The Wakelin Blog

In 2014, the Melbourne property market is likely to maintain and even build on the momentum of 2013, according to Monique Sasson, founder of Wakelin Property Advisory: 2013 was a year of recovery with values of many properties recouping the losses since the last peak in 2010. We anticipate this trend to continue, and that the momentum of the last 12 months should carry the Melbourne market upwards in the first half of 2014...

A 2.5 per cent cash rate. Get comfortable with that number because it’s not changing one way or another any time soon, if my reading of the Reserve Bank’s recent pronouncements is correct.  The Board sees an economy operating at a steady-though-cautious pace. And it is signalling that conditions don’t look like they will alter enough for the case for raising rates or dropping rates having sufficient momentum in coming months to break that inertia...

The three zones of Brunswick are like siblings in neat formation, standing two-and-half kilometres tall from Brunswick Road to Moreland Road. Brunswick proper is the big brother in the middle; it’s almost twice as big as its flankers. It has to be said, if you’re a home-buyer looking for an inner city lifestyle and are more attracted to the funkier north than the establishment east of Melbourne, then you’ll probably be pretty happy to live in Brunswick, Brunswick East or Brunswick West...

Monique Sasson We are not on the cusp of a housing boom but one could eventuate if policy makers are not careful. That would be calamitous for the economy and Australians if interest rates had to be jacked up several percentage points because a housing boom ignited inflationary pressures. So what’s the best approach to keep conditions in the Goldilocks zone – not too hot, not too cold? Prevention is definitely better than cure...

After doom and gloom dominating media reporting of the property market for much of the last three years, there has been a remarkable turnaround in tone in recent weeks.  Suddenly, the pessimism has dissipated and the commentary is now all about a supposed coming property boom...