How arbitrary is life?
Are our lives full of uncontrollable sliding door moments that immediately throw us in another direction? Or do our careful actions and decisions determine the shape of our future selves?
I’m not really going to attempt to answer that as there are greater minds than mine that have spent lifetimes sorting through the belly button lint of our existence.
But I am going to suggest that there are moments in life where you can make a choice. Obvious moments, where the herd of humanity around you is running in one direction and you could choose to turn and push against the tide of popular opinion.
So what am I talking about? I’m a real estate business owner not a philosopher!
Right now in the Perth real estate market there are opportunities. But the herd is running away from them. In fact the herd is running away from property investment altogether. Like lemmings about to throw themselves off a cliff!
Now this is understandable. The cumulative evidence over the last 3 years has been slowing population growth, tougher bank lending criteria, real wages stagnating and a glut of new apartments being completed. Conventional logic says “stay away”. It’s like the red stripe on a red-back spider. The message seems clear.
Sometimes we read the signs but miss a chance to significantly impact our future lives.
I spoke to the barber yesterday while my son had a hair-cut. Stewie is an Irishman who wants to buy property in Ireland. He tells me the “market is flyin’”.
That’s right this is the same Ireland where property disaster struck only a few years ago. Yes lending criteria is tougher and higher deposits are required. But people are buying and prices have risen. And it seems Stewie’s “eejit” mate who bought homes when the Irish market was the toughest has set himself up for life.
The message for me is to look hard at what the herd is doing and consider what could happen if you made the counter decision.
The decision to buy real estate in Perth now presents a host of present and future benefits.
In a recent interview with the Community newspaper group, Bankwest Private Banking General Manager Greg Caust said that there was “…the expectation of solid population growth in Perth over the next decade,”
“Perth’s population is forecast to grow by 33 per cent to 2.8 million in 2025, bringing an extra 700,000 people into the city”.
This might not be the supercharged growth of boom times, but it is the promise of a little city getting bigger over time that should make investors comfortable. And that once in a lifetime boom market….it will come again…in your lifetime.
Remember “location,location” that old real estate truism? In a hot real estate market you get what you can grab. Now you have choice. The choice to buy in the right street. The right suburb. And at the right price. Without other Buyers breathing down your neck. Unlike boom times, the Agents will even treat you with respect and offer you genuine service!
Look for trends. Perth is changing. Suburbs are changing. Demographic change in gentrifying areas that means the median wage for a suburb is actually on the increase. Look for infrastructure projects that will positively affect areas – like Perth Stadium. The market is full of opportunity.
Invest for the future now and you will find there are opportunities everywhere. It’s human nature to wonder why someone else hasn’t bought the property you have found – just remember the herd is stampeding in the other direction.
Derek Baston
