Barely a day goes by without another warning from some property pessimist, columnist or overseas economist about a looming price collapse. So let’s get things straight up front – there is no property bubble in Australia – at least not yet! And there is another point Michael Yardney wants to get straight as well and he does so in today’s show. Hear what he has to say.

Also in today’s show Shannon Davis answers my question of whether all improvements add value and return to a property, Ben Kingsley tells us about the signs he looks for to detect a turning market and Bryce Holdaway, explains the 4 ways a property investor will pay.

The days of a physical title for a property are finished. Since late last year, sellers and buyers or their representatives meet on line and transact by electronically signing document. No physical meeting happens anymore. The Banks will now electronically sign the Mortgage documents on behalf of Borrowers. So what about ID fraud? Garth Brown joins us to explain how it works.

And Rachel Barnes helps you with some negotiation tips.

 
Transcripts:
Ben Kingsley
Kevin:  One of the things I find that a lot of investors do is spend a lot of time trying to pick the market – that is, trying to pick which markets are going to go and which markets are going to slow – and also those who try and determine where the market is turning from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market and vice versa. It’s one of those fascinating conversations. I’m going to have it now with Ben Kingsley, who’s the CEO and founder of Empower Wealth.

I don’t know about you, Ben, but one of the common questions I get asked is are we in a seller’s market or are we in a buyer’s market?

Ben:  Yes, that’s a great question. This is fundamental research basically. All of us as investors want to try to time the market when we can. I’m still very much an advocate of time in the market as the ultimate – a long-term investor will enjoy the peaks and troughs of a cycle – but in terms of trying to time the market, there is a science to it, and there are things you can look at.

Kevin:  Let’s have a look at what they might be. What would you suggest?

Ben:  If we’re in a seller’s market but we’re trying to determine whether it’s going to a buyer’s market, the early indicators for the big city markets – where options are involved – are usually a slowing down of clearance rates. Where we’re starting to see the appetite of the buyer is not as strong, so we’re starting to see properties passing, they’re the early indications.

When we’re looking at other markets where options aren’t the most prevalent way of selling – we’re actually talking about Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, these types of markets – the indicators are days on market and stock on market. Once we start seeing the trend where the days on market is starting to push out, we can start to see that it’s now becoming either a balanced or a buyer’s market. They’re the best indicators.

Kevin:  Days on market, of course, from the point of listing to the point of sale?

Ben:  Correct. That’s right. Ultimately that’s the only way we can track it, because we’re relying on the data from the likes of Domain to provide that information that we can capture, and then we’re seeing how many days the property has been on the market. Then the stock of market is obviously the concentration of that particular stock in that localized area. Usually we like to think of it as a local government area; just to isolate it to one suburb, there’s not enough data to make a trend or see the analysis work for us.

Kevin:  What is the turning point in days on market from where buyers have control to where sellers have control?

Ben:  That’s a wonderful question, Kevin. I think it’s different in each market. In some cases, if I’m researching a new market, I’ll actually talk to a couple of local agents in the area. The rul