Mosman performing best of Australia's top-end property markets

Without a shadow of a doubt (in my opinion) the best critique of the Australian economy is the Business Spectator CEO pulse, where on a quarterly basis Australia’s leading chief executives deliver their (not sugar -oated) thoughts on just exactly how they see the Australian economy. CEOs on the Australian Economy:

• CEO(s) remain far more optimistic about the prospects for their own organisation than they are about the Australian economy. Optimism about prospects for the Australian economy and their own organisations in the next 12 months have decreased slightly compared with quarter two this year and quarter three last year.
• Expectations around employment, capital investment, profit, sales and operating expenditure in the next 12 months are down slightly from last quarter. The proportion of CEOs expecting increased profit over the next 12 months is down significantly to 49% from 64% last quarter.
• CEO scorecard for the government’s performance in managing the economy is steady at 2.9 out of 10. While the longer-term trend is downwards, it is not significantly different from the score given at the same time last year.

Look at this how you want, however when a government can’t even reach a score of three out of 10 the resonating message is pretty clear. In February 2010, the scorecard peaked at 5.4 out of 10, and this has continued in a downward spiral reaching 2.6 out of 10 in September 2011.

Quote of the Week would have to go to Peter Costello, “Never in budget has history so little been promised so many times.” On its own measure Labor falls well short, an interesting assessment from a previous treasurer, who delivered 12 budgets. Swan’s grip on surplus gets slippery, which is exactly what we alluded to a few weeks ago when we suggested prepare for an early election. Not surprising then are this week’s revelations that Wayne Swan and Julia Gillard’s MRRT has thus far posted a zero return. Obviously, the "big three" mining companies have executed the perfect sting on the government when they sat down to negotiate the MRRT.

I love reading articles about the top-end property market – Home owners confident but luxury market loses lustre. A great read by Christopher Joye, which clearly identifies that NSW remains the most bullish top-end market in Australia. Mosman is arguably performing the best of Australia’s entire top-end suburbs, with reports our office has posted another double-digit sale getting stronger and stronger. When property markets are in a downward correction mode, the top-end gets punished the most, but when it starts to recover it always posts the fastest capital appreciation. Historically, top-end property markets perform at optimum levels when a Liberal government is in power, so we sense a hedging of bets on the basis that Australia will go to the polls in March 2013.

Last week we reported that the number of Mosman houses on the market was 22% down on this time last year, this week a slight increase to 23%. We predict this number will jump significantly in coming weeks to approximately 40%.  For example: 45 Shadforth Street Mosman sold in just one week – with a one-week settlement.

Robert Simeon is a director of Richardson  Wrench Mosman and Neutral Bay and has been selling residential real estate in Sydney since 1985. He has also been writing real estate blog Virtual Realty News since 2000. The RWM real estate model has sold in excess of $1 billion in database sales globally.