Paul Castran - CEO - Castran Gilbert

Melbourne property continues to steam ahead after agents sold an enormous $341.9 million worth of property on Saturday, with a clearence rate of 70% of the 658 properties sold according to the REIV.

Melbournes most expensive property on Saturday was a four bedroom, 3040sq m property at Ivanhoe, which sold for $4.3m, and the cheapest was a Rockbank property which sold for $237,000.

In other cities, Sydney auctioneers cleared 72.5 per cent of their 316 listed properties, with the most expensive being a six bedroom home in Burwood which sold for $4.2m.
APM head of research Yvonne Chan said the strong results came on the back of unusually high levels of stock in the marketplace, especially for winter.
Ms Chan said the effect of interest rate rises and the withdrawal of stimulus had forced many first-home buyers out of the market, creating higher demand for rentals.

While the property witnesses an explosive growth with property prices, BIS Shrapnel, an economic forecaster recently stated that weak first home buyer activity and increasing interest rates is expected to result in slower growth of housing prices during the year 2010.

However, BIS Shrapnel asserts in its Residential Property Prospects, 2010 to 2013 report that although the prices of property are not expected to decline and rents are inclined to witness an increase due to the lack of supply.

Angie Zigomanis, senior project manager with BIS told that first home buyer activity witnessed a decrease after the termination of first home owner’s grant boost during the end of year 2009. He also asserts that affordability has been affected since interest rates rise above their low levels.

The report also gives an indication that investors are expected to compensate for decrease in first home buyers. This also implies that property prices are expected to increase, but not with the recent trends.

“The more stable interest rate environment is expected to underpin purchaser confidence as economic conditions continue to strengthen, and should continue to push through moderate house prices rises,” Mr Zigomanis said.

He also asserts that on an average, the growth in prices of houses is expected to remain in the mid-single digit percentage range during the coming three years.

Paul Castran and Mark Forytarz, the two pillars of Castran Gilbert hold years of experience in the Australian real estate market. Both of them have presided over many real estate sales. Mark Forytarz and Paul Castran express their views about the ongoing situation in real estate market.

My brother John Castran has had a lucky escape over the weekend, after being buried under over 1m of snow in an avalanche in New Zealand. John escaped after his son Angus located him using a tracking beacon, then dug him out.

Here is an extract from the Herald Sun Story:

AVALANCHE survivor John Castran has told how he thought he had seen his last sunset as he lay in his "icy tomb" in New Zealand.

Speaking from Mt Hutt yesterday, the South Yarra father of two, 53, gave a haunting account of the most terrifying day of his life.

Trapped beneath 1.8m of snow after two avalanches ploughed into his five-man skiing group in the Ragged Ranges on Friday, Mr Castran described the 15 minutes he spent, alone, in the frigid dark.

He had been on a heli-skiing trip with his son, Angus, 23, and another man, Lynden Riethmuller, when the world turned white then deadly black.

Mr Riethmuller, a NSW company director, could not be revived after he was buried by snow.

Mr Castran, an experienced skier, was on an annual holiday with his youngest son when he was hit by a wall of snow.

"There was a point where I thought ‘This is it. I have seen my last sunset’, " Mr Castran said.

"Then this second wave came five to 10 seconds later and there was this rustling noise, then terror really set in."

Mr Castran knew a second avalanche had struck.

Here is a link to the full story: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25834667-661,00.html

The weekend Auction Clearance rate rose to a healthy 85% on increased volume, up from 84% last week.

Here’s an interesting article about developers who are spending up to $100,000 to help buyers imagine they’ve already moved in.

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/Article.aspx?id=1228585093054&index=NationalIndex&headline=Dressed%20in%20show

Below is an extract:

Discounts on new apartments, deals to pay stamp duty for buyers, special offers galore . . . With developers desperate for buyers of new apartment projects as the banks continue to rein in credit and with many consumers lacking the confidence to actually commit, there’s still one great weapon left in their armoury: the display suite.

Fitted out with top-quality designer furniture, painted in the latest stylish colour palettes, decorated often with original artwork and regularly finished down to the last detail with cutlery, glasses and plates, it’s guaranteed to leave every potential buyer salivating.

"Apartments look so different when they’re empty to when they’re well-furnished," says Andrew Finlayson of developer Carrington, with penthouses for sale at Kensington apartment complex Capella and Wahroonga’s Beumont both beautifully fitted out by stylists.

"It sets the mood and feel, and shows off the architecture of an apartment and it helps people get the sense of how much space is available."

Selling tools

In today’s soft property market, the chief executive of the developers’ lobby Urban Taskforce Australia, Aaron Gadiel, says display suites have never been more important as marketing tools. Today developers are under huge pressure to sell as many apartments as they can off the plan because of the credit crunch tightening bank finance.

