Cheerleading Continues in Australia

The article fails to actually define the criteria for "hottest spot", but based on the notion of growth potential explicit in the recommendations, we'll assume it means "best value possible under the circumstances dependent upon wishful dreams of paper gains in the near to short term".

Hottest spots to buy real estate in 2011

In keeping with the buzz over middle-ring suburbs (10km or more from capital cities), RP DATA has picked Strathfield, Sydenham and Berala in Sydney’s west as its bargain hunter gold mines.

Wow, a gold mine. If I dig under these houses, I will find precious metals? I think this is going to have to be a point and laugh at later article. "Gold mine", really? Wait, I get it, the author was getting tired of just saying "housing always goes up. You can bet your future on it."

RP DATA is bullish on Mentone and predicts it will be one of Australia’s top real estate performers in 2011. The bayside suburb is 21km from Melbourne and is appealing for investors due to its waterfront location, easy access to the capital, and amenities. Although, with a median house price of $690,000, the precinct won't be within everyone's budget.

Takes practice to say that with a straight face, I bet. Or botox.

Sydney rental prices were also unchanged at $480 for houses and $440 for units for the last quarter of 2010.

What's this little gem at the bottom of the article? Amusingly, immediately after the words "extremely tight rental market" that somehow failed to translate into an actual increase in rents.

A collapsing real estate market is caught by investor-buyers as a last resort, but only, ONLY, after the price to annual rent ratio drops below 15 (or 12 even, if it's a solid buyer's market). 480 per week is 2000 per month is 24000 per year times 15 is wow, $360,000. That's the market bottom value of the average house in Sydney. Look at that number: $360,000. That's the cash-flow positive purchase price for a landlord in Sydney. Hm, I wonder what the average median price of a house is in Sydney. Oh, just something in the neighborhood of $673,500.

Nothing could possibly go wrong with that.