Victoria leads in new homes

•  The typical Melbourne house price is $582,000 and unit price $445,000
•  Nationally private starts stalled while stimulus-fuelled public starts jumped 73 per cent
•  New figures reveal Victoria leads the charge in the construction of new dwellings, even luring builders from NSW.

Victoria is the only bright light in an otherwise ailing residential construction industry, accounting for more than twice the private housing starts of any other state...

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Property investors on top of the world         

• Australia is the fourth-fastest-growing property market in the world after a 20 per cent price jump in the past year
• 4.8 per cent of Australia's growth was in the March quarter
• As house price declines slowed in most depressed markets, 25 of the countries registered rises 

Australia is the fourth-fastest-growing property market in the world after a 20 per cent price jump in the past year....

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Investors ignore signs and pile into property

• Australians are diving into negatively geared property as Reserve Bank signals another interest rate rise could be only weeks away
• Tax Office figures show a record 1.2 million investors said they spent more money on their rental properties than they earned in 2007-08
• Claims that house prices were high compared with income did not differentiate between city and regional salaries

Australians are diving into negatively geared property even as the Reserve Bank signals that another interest rate rise could be only weeks away....

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The First Home Buyers - Overview

The scheme is administered by the Victorian Government (State Revenue Office) and is in addition to the $7,000 First Home Owner Grant. 

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Investor tips for units

• Apartments closer to town are recommended over those on the outskirts by many buyers agents who argue they will attract higher capital growth
• In NSW, the Government has also recently introduced incentives to buy off-the-plan apartments
• If you are tossing up between an old and a new apartment, you really need to look at rental yields of other units in each block, and also the capital growth history of apartments in each block

Many people invest in apartments because they often have a cheaper buy-in price than houses and are also thought to be a lot easier to maintain without gardens to worry about, and with the costs of building maintenance shared across other owners....

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