by Felix » Wed Sep 27, 2006 11:14 pm
They should've drowned him at birth Smitty...
Yeah, there has been a lot of talk of this "put in an offer" rubbish lately. You see they want renters to think the rental market is tight. Actually, it is in some places (inner city suburbs for instance), but there is a problem...
Over the last few years, people have been busy buying up investment properties. Now investment properties by definition mean rentals. There is currently a bit of a shortage in rentals as quite a few people are trying to get out of their investment properties, so they are trying to sell them. It is easier to sell vacant houses...so there is an artificial shortage of rentals. Or rather there are fewer rentals than would otherwise be the case.
But...
Soon people will have to face selling at a loss or basically no gain, having an empty house returning no income, or taking any rental income they can get. This will be especially so if we get more rates rises and other financial stresses. It is likely there will be a wave of housing coming on the market if those conditions are met, which means a drop in house prices, which in turn means a drop in rental prices.
Real estate agents want us to think rentals are hard to come by, but that doesn't really sit well when they start putting "For Rent" signs out everywhere...
Anyhow...
We've just put our name down on a block, not because we think it is a great financial move to buy our own house - it isn't - but simply because I am probably going to murder a real estate agent (soon!) if we continue renting...I can't stand the leaches...
- Team Furball -
