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Saturday, 27 February 2021
Recently trending Great new ways the Government helps retireesFour simple strategies deliver long-term investing comfort $100 billion! Five reasons investors are flocking to ETFsCut it out ... millionaires are not wealthyA close look at retiree fears and expectations
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Only six months ago, the Reserve Bank was modelling the impact on banks if house prices fell 40%. It was called 'extreme by plausible'. Most economists expected a fall of at least 10%, yet here we are with record prices.
Employees value WFH flexibility but they also enjoy and benefit from the office environment. Businesses will need to adapt but tenants say office work remains essential for productivity, culture, risk and driving innovation.
As people stayed home during the pandemic, a bearish view swept over most property sectors, but many have thrived and prices have recovered rapidly. The best opportunities are in long leases with quality tenants.
The concept of 'activity-based working', where several people occupy one seat on a particular day, is gone. Businesses will need more space for the same number of people as an offset to the decline in demand.
Many listed property stocks were hard hit by COVID, especially in retail, but foot traffic outside Victoria has held up relatively well. Some sectors are now good value for the recovery and less working from home.
Many property trust results are better than expected, with the A-REIT sector on a dividend yield of 4.8%. But there's a wide variation by sector and the ability of tenants to pay the rent.
Although most office workers are currently WFH, an energy and a buzz comes from working in the same physical space. Other benefits include team building, relationships, talent mentoring and creative collaboration.
Three key indicators are useful for predicting the short-term outlook for house prices, although tighter lockdowns make the outlook gloomier. There is enough doubt to create cause for concern.
There is good reason to believe the negatives will continue to outweigh the positives over the next 12 to 18 months. There is more concern about house prices than the short-term indicators suggest.
Retail assets, particularly those focused on discretionary shopping, will continue to underperform and industrial and logistics assets will be the winners for the foreseeable future.
In this 'lower for longer' rate environment, investors are recalibrating expectations of the required return from high-quality real estate, and foreigners are targetting Australia.
Property funds are finding new assets in companies making better capital management decisions by selling their properties and leasing them back. It also gives investors strong long-term returns.
Last year's retiree checklist of services available was one of our most popular articles. There are some additions for 2021, and while it can take effort to set them up, they can pay off over the long term.
A long-time advocate of the merits of generating income by investing in industrial companies rather than bonds or deposits checks his 'mothership' chart for the latest results, and continues to feel vindicated.
It's not official, but Australian ETFs are clicking over $100 billion right now. It's a remarkable rise, leaving the traditional rivals, the Listed Investment Companies, in their dust. Why are they so popular?
The widespread use of 'millionaire' must stop. Inflation means that the basket of goods and services that cost $1 million in 1960 now requires $15 million. Today, millionaires are not wealthy.
Half of Australians retire early due to unexpected circumstances and within timeframes they did not choose, and two-thirds of pre-retirees worry about funding their retirement. But neither are the greatest fear in retirement.
Senator Jane Hume presented at the SMSFA conference this week, and we reproduce the full transcript as a guide to what the Government is thinking on superannuation reforms as we head into the next election.