Four In Ten Australians Living On The Edge

[Soul Reaver]

Why the hell have people been so damn stupid?; thinking that the good times would continue for ever? And still a sizeable majority think that we'll all sail away from this mess with nothing more than a slightly tricky 6 months of economising etc. We need TOTAL change, and prepare ourselves for life with half the income we may have previously enjoyed.

I have instigated a complete LOCK DOWN on family spending, and am buying gold coins (and a wide range of other tin foil hat measures) to ensure that we can survive the next decade.

Aussies - wake up and prepare for years of pain.

You wont survive though because if we get to the point where you need to use your gold coins I will be stealing them from you with the help of my guns

Edited July 15, 2009 by Soul Reaver

[Panda]

http://business.theage.com.au/business/wer...90711-dgs0.html

We're deaf to the economy's screeching tyresRichard Webb

July 12, 2009

ARE we really this naive? Full-time jobs are being lost by the tens of thousands each month, job advertisements have halved in a year and most economic experts say the Australian economy is travelling backwards now and will be doing so for a while.

No one in a position to make an educated guess is saying we are through the worst of this recession. Many are saying things will get worse until around the end of the year, particularly on the jobs front.

Economists predict unemployment will peak at about 8 per cent in 2010 — it is currently at 5.8 per cent. You can smell the job cuts coming in major businesses in Melbourne. Those unlucky people who get the axe will have to fight it out with over half a million already looking for full-time work and another 160,000 seeking part-time jobs.

Household wealth has been declining too. AMP Capital's Shane Oliver estimates the average household has seen its wealth fall by about 15 per cent over the past 18 months even though the housing market has been resilient. Share portfolios and superannuation have been going down the gurgler.

Even international tourist dollars are drying up. We found out last week that in May nearly 40,000 more of us left for overseas than the number of overseas tourists visiting. CommSec's Craig James says that's the biggest gap in 24 years.

This would generally be considered a bleak economic and financial outlook. But are we cautious and pessimistic? To hell we are! In fact, quite the reverse — and seemingly because Mr Rudd lobbed many of us up to $900 bucks just for being here.

According to the June Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey, we are more confident about the future than at any time since December 2007.

That's remarkable. December 2007 was just after the sharemarket hit record highs about 45 per cent above where shares are today. There wasn't a whisper of a global financial crisis. The economy was zooming along, unemployment was at 4.3 per cent and only in the business pages were there mentions of a "US subprime crisis".

Yet, in May and June in Australia, in this bleak economic environment and with the global economy in recession for the first time since the 1930s, we have seen the biggest two-month leap in consumer confidence since the survey began back in 1975. The index has jumped 23 per cent in two months and we now have more people optimistic about the future than pessimistic.

We apparently feel more secure in our jobs, we expect house prices to rise and we are more confident in the economic outlook.

Retail sales are 7 per cent higher year on year, and car sales in June jumped 10 per cent, the third highest result on record.

The Reserve Bank deserves a tap on the back too. Mr James has calculated that someone with a $300,000 home loan has saved $5500 in repayment costs since interest rates started to fall last September.

We have made some adjustments to the changed financial landscape. Sales of chicken have rocketed. You can walk into a high-end Melbourne restaurant these days without needing a booking — they're doing it tough. And sales of feel-good items such as lipstick are strong.

This is all very well. But the level of confidence is totally out of line with what's economically around the corner. There are no more government handouts coming — and we've got worse news on jobs and the economy to come. It's a bit like hearing the sound of tyres squealing before a car crash.

http://business.theage.com.au/business/mar...90710-dfaf.html

Market tilts in renters' favourChris Zappone

July 10, 2009

Increases in rents for houses have ''stopped dead'' in their tracks, as a slackening job market saps demand and record-low interest rates steers others into home ownership.

Asking rents virtually plateaued in the three months to the end of June, after increases slowed in the March quarter, marking the ''most significant shift in the rental market'' since Australian Property Monitors, compiler of the data, began its survey six years ago.

''The first six months of 2009 has seen the market turn in favour of renters,'' said APM economist Matthew Bell. ''The absence of any rental growth in the June quarter across major capitals follows a noticeable slowing in the rate of increase in the March quarter.''

Prior to the economic downturn beginning about a year ago, housing affordability had plummeted both for those seeking to buy their own homes and those looking to rent. Lower interest rates may offer some relief to both owners of rental property and to renters who are now finding home ownership within their reach.

