Aireys Inlet Real Estate Open Inspections Nov 5-6

Not quite Norway, but Australia is still a great place to call home

Australia is second best – almost but not quite the greatest place in which to live, according to the latest United Nations human development index. Norway pips us by a flared nostril. Australia scores 0.93 on a scale of 0 to 1, where 1 is the highest score possible. At 0.94, Norway’s margin over Australia is close to invisible.

Not so for the poorest scorer in the UN’s ranking of 187 nations. The Democratic Republic of the Congo gets a score of 0.29. The UN says the average length of schooling there is 3.5 years. Life expectancy is 49 years.

The human development index is made up of life expectancy, years of schooling and gross national income per capita. Australia scores spectacularly well on life expectancy with 82 years, second only to Japan, which has 83.

The only thing Norway has that we have much less of is income. At $US47,600 per head, Norway leaves Australia’s $US34,400 per head in the shade. If it weren’t for the income measure, Australia would be ranked the most developed country in the world. The UN givesAustralia first place in its measure of ‘non-income human development’.

A good many of the nations surveyed by the UN make more per head than Norway, but it finds them poor models of development. The citizens of Qatar earn $US107,700 per head, but stay in school an average of seven years. Even Singapore, where they earn $US52,600 per head, can boast only 10 years at school.

Many of the countries Australia are used to comparing ourselves with perform poorly. The US has a lower life expectancy. Britain has an average stay in school of nine years.

We are among the most satisfied citizens on earth, typically giving a figure of 7.5 when asked to rate our satisfaction with life on a scale of 0 to 10. Denmark, Canada and Norway are more satisfied, but in the US and Britain they are more miserable, with scores of 7.2 and 7.0.

The high-income residents of Qatar and Singapore would be happier here. Their satisfaction scores are 6.8 and 6.5.

Typically, though, happiness does follow income. The low-income nations of Burundi, Haiti and the Congo each have a satisfaction score of 3.8.

Australians are not a particularly equal society (Norway’s income distribution puts us in the shade) and far from impressive when it comes to equality of the sexes. On gender equality Australia is the 18th-ranked nation in the world; Sweden is No. 1.

Pushing us down in the gender rating is our teenage fertility rate (16 in every 1000 teenage women gives birth, far more than most European nations but a good deal less than the US) and our placement of women in Parliament. The UN says 28 per cent of our parliamentary seats are occupied by women, a ranking well below Norway, with 40 per cent, and New Zealand, with 34 per cent.

The UN says the worst places in the world to live are in Africa. The bottom five are Chad, Mozambique, Burundi, Niger and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The five best places to live are Norway, Australia, the Netherlands, the US and New Zealand.

(source: The Age)

Click here for info on this weekends surf.

See you on the coast.

James Worssam

james@greatoceanroadrealestate.com.au

0418 585 815

Aireys Inlet Real Real Estate Open House Inspections October 22 -23

Home loans rise again: housing steadies

The housing sector is stabilising as talk of an interest rate rise wanes and Australians are encouraged to borrow more, economists say.

The number of home loans approved in August rose 1.2 per cent to 50,965, official figures show. Economists’ forecasts had centred on a 1 per cent rise in housing finance commitments for the month.

August was the fifth straight month that housing finance commitments had risen.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said total housing finance by value rose 1.0 per cent in August, seasonally adjusted, to $20.848 billion.

JPMorgan economist Ben Jarman said the figures showed the housing sector was stabilising rather than rebounding.

‘‘It certainly means it’s not falling into a hole,’’ Mr Jarman said. ‘‘In the last few months worth of data, the housing finance figures have benefited from the perception that the RBA won’t be doing much in the near term.

‘‘So, if you went back to the start of this year, the RBA didn’t hike rates but there was all the forecast and all the language were making noises that you would get a couple of hikes this year.

‘‘Those aren’t being delivered and things offshore have turned a little bit sour.

‘‘What you’ve seen in the last few months in the home loans data is these fading expectations are helping out and people are coming back and they are happy to take on new debt.

‘‘We’re kind of calling this a mini-rally, but don’t think that this is the start of a tear away in the housing market.

‘‘There’s still a lot of uncertainty globally and that’s what’s keeping the RBA on the sidelines.’’

