Weekend Reads — Must see articles from the last week
There are more interesting articles, commentaries and analyst reports on the Web every week than anyone could read in a month.
Each Saturday morning I like to share some of the ones I’ve read during the week.
Monday will be here before you know it, so enjoy some weekend reading…and please forward to your friends by clicking the social link buttons.
Stamp Duty, Not Negative Gearing Holds Housing Affordability Key
The topic of negative gearing has consumed media headline for months now, and it’s not dying down anytime soon.
According this an article in Your Property Investor Labor’s latest efforts to to alter negative gearing had been denied by The Property Council of Australia.
Furthermore the council highlighted the need for change in stamp duty to improve housing affordability.
The Property Council of Australia is continuing to push back against proposals by the Labor Party to alter negative gearing and capital gains tax arrangements.
Following Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten’s Budget reply speech, the PCA has doubled down on its stance that changes to negative gearing and CGT will not improve housing affordability.
“We refute the idea that placing $32 billion in additional taxes on property through changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax arrangements will lead to an improvement in housing affordability. It won’t,” PCA chief executive officer Ken Morrison said.
“Housing affordability is a huge issue in Australia. Housing affordability needs to change, but it won’t change if you prescribe the wrong solution,” Morrison said.
While it appears there is little chance of it ever being removed, Morrison also repeated calls for stamp duty to be addressed if policy makers are serious about addressing affordability.
“The way to tackle housing affordability is to deal with the weaknesses in supply and to undertake meaningful reform of state taxes,” he said.
Find the full article here
Is this buyer brave or crazy? + What happened to the predicted ‘price crash’?
Another great Real Estate Talk show produced by Kevin Turner.
Michael Yardney shares the 11 things successful property investors don’t do.
Brad Beer tells us the two different methods that are available to calculate the depreciation deductions for the plant and equipment items contained within investment properties.
Margaret Lomas says that a man who some are saying is crazy because he bought a home for he and his fiancé without her having seen it may not be mad after all provided he exercised some caution.
Dr Dallas Rogers from the University of Western Sydney explains why he is so concerned about proposed high-speed train lines and what it will do for affordability.
Hayden Groves, President of the Real Estate Institute in WA says there are signs of improvement in the west.
Dr Shane Oliver, AMP Capital Chief Economist says Australian house prices have been overvalued for more than a decade and we continue to hear predictions of a price crash — so why hasn’t it happened.
If you don’t already subscribe to this excellent weekly Internet based radio show do so now by clicking here
Consumer sentiment biggest jump in nearly 6 years
Following last week’s interest rate cut, consumer sentiment has appeared to greatly improve, in fact it has skyrocketed to the best results in year as discussed in this blog by Pete Wargent.
The interest rate cut sent consumer sentiment soaring a massive 8.5 per cent higher in May, from 95.1 to 103.5.
That’s the highest reading in 26 months.
And it’s the biggest leap since just under six years ago in June 2010.
A reading of above 100 signifies that optimists outweigh pessimists.
Source: Westpac
I wouldn’t take such a survey too literally given that it’s derived from a fairly small sample and ultimately it is only one month’s reading.
Nevertheless improvements were recorded across the board, particularly for homeowners.
Read the full article here
Reserve Bank leaves possibility of further interest rate cuts open
Just when home owners and buyers thought it couldn’t get any better, a possibility of another interest rate cut may be on the cards.
A article published by the ABC News suggested that following the interest rate cut announcement last week, there is a possible of further cuts.
The Reserve Bank has left open the possibility of further interest rate cuts if wages and inflation remain stagnant and the housing market continues to cool.
In its quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy, Australia’s central bank explained that Tuesday’s decision to cut the cash rate to a record low 1.75 per cent was not triggered by economic growth concerns. [adrotate group=”33"]
The RBA actually lifted its gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for the current financial year by half a percentage point to 2.5–3.5 per cent.
It also sees unemployment as having peaked and falling gradually over the next couple of years of its forecasts.
Overall, the bank said there was “no material change” to its economic growth or employment forecasts.
“GDP growth is expected to strengthen gradually to an above trend rate, reflecting the effects of low interest rates and the depreciation of the exchange rate since early 2013,” the RBA noted in the report
Click here for the full article
Conspiracy craze: why 12 million Americans believe alien lizards rule us
Alien conspiracies have circulated dinner table conversations for as long as anyone can remember, they have even been the story-lines for some of the biggest movie blockbusters ever made.
Yet according to an article in The Guardian, it would seem that conspiracy has reached new heights with millions of US citizens believing that interstellar lizards in people suits are living in their country.
According to a Public Policy Polling survey, around 12 million people in the US believe that interstellar lizards in people suits rule our country.
We imported that particular belief from across the pond, where professional conspiracy theorist David Icke has long maintained that the Queen of England is a blood-drinking, shape-shifting alien.
Conspiracy theories in general are not necessary bad, according to psychologists who study them.
“If we were all completely trusting, it would not be good for survival,” explains Rob Brotherton, an academic psychologist and author of Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories. “Sometimes people really don’t have our best interests in mind.”
But when people leap from thinking their boss is trying to undermine them to believing their boss might be a secret lizard person, they probably cross from what psychologists refer to as “prudent paranoia” into illogical territory.
And there are a lot of illogical ideas to pick from.
Around 66 million Americans believe that aliens landed at Roswell, New Mexico; around 22 million people believe that the government faked the moon landing; and around 160 million believe that there is a conspiracy surrounding the assassination of former US president John F Kennedy.
Click here for the full article
Weekend Video: Three Daily Success Habits
Originally published at Property Update.
