Brian's Blog.....

Welcome to our Summer edition newsletter. The past few months have seen the financial markets worldwide thrown into turmoil with the American credit crisis. Australia and on the local front, Griffith have felt the ramifications of this, not so much financially but more so with consumer confidence being at an all time low from the media coverage of events. Obviously the share markets have been hit hard and this something that all of us have been effected with in one way or another.

The sales department has really felt the pinch in the August to October time frame and reported sales figures are indicating that the volume of sales is down by under 50% in Griffith as a whole. On a positive note November has seen a recovery of sorts with the falling interest rates as well as the $14,000 (for established homes) and $21,000 (for new homes) grants getting people motivated to purchase once again. In November alone our office successfully negotiated 19 sales, which is a fantastic result but one long overdue. We can only hope that the consumer confidence continues into 2009.

On the rental front we have been experiencing the lowest vacancy rates in recent memory. Rates have been hovering in or around the 2% mark for nearly 3 months which is way down on the 4% – 5% we have been dealing with for the last few years. The rents being achieved have also been steadily rising and whilst not at city prices, investors are getting reasonable returns on good quality homes and units. With the December to January vacancies about to occur it will be interesting to see the figures come February.

We thank all our valued clients for their patronage throughout 2008 and look forward to a bigger and better 2009.

Regards

Brian Bertolin