"They’re not able to borrow as much as previously, so a good display suite is vital to enable them to sell as soon as possible," Gadiel says. "You’re seeing a lot more developers at the moment using them and their look, feel and quality are now much more important than ever."

At Mirvac’s new Springdale development in Killara, the display apartment cost between $80,000 and $100,000 to be fully furnished and decorated. Marketing director James Bell says the outlay, with apartments still for sale priced from $1,025,000 for two bedrooms and from $1.03 million for three, is absolutely worthwhile.

"If you’ve got good design, good finishes and a good location, it only makes your product even more attractive," he says.

At Beumont, where the three-bedroom-plus-study, three-bathroom penthouse is for sale at $2.5 million, spending about $80,000 on the display styled by Coco Republic was similarly worthwhile. By the same token, the fit-out of the three-bedroom-plus-study, two-bathroom Capella penthouse at $2.2 million was worth slightly less.

"You can fill a place up with utilitarian furniture but really you want people to feel they can see themselves in the space," Finlayson says.

"And you furnish according to the taste of your target demographic."

How to read a display suite

It’s all very well to fall in love with the look of an apartment display suite but don’t forget: love can be blind. Craig Yelland and Ian Briggs of Plus Architecture advise:

1. Take a tape measure.
2. Understand how an apartment is measured - mostly from mid-wall to the middle of the party wall.
3. Confirm the ceiling heights in the display suite are the same as in the end product.
4. Check the size of the beds. Double beds make rooms look bigger because they are smaller but many people assume they’re queens.
5. Work out whether your fridge will fit in the fridge well.
6. Don’t assume what you see is what you’ll get. What are the standard finishes and optional extras? Ask lots of questions to find out exactly what you’re buying.
7. Check what you can’t see. Are the walls strong enough to hold a plasma television? Test the firmness of the vanity basin.
8. Ask if there are enough power points in every room. In bathrooms and kitchens particularly, adding extras can end up costing thousands.
9. Make sure the lift is big enough to fit your couch and fridge.
10. Don’t forget to check other items such as the communal gym and pool, strata fees, location and local amenities.

Paul Castran.

Castran Gilbert are at the forefront of technology in Real Estate sales. Our Toorak Road office provides a location and profile second to none. Our sales force is the largest single office operation in Melbourne with 22 sales people.

Paul Castran his team have a combined experience of 50 years providing the most up to date and accurate Real Estate advice.

Our negotiating skills and level of expertise is the envy of the Real Estate industry. In fact, we are the agent that other agents choose when they wish to sell.

Paul Castran

www.castrangilbert.com.au

Presentation is the key to achieve the highest possible sale price.

Nothing is clearer than when you look at how Australia’s great retailers present and merchandise their products. For example; Sportsgirl illuminate, air-condition, merchandise in size and colour and display in the highest retail fit out possible. This enables a substantial margin.

Presentation of your most valuable asset is paramount. We would suggest that one of Castran Gilberts representatives advise you on a case by case basis before you sell.

Paul Castran

Melbourne’s residential vacancy rate is hovering at around 0.5%.  This is the lowest vacancy rate since records have been kept 40 years ago!

Economic forecaster, BIS Schrapnel have reported that they expect residential rents to rise 50% over the next 5 years as there is an acute shortage of rental stock available.

Victoria’s current immigration is approximately 88,000 per year and Australia’s population is growing at the fastest rate since 1947.

Given these economic parameters, it is clearly a great time to buy real estate.

Auction clearance rates have fallen from 80 odd percent 12 months ago to around 53% currently giving further opportunities for people to purchase good value in the market.

The current economic commentary is that official interest rates are reported to fall to 3.75% by March next year!!

With falling interest rates and increasing rental values and the pressure put on available stocks with the first home owners grant, there is a cocktail for rapid growth in the under $500,000 market.

Paul Castran

www.castrangilbert.com.au

Right now the Federal Government is stimulating the ‘first home buyer’ end of the market increasing the current state grant of $7000 to $14,000.  The boon is, that if people purchase a new property between October 14, 2008 and June 30, 2009, the grant increases to $21,000 and if they purchase a property that is new and under $500,000 the grant increases to a massive $26,000!!!

This, coupled with the falling interest rates, has provided an opportunity for first home buyers that had previously been shut out of the market to take the opportunity!

Paul Castran.

Paul Castran and Castran Gilbert are now utilising online video hosting service YouTube, to post regular video updates to their customers about the state of the Australian Real Estate Market.

Go to www.castrangilbert.com.au to see the first video post.

Paul Castran.