Maitland renters are paying 33 per cent more for the same accommodation than they were three years ago and demand is unlikely to ease as the end of the first home buyer grant grows closer.

Ten years ago the cost of renting the same house would have been $250 per week. RPData research notes that the national rental rise over three years is 30 per cent.

Read more about the rising rents in Maitland from the Herald.com.au

The news contunies to support the lower Hunter Valley as being a property investment hotspot and saavy investors are buying into the areas now before continued demand procedes to push up demand and thereby prices.

View a map of Maitland here.

Contact us today if you would like to learn about how Forturity can assist you in securing an investment property in this in-demand growth area.

Figures published today show the number of vacant rental properties across the city and in Newcastle remained stable at 1.3 per cent in September despite incentives designed to encourage people to buy homes. The number of vacant rental properties in Sydney’s inner suburbs fell only very slightly to 1.4 per cent while the number in outer suburbs rose by 0.1 per cent to one per cent.

In the Hunter Valley rental vacancies fell 0.1 per cent to 1.5 per cent.

“These results are a double-edged sword; great news for landlords but grim news for tenants,” REINSW president Steve Martin said in a statement.

Read the full story here.

Respected property forecaster and writer Terry Ryder notes the strong prospects for growth in the towns of the Lower Hunter Valley.

He writes: ” The first thing that stands out about Hunter Valley towns like Muswellbrook and Singleton is that property values did not fall post-2004.

That alone is enough to put a location on the radar screen of a property investor: virtually every suburb of Sydney and most of the Sea Change locations north and south of the NSW capital saw values drop markedly after the peak of the property boom. It’s rare to find a NSW locale where values kept rising.

Muswellbrook and Singleton are towns boosted by mining in a region where there are many coal mines. They’re part of an industry that has great significance in the NSW economy. NSW exports more than $4 billion worth of coal each year, 90% of which goes through the Hunter Valley port of Newcastle. This sector is set to be boosted by rail and port infrastructure upgrades. The Hunter Valley will also get plenty of stimulus from the $1.4 billion extension of the F3 to Branxton, creating the Hunter Expressway – a project funded in the May 2009 Federal Budget.”

Infrastructure projects planned and underway include the following:

• $1.1bil Mangoola coal mine
• $320mil expansion of Mt Arthur mine
• Multiple mines & major power station building and upgrades in the region
• $1bill Bayswater B power station
• Gas pipeline to Liddell power station
• $1.4 billion Hunter Expressway
• $1 billion upgrade to Newcastle coal export facilities
• $1 billion upgrade to rail links to Newcastle port

”Muswellbrook stands out among the Hunter Valley towns as one with particularly good prospects. Muswellbrook Shire has quite a diverse economy. Coal mining and power generation are important, but there is also wine-making (grape growers and wine makers include Rosemount Estate), horse-breeding (the Hunter Valley is considered
the most important nursery for champion racehorses in Australia), dairying and agriculture. Muswellbrook is a busy regional town with lots of bustle and activity. It has a large shopping centre, good community services, a TAFE campus, industrial estates and housing development.” writes Ryder.

Forturity have been able to locate the opportunity for our investors to purchase brand new 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, double lock up garage homes on blocks a minimum of 630 mtrs, for as little as $357,500. With the market value rent of these properties being between $340 and $360 per week, these properties will have positive cash flow for many of our investors. Click here to find learn more.

Australia’s state and federal governments are not alone in the global challenge of creating enough power to support their growing populations. Not only do they need to find ways of producing the power, but they need to do it cleanly as well. This problem is larger for Australia than the majority of countries due the massive rate in which our population is growing Add population growth link, and the fact that we supply so many other countries with the raw materials they use to generate power.

Currently an opportunity exists to invest in an area at a ground floor level that can potentially supply solutions to these problems.

Muswellbrook is not only at the centre of Australia’s renewable energy research, but also a major source of our energy exports. Currently its planned that over 2,000 jobs will be created around Muswellbrook in the short term to develop the future of Australia’s renewable energy needs.

Consider the following:

1. The Rudd government want to build the world’s largest solar power generator, three times bigger than the one that currently exists in California. The scale model plant is at The Lidell Power Station  in Muswellbrook.
2. The Kyoto Energy Park, 20 minutes north of Muswellbrook, will be home to NSW development of renewable energy needs, generating enough power for all homes and industry in the greater Hunter Valley. The facility will comprise of electricity creating eco-generating devices such as wind turbines, solar-voltaic cells, solar-thermal plant, closed loop small hydro and others. The initial aim is to provide all residents of The Hunter Valley the opportunity of using green and renewable energy.
3. Macquarie Generation, located 14 klms south of Muswellbrook is Australia’s largest electricity generator, and produces 40% of NSW’s power needs. It is currently looking to dramatically expand its operations.

