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> laws that state any home improvement must bring the entire house up to current building codes This is patently false > this leads to urban decay and propert
by tomcorrigan 14y ago
> laws that state any home improvement must bring the entire house up to current building codes
This is patently false
> this leads to urban decay and property abandonment on a massive scale
Australia does not have property abandonment nor urban decay on a massive scale. Go to Detroit to witness such things.
- jacques_chester 14y agoRent control is usually one cause of urban blight. We don't have that in Australia.
- throwaway2048 14y agoRent control may have been a factor in many major American cities, but it is far from the only contributor. Australian cities currently have many of the same structural problems that lead to these issues in American cities in the sixties seventies and eighties. Suburbanization tied with ridgid regulations that make property development or improvement extremely costly lead to a downward spiral in property values, which means of obtaining loans insurance or other guarantees becomes nearly impossible, meaning even less redevelopment, more decay, and more crime, accelerating further suburbanization. this feedback loop decimate inner cities.
- jacques_chester 14y ago> rent control may have been a factor in many major American cities, but it is far from the only contributor. Right. Hence why I said "one cause".
- Nursie 14y agoDownward spiral in property prices? I take it you haven't been to Perth lately?
- jacques_chester 14y agoOr Darwin.
- retrogradeorbit 14y ago10.2% (2011 census data) of Australian properties are sitting there vacant. [ http://blog.id.com.au/2012/australian-census-2011/the-where-and-how-of-vacant-dwellings/ http://blog.id.com.au/2012/australian-census-2011/the-where-... ] And there is certainly urban decay all over the city I live in (Perth). Also, building codes are local government, aren't they? So it depends on what council you are in. And I've certainly heard some bad stories.
- jacques_chester 14y ago1. People stay with other people overnight. 2. New buildings are unoccupied, sometimes for months. A more useful measure is rental vacancy rates. The Australian average is 2.3%, which is pretty close to "none" in practical terms.
- geolqued 14y agoThose rates are voluntarily self-reported by rental property managers - there's a fairly clear conflict of interest. According to the following Melbourne has a 5.9% vacancy rate. They use water usage data from the water companies for their analysis. (<50L/day = vacant property) http://www.earthsharing.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Philip_Soos_Speculative_Vacancies_2012_Report.pdf http://www.earthsharing.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Philip_Soo...
- jacques_chester 14y agoWhat's the conflict of interest?
- geolqued 14y agoVacancy rate is basically a property manager's KPI. Additionally, data is collected by the REIV which has no interest in providing bad news about investing in property. https://s.zoomerang.com/s/REIV-January-2013-Vacancy-Survey https://s.zoomerang.com/s/REIV-January-2013-Vacancy-Survey REIV vacancy rate is (unleased property on the books) / (property on the books). It's always going to be an under-estimate of true vacancy due to properties that are empty full time and those that are privately managed and temporarily vacant.
- throwaway2048 14y agothe laws stating the building code requirement for upgrades are not implemented at a federal level, however many cities (such as brisbane) do have such requirements.