In March APM noted lower interest rates were now giving renters "real options to buy their own home due to improved housing affordability."

The fact that "mortgage costs have remained at historic lows for landlords" in June has continued to take pressure off landlords to raise rates, today's report said.

Restraining demand from potential tenants has been rising unemployment, ''reducing the overall ability of renters to afford increases," the report said.

Official figures released yesterday showed the jobless rate ticked up to 5.8 per cent in June, near a six-year high, from 5.7 per cent in May, as companies cut full-time workers.

''With unemployment forecast to continue rising well into 2010, the First Home Owners Boost in place until December, and variable interest rates predicted to fall by another 0.5 per cent, the market is expected to favour renters for some time,'' the report said.

Interest rates were left on hold this week by the Reserve Bank at their 49-year low of 3 per cent. The central bank has moved quickly in the past year to ease the cost of loans, taking the burden off mortgage-holders, while the Federal Government's First Home Buyers grant boost was extended in the budget handed down in May.

Home prices, though, have fallen by 3.7 per cent in the year to March, according to APM, as the entire real estate market has edge down amid a slowing economy.

Melbourne, Sydney

On a quarterly basis, the median asking house rent price in Melbourne was flat for the quarter and the year.

''For Melbourne, the inner urban areas show by far the lowest rental yields for houses and units,'' he said.

Gross quarterly rental yields on houses in the inner east suburbs rose only 3.3 per cent, while homes in the south east gained 5 per cent.

Inner east units gained 4.35 per cent in the quarter while inner east units also rose 4.35 per cent, APM said.

In Sydney the median weekly asking rents for house were flat in the quarter and up 7.1 per cent for the year.

''For Sydney, it's the south and west regions that have gross rental yields exceeding 5 per cent for houses and approaching 7 per cent for units,'' said Mr Bell.

Quarterly gross rental yields on units in Canterbury Bankstown rose 6.67 per cent, while Upper North Shore rose 5.4 per cent.

''It's hard to see rental yields going too much higher in these areas, as price growth remains positive while the upwards pressure on weekly asking rents has diminished significantly with the general economy,'' Mr Bell said.

''Vacancy rates are still low at a city level, the population is still growing strongly, and the increase in housing finance has yet to flow through to new building, so the long-term outlook for demand for rental property is good.''

Darwin led the nation for increases in median asking rent prices, which jumped 7.5 per cent for units. In Hobart they gained 2.1 per cent in the quarter.

[South Lorne]

Some great hearsay on this thread.

If you really want to slum it, we have Aldi here too.

...Aldi have just won supermarket of the year in the UK by the Consumer Magazine 'Which'......

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-...et-1700752.html

[South Lorne]

If you can get them talking off the subject of the weather or sport they're ******ed ....

...sounds like the inhabitants of the UK.....and myself...

[aussieboy]

http://business.theage.com.au/business/wer...90711-dgs0.html

We're deaf to the economy's screeching tyresRichard Webb

July 12, 2009

SNIP

Rents are plateauing because people are buying houses instead of renting and because affordability is high, as the article says. Do you have the link to hand showing the H1 09 price rises in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane?

EDITED for a correction.

Edited July 16, 2009 by aussieboy

[aussieboy]

The Ozzies are thick as ****** and deserve what they get. I lived there for a year back in 1999.

They're a bunch of numbnuts. If you can get them talking off the subject of the weather or sport they're ******ed and spontaneously combust right infront of you. Which was fun.

Love this post for three reasons:

1) 20 million people dismissed in a two short paragraphs. How do you feel about Canadians? Perhaps you saw a documentary on television about the country.

2) A bloke called "mrfooty" complains about hanging around with sports obsessives. Perhaps if your personality and interests had led you to choose "mrerudite" as a username you may have found the one or two people here who are interested in more than sports.

3) In the year you were here you never got past small talk... for some reason.

More please!

[aussieboy]

...sounds like the inhabitants of the UK.....and myself...

Me too, to be honest. Hey, perhaps I met mrfooty when he was here in 99 and put him off by my polite conversational openers.

EDITED for sense.

Edited July 16, 2009 by aussieboy

[aussieboy]

Don't sit on the fence on this one .

A girl at work has just come back after 5 years there. She never talks about it and chose to come back to filthy, expensive London from Melbourne.

Her new accent is really annoying. She finishes every sentence with a high pitched inflection that makes me want to punch her.

