There’s No Business Like the Real Estate Business

There’s No Business Like the Real Estate Business

Spin and its Doctors are well entrenched in most areas of public life and media commentary these days. And there are few industries who manage to dish it out as effortlessly as the Real Estate- Property Industry.

These guys in the property business are seasoned performers. Just think about the show pony auctioneers who prance up and down the drive ways and front lawns of properties being auctioned across Melbourne’s suburbs on any given weekend.

Was there ever a more apt jingle for a chain of Real Estate Agents than Irving Berlin‘s classic tune ‘There’s no business like show business’ !

These guys are in the Entertainment Business !

You wouldn’t expect anything less from an industry whose thespian inspired practitioners captivate crowds auctioning well contested properties.

Coupled with the ability to regularly make bold public statements along the lines of,
“We have a housing shortage in this country.”

Countless countries in the developed world have property markets in serious doldrums but The Lucky Country has a shortage of available serviced land coming onto the market according to the mouth pieces- stakeholders of the real estate lobby and its beneficiaries.

These guys are seasoned performers, on par with old Vaudeville comedians.
A favourite line of auctioneers being,
“Land, well as far as I know, they’re not making any more of the stuff !” { Boom Boom }

Northcote, in Melbourne’s inner north is a suburb whose demographics showcase an eclectic mix of residents. It’s top heavy with elderly Greek and Italian pensioners, middle aged lesbians, arts students and a smattering of academics thrown in for good measure.

_{Relaxing on High street
pic – Fab Marsani}

A Malvern like Mono culture it ain’t but doesn’t its medium house price of over $800,000 seem a little excessive- all things considered.

Something is out of whack here……and I reckon its Melbourne’s Medium House Prices.

There’s a road train of beneficiaries milking this country’s Property Cow and the prospect of the revenue drying up makes them a nervous lot. Apart from the usual suspects of estate agents- property developers, banks, construction companies and their service providers. The various tiers of Government are petrified at the prospect of a property correction.

Federal Govt- A slide in new house sales translates into worsening GDP figures and that’s the last thing this government needs to contend with, especially with the implementation of the Carbon Emission Tax later this year. The government’s advisors will be leaving their carbon footprints all over swags of media releases without having to emit further emissions defending their sound economic credentials if the property market takes a hit.

State Govt – Fewer property transactions equate to lower stamp duty revenues,
decreasing property prices = diminished stamp duty revenue.

Local Govt- And ‘small government’ wants to see the show go on indefinitely.

Fewer construction starts equates to diminishing opportunities to budget for increasing rateable properties coming on stream within their municipal boundaries. And the ‘embarrassing’ scenario of having to possibly reduce annual property rates because land values have decreased from their recent heights. Something most Victorian local councils haven’t had to worry about. Unlike their counterparts on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts in QLD where property prices have been heading south for a few years now.

These protagonists and the cast of extras want the show to go on with a never ending happy ending……..
Not unlike a Hollywood block buster movie and its money making spin off sequels.

Yes there’s no business like the real estate business. Statistics are furnished to bolster theories that we are Impervious to Global Financial Calamities.

The Middle East threatens to implode, Europe’s fiscal woes are ominous and the US economy isn’t recovering anywhere near as quickly as they said it would.

Benjamin Disraeli‘s Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics resonates as experts furnish spin and stats to convey that ‘the fundamentals’ of Australia’s property markets are as safe as houses.

To use a line from the hit Australian movie ‘The Castle’, “ Tell him he‘s dreamin.”

fmarsani@yahoo.com.au