Mr Jarman said JPMorgan still expected the RBA not to change the cash rate from its current 4.75 per cent until at least the middle of 2012.

Check details on this weekends surf here.

See you in Our Backyard.

Aireys Inlet Real Estate Open Home Inspections September 17 – 18

DUD AUCTION BUYER SUCCESSFULLY SUED

An auction ‘buyer’ whose cheque for the 10 per cent deposit bounced was successfully sued by the home’s owners in the NSW Supreme Court.

The Sydney house, based in Collaroy, was initially sold for $2.3 million to Lily Gubbay, beating two other bidders.

But, as The Daily Telegraph reported, Ms Gubbay left a dud cheque for the compulsory 10 per cent deposit.

The owner, who eventually sold the house for $1.95 million, successfully sued Ms Gubbay in what the report said was believed to be the first case of its kind.

On Friday, Justice Bergin ordered the ‘buyer’, Ms Gubbay, to pay the $350,000 difference plus interest, costs of the first auction and the cost of reselling the house.

The total amount payable was estimated at $447,000 compensation plus legal costs of more than $50,000.

After Ms Gubbay’s $230,000 cheque bounced, her lawyer Damon Hall told the sellers his client “had no money,”  Justice Patricia Bergin said.

Seller Pamela Clancy, who put the family house on the market along with her cousin David Burnet, said she would never sell a house by auction again.

“It gives you a nasty feeling,” Ms Clancy told the newspaper.

Real Estate Institute of Australia president Pamela Bennett told the Daily Telegraph that she had never heard of this happening in her 35 years in the business but it shouldn’t put people off selling at auction as it simply reinforced that the process was legally binding.

“At all auctions you must be able to pay the deposit. It is unconditional,” she said.

Aireys Inlet Real Estate Open Houses

Saturday 17th September
11:00am – 11:45am Lot 36 Narani Way, Fairhaven
11:00am – 11:45am 7 Narani Way, Fairhaven
11:00am – 11:45am Lot 29 Narani Way, Fairhaven

Sunday 18th September
11:00am – 11:45am Lot 36 Narani Way, Fairhaven
11:00am – 11:45am 7 Narani Way, Fairhaven
11:00am – 11:45am Lot 29 Narani Way, Fairhaven

Aireys Inlet Real Estate Home Inspections July 23 – 24, 2011

Aireys Inlet Open houses this weekend

Saturday 23rd July
12:00pm – 12:30pm 22 Beach Road Aireys Inlet
2:00pm – 2:30pm 9 Albert Avenue Aireys Inlet

Sunday 24th July
11:00am – 11:45am Narani Way Fairhaven
2:00pm – 2:30pm 51 Camp Road Anglesea

WESTPAC TIPS RATE CUTS

Westpac’s chief economist Bill Evans has shocked the market by forecasting a series of interest rate cuts.

Mr Evans said low consumer sentiment could force the Reserve Bank of Australia to slash the official cash rate by up to 1 per cent in 2012.

“We were all talking not long ago that rates could go up, but if the consumer remains subdued there may be interest rate reductions and if that occurs that would be a very strong stimulus for the consumer to save less and spend a little bit more,” he said.

But it seems not everyone shares Mr Evans’ view on rates. Last week ANZ’s head of Australian economics and property research Ivan Colhoun said he expects the Reserve Bank to keep the official cash rate on hold at 4.75 per cent until February 2012, when it will start raising rates again.

James Worssam

mobi: 0418 585 815

It’s not called the Surf Coast for nothing!

Very high tides and huge swells battered the Great Ocean Road, Victoria this week. Day after day saw large waves breaking at all the beaches and all the main breaks along the coast from Torquay, Aireys Inlet, Lorne to Warrnambool. Places that rarely have surfable waves were inhabited by surfers making the most of the rare conditions. Building sites were quiet and many RDO’s were enforced as the biggest swell in recent years was predicted days in advance of its arrival.
The advent of the internet, i-phones and sophisticated forecasting allows surfers to know days in advance of an incoming swell and to let their mates know of the best places to be at any given time.

The attached photo was taken at a break near Lorne last Saturday, July 2011.