NewsFigures released by the ABS show that housing starts rose 9.4% in the September 2009 quarter following four quarters of declines.
Housing Industry Association Senior Economist Ben Phillips says the First Home Owner Boost together with very low variable mortgage rates helped to lift housing starts in the September quarter. HIA forecasts that commencements will continue to improve over this financial year with growth of at least 9 per cent expected tin 2009/2010.
In the RBA minutes from its December 1 board meeting the central bank says its decision to raise rates by 25 basis points this month was driven by expected demand for housing and infrastructure amid the boom in resource investment.The RBA says it will continue to raise rates as the Australian economy continues to improve.
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. We have compiled a list of the top growth suburbs in the last 12 months for each capital city around Australia that also have median house prices under $600,000. This week the focus is outer Melbourne - we’re looking at Craigieburn but first up is Dallas which is located about 18 kms North West of Melbourne’s CBD.
Dallas’ population 3 years ago was almost 6,000 people and this is a multicultural area with almost 15% of residents being Turkish and Iraq, Lebanon and Malta all having a significant population count. It’s a family suburb with 75% of homes containing families and 73% of these families contain children. 26% of dwellings are rental properties. Houses make up 89% of properties. Dallas’ residents work as laborers, drivers and in trades. The median house price in Dallas is $285,000 dollars, which is a huge 27% higher compared to a year ago. 2008 growth was 11 percent. There have been 71 houses sold in the last 12 months. The median rent price for a house in the suburb is $290 which brings the gross rental yield to 5.3%.
Now to the house market in Craigieburn which is located about 26 km north of Melbourne’s CBD. It’s a big subrurb with a population of over 20,000. 93% of dwellings are stand alone houses. 82% of dwellings are families while 76% are of these families contain children. Just 14% of homes in the suburb are rental properties and Craigieburn’s residents are employed in clerical, trades and sales roles. The median house price in Craigieburn is $320,000 dollars, which is an increase of 15% compared to a year ago. In 2008 growth was 7%. There were 605 houses sold in Craigieburn in the 12 months to November 30. The median rental price is $310 bringing the gross rental yield to just over 5%.
Tax TipNow a lot of people think that if you buy an investment property at a location where you like to go on holidays, then you can claim the travel costs of visiting your property as a tax deduction, twice a year. So you can have a tax deductible holiday twice a year? Well of course, isn't quite as simple as that. The ATO will only allow you to claim the travel costs that are attributable to the essential management of the property. This means that if you visit the property say for a body corporate meeting or to inspect the tenants, and then spend a few days on holiday while you are there, you can't claim all the travel costs as a deduction. Only the percentage of the trip that was spent managing the investment is deductible. Similarly, if you use the holiday investment yourself at any time throughout the year, you can only claim the proportion of the costs that it was available for lease to the public. You can't claim the proportion of the costs that relate to the time when you were staying there. And if you don't have a lot of income to show for the holiday rental, you may need to convince the ATO that it is in fact a holiday rental and not your own private holiday house. If you are unsure, your accountant will be able to advise what percentage of any costs should be claimed as a deduction