NSW finance minister Joe Tripodi said the estimated value of the projects underway in The Hunter Valley is in the range of $6 to $10 Billion dollars and would generate more than 1,000 construction jobs alone.

Added to that Xstrata is spending over $1.1 Billion dollars on their Mangoola coal mine which is expected to produce 400 jobs directly and another 700 indirectly.

With Muswellbrook being at the heart of all of these developments, the population is set to boom in the next few years.

Forturity have been able to locate the opportunity for our investors to purchase brand new 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, double lock up garage homes on blocks a minimum of 630mtrs, for as little as $357,500. With the market value rent of these properties being between $340 and $360 per week, these properties will have positive cash flow for many of our investors.

Key features:

• 4 bedrooms / 2 bathrooms / double garage
• Quality brick and tile construction
• Turf to front and rear plus upgraded landscaping to front
• Bonus 2.5 hp split system air conditioner
• Gourmet kitchen including stainless steel oven, range hood, gas cook top and dishwasher. Laminated kitchen cupboards.
• Stencil crete driveways and patios

Your builder also provides you with:

• 7 Year structural guarantee to protect your investment
• Builders all risk insurance
• Free 3 month maintenance warranty
• Pest control treatment to comply with AS codes
• Wall & ceiling insulation for total thermal protection

If you would like an information pack about this opportunity please email muswellbrook@forturity.com.au

Property investment is all about making money, not about owning the prettiest property in the street. Many first time investors buy in or around the area they live rather than following a set of dynamics that will greatly increase the chances of success.

Another common mistake is to but units rather than houses. Usually because the areas are more affordable and more desirable. However, historically houses have a higher growth rate than units. This is because it’s the land that grows in value, not the property on top of it. Most project and property marketing companies promote units rather than houses, not because of a greater return, but because they are more available and easier for them to sell.

Many first time investors go looking for the perfect property and are more concerned about the colour of the kitchen rather than the area the property is in. A good investment will appeal to the broadest section of buyers and renters, not necessarily to one’s own specific tastes.

How you structure your finance when investing is critical. Many home owners use their savings as a deposit. If you have a home loan, you are better off to use your savings to pay down that debt, and use the equity in your property to borrow 100% of the investment property price and costs. This is because your investment loan is tax deductible and your home loan is not. There is no point paying a cent off your investment loan while you still have non tax-deductible home loans. So your investment loan should be interest only.

A common mistake when investing is to just go and see the bank that your home loan is with to arrange your finance. While they may lend you 100% of the purchase price & costs, they will usually cross-collaterise the investment against your home. This is an advantage to the bank and the bank only.

Unfortunately, due to these mistakes, many investors sell their property after a couple of years, and they don’t achieve the results they desired. Property is a medium to long term investment and while you can achieve great returns quickly, you cannot expect your property to double in value overnight.

The final two mistakes first time investors make is to wait until their home loan is paid off before they invest, or wait until the media start reporting that it is a good time to invest. The media report on things that have happened, so if you wait for them, you may miss ideal buying opportunities.

Australia’s population growth continues to surge ahead despite the world economic slowdown and a reduction in skilled migration. This is creating unprecedented demand for Australian housing.

Over the 12 months to March 2009 Australia’s estimated population has increased by just over 439,000 residents, fuelled by continuing increases in net overseas migration and a climbing rate of ‘natural increase’ (births outweighing deaths). In raw numbers, these recent growth figures are the highest on record. In percentage terms, the growth rate of 2.1% hasn’t been this high since the baby boom. Australia’s estimated residential population now sits at almost 21.8 million persons.

Whilst the government has cut some skilled migration, other forms of migration are still powering ahead. The other primary driver of the strong net migration figure relates to the fact that far fewer residents are leaving Australia. The latest ABS data (July 2009) shows a 17.2% decline in the number of permanent residents departing for overseas over the last year.

The last year has seen 278,239 new overseas migrants (accounting for just over 63% of population increases) and 160,822 more births than deaths (approximately 37% of population growth). Based on July migration figures, people born in India accounted for the largest proportion of new settlers to Australia (12.1%), followed by people born in China (11.8%), the UK (11.4%) and New Zealand (10.9%).

