Andrew Bell’s Market Wrap: Gold Coast Continues To Ride The Benefits Of The Massive Investment

What a busy world we are in. There is always so much happening. Over the last week we had the release of the Queensland Budget for the year ahead. Philosophically, it was a choice between one of two things. 1) Pay down the significant debt through cost-cutting and/or asset sales or 2) keep our high debt, if not increase it, to provide the infrastructure for what is clearly a rapidly growing state through a resurgence in migration and a revival of so many of our core economic strengths such as mining, agriculture and tourism etc.

The Government chose to go the latter of the two. Whilst I am an advocate for fiscal responsibility, I also know that Governments around the world are dealing with a lot of old infrastructure and the need to upgrade so much of that infrastructure. Significant investments in transport, schools, hospitals and so much more is going to be hugely beneficial for our state and, with fingers crossed, we will see an even faster-growing economy that will return revenues back to the Government in the medium term to the concentrate on debt reduction.

Big Benefits For The Gold Coast

I have mentioned before that the Gold Coast has reached a critical mass where we are no longer taken for granted by either side of politics. The Prime Minister recently said he would provide $1 million towards fixing the issues around our road corridor between Gold Coast and Brisbane, and the State Government all but matched that as well. That would never have happened in the past but because we are of a size where our votes really count we are getting things that we never got before. This is a great position to be in to make sure the Gold Coast continues to ride the benefits of the massive investment that has already occurred in the lead up to the Commonwealth Games.

There was also a report out by the Real Estate Institute of Australia and co-sponsor, Adelaide Bank, which shows an improvement of housing affordability across the nation. This may be a little surprise to some. By the way, the same report shows that rental affordability is actually in decline, so for all of those thinking about staying in the rental market, I strongly urge you to save hard and do what it takes to get into home ownership.

The report shows that 36.5% of a family income in NSW is required to meet loan repayments, 34.1% in VIC, whilst in SA and QLD it is in the mid 27% range. (PLEASE SLPLIT THESE) I would suggest that this improvement of affordability has come about partly because in many industries weekly incomes have indeed increased, the competition amongst home lenders has also been intense and, finally, the moderating and in some cases decline in price growth is starting to provide benefits to borrowers.

The cost of housing is now becoming a very clear driver of interstate migration. I saw that just this week in two instances close to myself. One was a niece who has now made the decision to move to the Gold Coast from Sydney for one reason only. She can’t afford to buy in Sydney. Her husband was able to secure an excellent job here on the Coast and they are excited about getting into their first home. The second was someone joining us in our sales team who also made the decision to move from their current place of residence to the Gold Coast because of the more affordable real estate prices, as well as I might add for our spectacular weather. No wonder our interstate migration is at incredible levels at the moment with current numbers for Queensland at 17,000 per annum. I expect that number to grow.

Fight for Homeless

Well, tonight is the night (Thursday 21st June). I am sleeping out in the open as a fundraiser for those who are homeless here in Australia. The last time I camped outdoors was when I was with the cadets but we had a tent, a fire and a considerable amount of comfort. Tonight it is a sheet of cardboard on a concrete floor and a sleeping bag. Soup and water are the only things that will be provided and so I will get a real experience of what it is like to sleep outdoors. Yet, for me, it is only one night. For the homeless it is every night. I am going to keep in my mind the fact that there are so many children sleeping out in parks now because their mothers have escaped domestic violence. This is one last chance if you are looking to make a difference in someone else’s life.

DONATE HERE

That is all for now as we are days away from the end of the financial year 2017/18. Until I am with you in a fortnight’s time, stay safe and let’s be kind to one another.