Could be worse: she could have moved to and picked up the accent from:

- Birmingham (specifically, Dudley)

- Liverpool

- [add other regional accent here]

Or does your tolerance for dialects and accents end at the English (NOT BRITISH) Channel?

[South Lorne]

Me too, to be honest. Hey, perhaps I met mrfooty when he was here in 99 and put him off by my polite conversational openers.

EDITED for sense.

...he's probably still looking for a place to 'fit in'.....

[Confounded]

Australia largely avoided the last recession if you use housing as a guide, I believe this is what has built up their supreme level of confidence.

[soldintime]

I married on ozzie who loves living in Europe. We travel to oz quite regularly to visit the family.

Quote from my 12 year old Nephew when watching the Australian Open " Roger Federer is Australian Uncle ? " I said No. "But he is winning"

That sums it up for me.

And yes food is expensive $5 (£2.50) for an avergae loaf of bread. I can't get over the prices of Mars bars, more than a £1 each. Wine is cheaper but not by much. 24 slab of Victoria Bitter is $34.99 - £17.50. So beer is not any cheaper. Petrol is cheaper but than you drive longer distances.

[Elizabeth]

Well I was out there in April and that ties up with what I discovered.

Everything seemed so expensive (£4 for the cheapest shampoo and £1.50 for a Mars Bar)

We spent £200 on shopping for 7 people's food for a few days, and I reckon the same stuff here would have been under £100 in any of our supermarkets.

We stayed with Australian friends and when I asked them about how people could afford such prices the reply was 'credit cards'.

Someone once summed Australia up to me very well. They described it as 'Nowhere near as good as Australian's think it is'.

That's spot on as far as I'm concerned. A classic case in point was that our friends were from South Australia, and were having to put up with rolling power cuts in Adelaide because the Aussies can't/won't invest in power stations.

Yes, it's sunny, but for me there's very little to make it a desirable place to live. One of the worst parts of course is that it's just so damned far to anywhere else.

Well I don't know where you were shopping but I got my cheapest shampoo for $1.23 from Bi-Lo. I'm loving it! it is really expensive. That is because they introduced a goods and services tax (like VAT). Before that it was cheap as chips. Jobs are harder to get. Thats a downer and the reason I left in the first place. But I only need one! So, with 5 applications a week at least (that is what the unemployment service insist on if I want to collect benefits - how would that go in Britain?) I should have one real soon (even if the state government has frozen the public sector, and there are only about 3 jobs left this week (down from hundreds, I guess its going to be the private sector for meeee - now if only the British governments could take a lead)). Yes its tougher here, and we expect people to get off their butts and look for a job if they haven't got one, and there is not a lot of sympathy for a poor attitude, and there is a lot less public housing, so we get to live in shacks (now I really am slumming it, but I bogged up the cracks in the weather board so that the sun doesn't shine through the single lined boards and with a backyard and a tree out the front and a bike to get around its fine!). Anyway, the sun is great. Even in winter!

PS: A Mars Bar at $1.50 is about 75p. You need to do the comparison before you get all het up. What do they cost in England?

Edited July 16, 2009 by Elizabeth

[aussieboy]

I married on ozzie who loves living in Europe. We travel to oz quite regularly to visit the family.

Quote from my 12 year old Nephew when watching the Australian Open " Roger Federer is Australian Uncle ? " I said No. "But he is winning"

That sums it up for me.

And yes food is expensive $5 (£2.50) for an avergae loaf of bread. I can't get over the prices of Mars bars, more than a £1 each. Wine is cheaper but not by much. 24 slab of Victoria Bitter is $34.99 - £17.50. So beer is not any cheaper. Petrol is cheaper but than you drive longer distances.

I can't believe I've been driven to this, but the government provides a pricewatch site (not for much longer, perhaps).

If you really want to know prices of bread:

http://grocery.bestpricedirectory.com.au/b...079fc7056d9036d

~$5 bread is the posh Burgen stuff. It isn't the average stuff which is ~GBP1.20.

You can compare all the rest of the stuff to your heart's content.

PS Look, Mars Bars. Although they're two for $3 at my Coles.

EDITED to add: hmm... I don't this that site's the Govt one.

Edited July 16, 2009 by aussieboy

[aussieboy]

Australia largely avoided the last recession if you use housing as a guide, I believe this is what has built up their supreme level of confidence.

This graph was discussed at length on the "Demons" thread for any who are interested.