On a state-by-state basis, Queensland recorded the greatest total increase in population over the last year, with a population gain of 112,666 persons. This result is slightly greater than the increase of 112,454 persons in New South Wales.

If the growth rate is expressed as a percentage of the total population, Western Australia is the clear leader with the estimated residential population increasing by 3.1%, whilst Queensland comes in second with population growth of 2.6%. At the other end of the spectrum Tasmania has recorded the slowest rate of growth at just 1.0% followed by South Australia where the population increased by 1.2% over the year.

New South Wales remains the most populous State in Australia, home to just over 7 million residents or 32.5% of the total population of the country. Combining the three largest states, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland account for more than three quarters of the country’s population (77.4%).

It has not just been the rate of population growth over the last year which has been so impressive, Australia’s population has been ramping up for some time. Over the last five years Australia’s population has increased by almost 1.7 million persons at a rate of 1.7% annually over the period.

The increase in population creates additional demand for housing. The 2006 Census indicated that Australia’s average household size was 2.6 persons. Based on population growth alone and not considering other factors such as reducing household formation rates and demolitions, population growth over the last quarter of 109,765 persons would have created demand for around 42,217 new dwellings.

Despite this extra demand during the quarter, just 31,566 dwellings commenced construction. The June quarter data shows a further reduction in commencements, highlighting the disconnect between housing supply and population growth. The cumulative gap between supply and demand has been estimated to be around 200,000 dwellings and growing.

Such strong population growth should be viewed as a very positive outcome for Australia. A growing population creates more demand for our domestic products and services which in turn provides a natural stimulus to the economy.

Importantly, there are a wide variety of challenges that accompany such a strong rate of population growth. We need to see housing construction run in parallel with demand and there needs to be a Government strategy that is aligned with providing the essential services and infrastructure required by a growing population base.

Clearly these challenges are not being met: as a nation we have under built and housing is now critically under supplied. The flow on affect from this under supply will mean consistent upwards pressure on housing prices and rental rates which will lead to further issues associated with housing and rental affordability.

Rents in major Australian cities will rise by 50 per cent over the next four years, a report predicts.

Most major cities had seen double-digit percentage rises in house rents over the past year as advertised listings dropped to a five-year low, Australian Property Monitors said in its March quarter rental series.

Read the full report here.

The demand on housing is set to remain high for the foreseeable future, and now is a great time to consider investing in residential real estate. Forturity have a number of investment opportunities available in high demand areas and for many of our clients, we can show them how their purchase will grow for them and cost nothing to hold for up to 3 years. Please contact us for more information.

Australia is poised to be the world’s fastest growing industrialised nation over the next four decades, with a rate of population growth higher even than India.

In the first quarter of this year Australia saw the biggest influx of migrants in almost 30 years of detailed figures. It gained about 97,000 net migrants in the quarter, about 20,000 more than at any time since Bureau of Statistics figures started in 1981. The natural increase in the population – births less deaths – was also about 15 per cent higher in the year to March 31, than the previous year.

Read the whole story in the Sydney Morning Herald.

This is powerful news for Australian property investors who take a longer term view of their investments. As the population increases, land and well positioned properties will increase in value due to continuing higher levels of demand.

Please let us know how we can assist you in achieving your property invesment goals.

Contact Us

The doom and gloom is starting to lift, and the media are now printing positive reports about the property market. There are especially good signs for property investment in Maitland NSW.

This unique elevated estate, located just minutes west of historic Maitland, provides a panoramic vista of the picturesque semi-rural landscape. The marrying of the old with the new is evident with historic & traditional buildings sitting comfortably with contemporary facilities like new schools, modern shopping centres & other essential elements of modern infrastructure.

Click to enlarge.

The development undertaken by Thomas Paul Constructions consists of a range of residential house and land packages. Each home comprises 4 generously sized bedrooms, oversized master suite, ensuite and double garage including remote access. The median floor area of each dwelling is 190 sqm inclusive of garage space and patio area.

Key features:

• 4 bedrooms / 2 bathrooms / double garage
• Quality brick and tile construction
• Turf to front and rear plus upgraded landscaping to front
• Bonus 2.5 hp split system air conditioner
• Gourmet kitchen including stainless steel oven, range hood, gas cook top and dishwasher. Laminated kitchen cupboards.
• Stencil crete driveways and patios

Prices in the development range from $390,000 to $410,000

Your cashback: $10,000

Rents are expected at between $370.00 and $390.00 per week.

