NewsIn property news, Westpac has become the first of the top banks to introduce an interest free ‘green loan’. Home owners can now apply for a Westpac Green Loan for up to $10,000 to make their homes more sustainable. The loan has been introduced as part of the Federal Governments Green Loans Program, developed to assist homeowners to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by installing solar, water saving and energy efficient products.
In other news the ABS released figures showing a 2.7 per cent rise in building approvals for the month of September after falling the month before. Western Australia experienced the biggest increase with building approvals up 5.9 per cent for the month, closely followed by Victoria with a 5.1 per cent increase.
Suburb in FocusIn our suburb in focus section each week, we look at property markets around Australia that could be of interest to property investors and this week we are looking at two affordable Adelaide suburbs that are offering decent growth AND rental yields. We’re looking at Elizabeth Downs but first up is neighboring suburb Elizabeth Park which is located a 28km drive north of the centre of Adelaide.
Elizabeth is an area that was established in the 50s as a satellite town by the South Australian Housing Trust and was originally populated by many English and Northern European immigrants. It has many suburbs in the area including Elizabeth North, Elizabeth South, Elizabeth Park and Elizabeth Downs. Holden is one of the major employers of the area as its assembly plant is located in Elizabeth, along with other industrial employers.
3 years ago Elizabeth Park had a population of about 3,400. 63% of dwellings contain families and the most common family type is couples without children. 78% of properties are stand alone houses and 40% are rental properties. The median dwelling price in Elizabeth Park is $205,000 dollars, which is an increase of 6.77% compared to a year ago while the 3 year growth is over 41%. The median rental price is $220 bringing the gross rental yield to 5.58%.
Now to the property market in Elizabeth Downs which is located just 2kms north of Elizabeth Park and had a population of over 5,000 in 2006. Stand alone houses accounting for 84% of properties. 67% of properties are families and again, the most common family unit is couples without children. 38% of homes in the suburb are rental properties. The median property price in Elizabeth Downs is $200,000 dollars, which is 6.1% higher compared to a year ago and the three year growth is over 33%. The median rent price for a house in the suburb is $215 which brings the gross rental yield to 5.59%.
Tax TipAnd this week we are looking at the situation of an investment property that is held by a self managed super fund.
Now you most likely know that you can’t derive any benefits from assets held by self managed super funds. In fact, only 5% of the value of your self managed super fund can be kept ‘inhouse’ by you. So if your self managed super fund owns a lot of art work, you may not be able to keep those artworks on your wall in your home because you are personally benefitting from them.
In the case of property, that means that you can’t even stay in the property for one night because you would be benefitting from the super fund’s assets and if you did, the ATO would consider the whole asset value as being kept ‘inhouse’ which would would probably exceed the 5% ‘in house’ limit . The only exception is if the property just happens to be vacant and you pay market rent.
So, if you have a property in your self managed super fund, consult your accountant - find out what you can and cannot do with it and get specific advice for your situation. It could save you trouble with the ATO down the track.
