Many of us could spend hours (possibly weeks) pouring over pictures of hip homes in interiors magazines, and dreaming … If you’ve ever pondered the secrets of these pads’ photogenic success and wanted to emulate them, here are a couple of general tips: Story time: Most photoshoots capture pictorial vignettes – the sofa, the casually [...]

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House prices are predicted to fall over the next 12 months, as the outlook for residential real estate weakens, but falls will be smallest in New South Wales, a survey shows.The National Australia Bank residential property index, which predicts houses prices, rents and real-estate market conditions over the coming year, said national home prices would [...]

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When it comes to sharing a house, it’s important to set some ground rules first. Having a lodger board in your home can seem a good way to make some extra money to help pay the mortgage. And while figures on the number of boarders in Victoria are hard to come by, anecdotal evidence suggests [...]

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Reserve Bank of Australia chief Glenn Stevens says he is not “terribly troubled” about the level of house prices in Australia. Mr Stevens said the ratio of income to house prices in Australia was “not exceptional by global standards” at a short question and answer session at a business lunch in London.“I don’t think we [...]

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What would you do if you found out your home sits on a contaminated site?That was the news that 2000 residents of Adelaide woke up to last week when they found out – mostly via the media – that under their homes the groundwater was awash with poisons that had been leaching from a sizeable [...]

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It took a while but summer has finally arrived in all its hot gusto. I mean real summer where it’s so hot you can’t sleep at night, and the flies are beating at your back door trying to find a cooler place to muck in.The mercury has been hitting 43 degrees in some parts of [...]

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Melbourne and Sydney led house price gains across the country last year although the pace of the increase tapered off towards the end of the year, a real estate research group says.Among the major cities, Melbourne’s median house prices rose 8.4 per cent in 2010 and 1.1 per cent, seasonally adjusted, in the final three [...]

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Holidays will do it to you. Hours of sitting on the sand, or lazing on the deck sipping sundowners. That decision. “Let’s buy a holiday house”. Seems like a good idea at the time – when the air is warm, fellow holidaymakers’ smiles are wide and you’re in a relaxed mode. But is it something [...]

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Will there be a house under your Christmas tree? If you are thinking of buying property in 2011, the Christmas break could be the perfect time to reflect on how you will go about it.Will you stay or will you go now? The very first thing to do is to look at your decision to [...]

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Real Estate Institute of Victoria chief executive Enzo Raimondo urged political parties to outline how they would address Melbourne’s housing affordability in the lead-up to the state election. “According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 10 years ago first-home buyers represented 28per cent of the market,” Mr Raimondo said.“A year ago it was 27per cent [...]

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