The Unhealthy Way to Healthy Sales Numbers
Australians spend around $85 billion in supermarket groceries annually, with meat, fruits and vegetables accounting for $28 billion. Surprisingly, tobacco and junk food are quickly catching up, with $17 billion in combined sales. In the 12 months to June alone, cigarette sales have ballooned to $8.5 billion, a 16% increase from the last year, become the fastest growing product in supermarkets based on cash register data from Coles, Woolworths, IGA and FoodWorks. Junk food has cracked the $1 billion mark for the first time, up by 6.% from the previous year. Read more about this on the Sydney Morning Herald [...]
Are Rate Cuts Still Possible?
Chief Officer for Investments of Saxo Bank Steen Jakobsen has been long forecasting further rate cuts as majority of economists predict a rate hike for next year. With falling commodity prices and rising unemployment, how low can we really go? Rate cuts are most likely to happen to support the economy, according to Jakobsen, with predictions of as many as four more rate cuts that will drop the official cash rate to a record low 1.5%. He believes that this is necessary to avoid a housing bubble and that there is a chance of a recession in 2015 if rates [...]
Smart Machines to Dominate by 2020: Gartner
Smart interconnected devices are expected to dominate the world - from regular appliances to cars by 2020, according to research group Gartner. The auto industry is expected to grow the fastest, with predictions of over 3.5 billion vehicles to be connected to the internet in the next decade, as majority of tasks are automated, especially with the rise of app – controlled devices. By 2020, it is predicted that each person will have around 3 devices connected online. Several companies have bolder expectations, with Cisco and Morgan Stanley predicting around 50 billion and 75 billion connected devices in the future. [...]
Are Property Prices in Australia Rising Too Fast?
Real Estate firm CBRE has recently given us a bird’s eye view of the global property market, showing us the property prices for major cities in the last 30 years. According to the research, UK prices have increased the most at a staggering 231.9%. The second fastest? Australia at 221.4%. Sydney was ranked the 4th most expensive city in the world after London, New York and Hong Kong. Surprisingly, US property prices have only increased by 53.2% in the last 30 years, with declines for both Germany and Japan at 7.8% and 14.5% respectively. Australian property prices have increased due [...]
Are Banks Prepared for a Mortgage Crash?
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority recently conducted a mortgage stress test on 13 Australian banks to determine the industry’s preparedness in case of a crash - and banks are not as prepared as they think. The mortgage stress test included drastic market situations, such as a recession and a sudden rise in the official cash rate. Despite banks appearing to be “reasonably resilient”, APRA chair Wayne Byres expressed concerns on the contingency plans banks have in place. Banks have no clear strategies for cost reductions in case loan rates and bad debts increase. Read more about this on the Property [...]
Are First Home Buyers Conceding Home Ownership By Renting?
Median house prices have reached a record high for all capital cities, increasing to $681,640 for the month of October making houses out of reach for First Home buyers. In a recent study by PRDnationwide, the average First home buyer in Melbourne can only afford spending around $400,000, way below than the current house median price of $715,694. But is this really all there is to the story? News of unaffordability have been widespread that First home buyers are losing hope and opted to rent. Looking at the situation closely reveals that the median price would mean that there are [...]
Brokers Should Use Social Media For The Right Reasons
A growing number of brokers are harnessing the power of Social Media but are missing out on a few key practices, according to Social Media Business Boosters’ Sandra Pigram. It is important to think of the end user and the message you are trying to convey before you post, as more relevant and engaging content attracts clients, rather than posting about the most recent deal you closed. Pigram also advises brokers to religiously have a blog updated – even once a month, to show your expertise in your field. Social Media is so important that brokers are encouraged to have [...]
Major Bank Brokers in Hot Water for Lavish Bonuses
The Australian Finance Group, the National Australia Bank and Westpac – 3 of the 4 big banks in Australia are being criticized for business practices that allegedly provide brokers with huge bonuses – even trips to the Playboy Mansion, raising questions as to whether their recommendations are in the best interest of clients, or driven by these lavish incentives. AFG currently has over 2,000 mortgage brokers in the country and provides them with services that allow brokers to save on compliance costs – provided that they pay a monthly fee to AFG. When a deal is closed, AFG receives a [...]
Foreign Buyers: The Insatiable Appetite For Australian Property
Foreign demand for Australian property has been on a recent high, with 1 out of 6 properties purchased by an overseas buyer, accounting for 17% of the total demand for properties in the country. Victoria accounted for the most foreign buyers at 25%, or 1 in 4 homes and also led in foreign demand for established properties, at a high of 11.5%. Because of the surge of foreign property buyers, First Home Buyers fell from 15% to 22% in Victoria. Banks and property companies have been quick to point the finger at foreign investors as a major reason for driving [...]
We’re The World’s Richest Because of Property
Investment Bank Credit Suisse recently conducted the fifth annual study of global wealth trends and found out that Australians are the richest in the world at a median wealth of $US 225,000, with around 60% of household relying heavily on Property. Only 6% of Australians are living at a wealth below $10,000 compared to 70% of countries worldwide and 29% of the population in the United States. The global wealth is 40% higher than the GFC low in 2008. The Australian wealth has been on a steady climb, with the net worth of the average Australian ballooning from $US 103,151 [...]
AU Dollar Falling: Are We Supposed to Worry?
The Australian Dollar has been on a downward spiral as it finished below US 90¢ from a high of $1.10 back in 2011. Is the Australian economy weakening, or is there a valid reason for the currency drop? The United States economy has been recovering for the past months, making the US dollar stronger and inversely, the AU dollar fall. Because of this, our exports are valued lesser than before. It doesn’t mean that the economy is weakening, but just a ripple effect of the US and Chinese economy recovery. As the global market changes, there will always be winners [...]
Is Your Internet Speed Fast Enough?
Australia’s need for faster internet speeds have increased drastically as consumers download data 10 times more than the past 5 years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. With the advent of mobile internet usage, does our broadband network have the ability to satisfy the rapidly growing number of internet users? Mobile broadband downloads have seen the most increase at 40% compared to last year. This translates to 20.6 million mobile users in the country alone. Most users are now subscribed to internet speeds from 8Mbps to 24Mbps, an increase of 26% from last year, totaling to 6.3 million subscribers, [...]