It would be optimistic indeed to think that the Reserve read my tirade in the June newsletter, but it does seem as if others with far greater influence have finally persuaded the august decision makers there that what Australia needed most was interest rate stability.

Interest rates at current levels have been traditional for decades in this nation & seem to have served Australia well. They are low enough to encourage growth & investment, but just high enough to give a reasonable return to investors. Volatile interest rates pose a grave danger to all economies & the only people who profit during periods of volatility are the bankers.

So, hopefully, with world economic recovery progressing slowly, we in this country can begin to look forward to greater interest rate stability as the months progress. From the real estate point of view, the longer interest rates stay around current levels, the more hopeful we can be that the market settles down & also begins a steady, boom free, upward trajectory.

Yes, we did! The Australian property market has always developed the jitters when there has been an election coming due. Although little ever changes when there is a change of ruling party, the population acts as if the parties were miles apart in policy, rather than inches apart. So things do come to a standstill as voters wait to see whether Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum(b) will rule for the next 3 years.

Buyers have a habit of deferring action until after the election, so the best thing Prime Minister Gillard could have done for the property market & for the general economy, was to call a short election & stop the procrastinators from procrastinating before the end of August. Otherwise, this period of indecision would have dragged on until December.

Thank you, Prime Minister Gillard!

Stable interest rates & an assurance that we will have some 3 years without an election should give the overall economy, as well as real estate values, an opportunity to get back to reality. Potential buyers will begin to gain confidence & overstocked inventories should slowly begin to be reduced to more normal levels. Prices should stabilise as the inventories reduce, & then we might actually get to a stage where values begin to increase, ever so slowly.

But don’t expect a boom! That is still a long way off! The next few years will probably show prices rising by single digit percentages as there appears to be insufficient pent up demand to cause values to rise above that level, at least outside the metropolitan areas.

One thing all real estate agents on Tamborine Mountain know is that finding & keeping a good rental manager is a perpetual challenge. Our rent roll had run just so smoothly for a couple of years under the very capable hands of Nina Worsley, but suddenly, in August 2009, pastures off the Mountain tempted Nina away & we were in the market for a new rental manager.

There began the hope & despair stage, as initially promising people just simply failed to make the grade or something happened to the good ones personally that brought their tenure to an end.

In April, Nina decided that driving on & off the Mountain every day was not such a great idea & agreed to return to Lane Realty as our Holiday Rental Manager with an understanding that she would oversee the permanent rentals when & as needed, although not be a full time manager of the permanent rentals. After only 6 weeks, Nina unexpectedly found herself trying to manage both sides of the rental portfolio.

Nina was instrumental in convincing Cath Norris, who many local people know from the various positions she has held on the Mountain over the years, to apply for the job. Cath is an exceptional person in many ways with a clear head & a great deal of common sense. She is very computer literate & has excellent personnel skills. No wonder we are so happy to welcome her! I hope my old friend Warren Morton of St. Bernards Hotel will forgive me for taking his Events Manager from him!

The 2 brave agents who took on the auction programmes really had no reason to feel too unhappy. Overall they made sufficient sales to be quite pleased with the outcome. Did the sellers get what they wanted? Of that, I am not so sure. At least one buyer was bragging loudly about what a bargain he got (& he did get a genuine bargain). Another property has dropped its price by $75,000 from when the auction was signed up & was still not sold in early August. A couple of the best properties sold prior to auction, which simply proves they were priced to sell.

Using a fairly sweeping brush, I would suggest that the sellers who were very motivated & prepared to meet the market, did find buyers. Less motivated sellers may have been not quite as happy with the outcome. The only real question I have is: did those very motivated sellers really need to spend up big on an auction? Just a decent price drop & much less outlay on marketing would very likely have procured a sale without the hassle of the auction.