock market crashes since the 1930's happen after March 2000". "A year and a half ago the share market was only worth half of what it was in the year of March 2000, so that dramatic fall left people hurt. It's left people with two successive years of negative superannuation results...so it was two shocking years and you can therefore see why people said 'What else is there?' because I just don't trust this rotten share market' and so they've gone into property in a way we haven't seen for a long time and may not see as exuberant again over the next 10 or 20 years".

Mr Ruthven went on to say "It will go up again, it will boom again. Whether we'll get this extent of a boom is questionable. It's an interesting thing about human beings. We're very slow to react normally and many people got burnt more than they should have when the stock market crashed because they have left it too late, and some of them are going to get burnt by the property market because they went back too late".

This is a really pertinent point, particularly now when so many people are saying that the market is depressed., which our sales certainly don't reflect. Whilst we know there is some softness in the Sydney and Melbourne markets, it's a totally different story here in South-East Queensland.

Mr Ruthven made a very interesting point "There is competition out there in the property market in a sense for the first time for three or four years. That won't disavow people who...love property, you won't change their minds, and nor should you, but what I'm suggesting is if you look at the general move of the pack, you will start to see this shift backwards in a way that we haven't seen in the last few years".

Mr Ruthven did raise one major concern and that was Australia's high household debt and pointed out that The Economist magazine recently identified four issues it believed posed a threat to world growth:

1. Oil prices
2. Housing bubble across the world, particularly across the US, Europe and Australia
3. Household debt in America which is now 130% of household income, and
4. China, which is growing at a real growth rate of about 8% per annum.

"My suggestion is all four of those things aren't going to happen or happen as badly as we might fear and whilst I think we will see a slowdown in the economy here, I don't see it collapsing in a heap".

Kind regards

ANDREW BELL
Chief Executive Officer

So the indicators are still there for continuing capital growth, all but a little slower perhaps, than the last couple of years, during which we experienced an amazing upswing in property values. 'Bricks & Mortar', coining the old phrase, therefore, must be the best form of investment at the present time, given the volatility of the Share Markets.

As we come to the end of only our second year as a Ray White office and ponder the pace in which this business has moved forward it only remains for me to thank all those that have made a contribution at what ever level.

Thankyou
Margaret

Office Contact Details