About Maitland.

Due to 4 major announcements from Tuesdays nights Federal Budget, the door has opened for an exciting investment opportunity in NSW. What was a good investment before this announcement has just become great, and now is the time to act before the accelerated population growth moves in and pushes up property prices.

1. $1.5 Billion to be spent on the upgrade of The New England Highway
2. $4.5 Billion to be spent on clean coal technology
3. $4.2 Billion to be spent on new solar power plant
4. $35 Million for Medical Research Institute

The New England Highway runs through the heart of The Hunter Valley Region in NSW which has a population of over 610,000 people. It is the largest regional area in Australia and home to more people than the state of Tasmania, the ACT, and The Gold Coast. The last decade has seen strong population growth as people relocate to the region from other parts of Australia.

The town that will prosper most from this budget spending is Maitland.

Maitland

Maitland is geographically ideally located to benefit from the New England Highway upgrade, and also the continual population boom in the area. From the last Census figures Maitland was the fastest growing local government area in NSW between 2006 and 2007. It is the hub of the Lower Hunter Region, and with the population set to grow by 125,000 over the next 20 years, Maitland will house a great deal of these people.

Forturity have a brand new 4 bedroom houses on blocks over 650 mtrs at $390,000 that will rent for up to $390 per week. For clients with a taxable income of $50,000 or over, these properties will cost approx $23 per week. For clients with an income of $90,000 or more the properties will have positive cash flow.

Your builder also provides you with:

• 7 Year structural guarantee to protect your investment
• Builders all risk insurance
• Free 3 month maintenance warranty
• Pest control treatment to comply with AS codes
• Wall & ceiling insulation for total thermal protection

This region ticks all the boxes that successful property investors look for. Here’s a rundown:

• The Hunter Valley coal chain is the world’s largest coal export supply system. Hunter Valley coal production is forecast to increase from under $100 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to over 200 mtpa by 2014 and possibly up to 300 mtpa.
• The Government-owned Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is investing over $1 billion to improve coal carrying capacity in the region to realise its Hunter Valley Investment Strategy.
• In the December 2008 Nation Building Package, the Government provided a $1.2 billion equity injection to the ARTC to finance its Hunter Valley rail expansion and to upgrade other key sections of the national rail network.
• The region produces 36% of Australia’s coal exports, with 80 million tons per annum worth $6 billion dollars sent through the Port of Newcastle (Australia’s largest port)
• The region produces 1/3 of Australia’s aluminum
• Growing military bases at Singleton & Williamtown
• Australia’s largest contiguous industrial zone
• One and a half hours north of Sydney, 20 mins west of Newcastle
• Newcastle is Australia’s fastest growing regional airport
• NSW’s largest producer of electric power
• Equine industry provides 70% of Australia’s thoroughbred foals
• More wineries & cellar doors in the region than anywhere else in Australia
• Population set to grow by 125,000 over 25 years
• From the last Census figures Maitland was the fastest growing local government area in NSW.

Here’s what makes this deal even better:

We can get you a $10,000 rebate toward your purchase. That means that you’ll have $10,000 in an offset account and this will pay all the holding costs for at 5 years +. So you can have an investment growing in value for you and it cost you nothing for 5 years +.

To find out more, send an email through to maitland@forturity.com.au and we will send you an indepth information pack on the properties, the area and a cash flow analysis based on your circumstances.

Melbourne is an international city with a vibrant arts scene, a multicultural population, cosmopolitan cafes, restaurants and pubs, and world renowned sporting events. It is the country’s second largest city and VIC is its second largest state.

The Melbourne property investment market has been one of the country’s strongest for the past decade. With over 1,600 people arriving each week from interstate and overseas, there is a continued demand for new well located housing.

The Victorian government has a master plan for its growth over the next 25 years. While there are plans for more high density housing in the Melbourne inner city suburbs, it also has earmarked growth centres on the outskirts of the CBD.

These growth centers will be on good transport links to Melbourne, and have medical, educational, sporting and entertainment facilities. The government is also encouraging private infrastructure spending to create employment around these centres.

Two of these centres that should see strong growth in the short to medium term are Melton and Wyndham. Both have very affordable housing and are geographically well located for growth.

If you are interested in learning more about how this investment could work for you, please call Forturity today.