News

Testing times here in Australia. There has been flooding across most of Queensland and now also in Victoria. People have lost homes, possessions and even loved ones. It has been a very difficult couple of weeks. Our hearts go out to all the people this has touched.

These floods will affect all of us one way or another – for us the main problem is lack of supply of fruit & vegies. Many of these areas that have been inundated are our main suppliers of fresh produce. We have no idea how long it will take them to get up and running again. The farms that haven’t been flooded are very wet from all the rain so find it difficult to get their produce harvested and much of it is water damaged. Mostly with water damage, you can just cut that bit off and use the rest.

If you have been following my blogs you will know that the cost of fruit & vegies is dependent on supply and demand and we now find we have very limited supply and very high demand so prices have gone up accordingly, about 20% apparently. I believe this will be the case for quite a few months until farmers can replant and harvest.

For us it is really just an inconvenience, we are so grateful not to have been directly touched by the floods; our home, family and friends are all safe.

The silver lining has been seeing all the volunteers who dropped everything and turned up in their old clothes with the buckets, brooms, mops and hoses to help with the clean up. Thousands of complete strangers helping distraught families by giving their time and effort. Some people have lost everything so it was great to have a little bit of sunshine amongst all the rain, which is still falling. Tradesmen are being rallied to give their time and building supply companies to donate products to help with the rebuilding, the generosity has been overwhelming.

Property Investing

Feedback from The Investors Club is that very few of our properties have been affected. We have our great research procedures to thank for this, we don’t list low lying properties and now we see why!

Club Cares is also fund raising to help needy families with goods and money needed to help start again, many people did not have flood insurance or even insurance.

This may slow the capital growth for a while but I’m betting prices will still double in the Brisbane area in 8 years. Hopefully the infrastructure can be remodeled to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

‘Til next time.

Regards Arlene
www.tic.com.au

Don’t wait to invest in property – invest in property and wait!

Supply and Demand.

Here in Australia, mainly in Queensland we are experiencing some of the worst flooding in nearly 100 years – you just can’t prepare for that. Not only have people lost their homes and belongings, destroyed by the water and mud but our farmers have had their crops completely wiped out. All their hard work gone and it will take months to be able to get things prepared to start again.

What does this mean to us as consumers? Lack of supply and high demand leads to high prices. Many varieties will be in very short supply if available at all which means a premium will be paid for them. Root crops like potatoes are one of the worst effected but even the fruit will be water marked and perhaps even taste watery because of all the rain.

It’s going to be a very tough few months for farmers and consumers and there isn’t anything we can do about it. We don’t want to import produce from overseas; that will be the death of our farming economy so we are just going to have to deal with it and hope the rain stops.

Does this relate to property investing?

You bet it does. It’s the same philosophy – invest in areas of high demand and low supply, you will always have tenants and you will be able to achieve higher rents because of the high demand.

What makes an area a high demand suburb? Facilities like schools, hospitals, public transport, shops, these all make a suburb more attractive to everyone and especially tenants.

The great thing about investing in Australia is that we are actually under-supplied with residential rental properties and this will be the case for quite some time as the GFC slowed building down considerably.

Now is a buyers’ market, don’t listen to all the doom and gloomers – people always need somewhere to live. Don’t wait to invest in property, invest in property and wait!

Regards Arlene
www.tic.com.au

“One day at a time – this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone: and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering.”
Ida Scott Taylor 1820-1915, Author