by Colin Bettles 3rd April 2012

QLD Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce has attacked the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) for distributing incomplete analysis on the Murray Darling Basin Plan’s impact on property prices in communities attached to the iconic river system.

The Coalition’s Shadow Water and Regional Affairs spokesman said the ACF released misleading data last week looking at property values from 2006 to 2010, even though this whole process, and housing values, only started going “pear shaped” when the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) released its ill-fated Guide to a draft Basin Plan in late 2010.

“In essence, the problem starts where their assessment finishes,” he said.

“The Age reported earlier this year that house prices in 14 irrigation towns had experienced average falls in house prices of 4.2 per cent since the Guide was released.

“This is a much more relevant and up to date dataset.”

Senator Joyce said the ACF had also tried to claim that house price falls in the Basin were not that bad because house prices have fallen by more in Brisbane over the past year.

“I am not sure if they have turned on a TV for a while but the city’s biggest flood in 30 years may just have had something to do with that,” he said.

“House prices should naturally increase with the development of an irrigation economy over time.

“People buy houses with money not with frogs.

“Likewise, when you start closing parts of an economy and take that money away, house prices will fall.

“It is so infuriating to people who live in irrigation towns when others suggest that shutting down agricultural production won’t have a negative economic impact.

“That is like saying taking the finance industry away from Sydney won’t impact its economy or that if you stop eating you will stay the same weight.”

The National Irrigators Council (NIC) said its member and their communities have raised ongoing concerns about the real potential for stranded assets, if too much water was taken out of communities through the MDBA’s Basin Plan.

The MDBA is currently nearing the final stages of a 20 week consultation period where it’s taking public feedback on the Plan’s proposal to transfer 2750 gigaliters of water from irrigated production, towards environmental outcomes.

But the NIC has been critical of the science and data underpinning that proposal which would see almost 1000GL’s taken from southern Bain communities like the Murray, Murrumbidgee and Goulburn that are facing losing 50 percent of their current water entitlements.

In the face of those cuts, the NIC says hundreds of jobs would be lost and rural communities devastated, due to the unbalanced Plan’s impact of social and economic outcomes in pursuit of idealistic environmental goals.

NIC CEO Tom Chesson said if primary production dropped in Basin communities, the jobs would no longer be there or incomes for rural communities, meaning house and property prices would inevitably collapse.

Mr Chesson said the NIC also agreed with Senator Joyce’s analysis of the ACF’s data that the problem with property values essentially starts where the environmental lobby’s assessment finishes.

Murray Group of Concerned Communities Chairman Bruce Simpson said the Authority’s Basin Plan was having a real negative impact on housing prices and sales figures but proposes taking large sums of water from irrigation communities using flawed analysis and information – including its science and datasets across the board.

The MGCC represents six local government areas in the central NSW Murray representing about 32,000 people.

Mr Simpson said the reality for his region was, citing Deniliquin as a specific example, the housing market was “absolutely flat as a pancake”.

He said nothing was selling beyond the river reaches and the only reason any sales are taking place there is because of the high quality locations on offer and the type of buyers.

He said residential properties located along the river commanded higher prices and were built and sold by people who can afford it.

But properties merely one street back from those locations are commanding much lower prices of about $130,000 on average, he said, but are not selling.

“The statistic in Deniliquin at the moment is about 99 or 100 percent occupancy rate and that’s a reflection that people are not prepared to invest,” he said.

“Talk to any of the real estate agents in these towns and they will say they are lucky to be putting bread and water on the table.

“Nothing is selling and they are only making money off their rental books – it’s the same in almost every other town across the region.”

Mr Simpson said the ACF’s data needed to be carefully scrutinised to ensure the statistics they are quoting are not being manipulated to suit a particular story the ACF would like to tell.

“There’s no question the Basin Plan is having a real impact,” he said.

“For Deniliquin and other towns in our region, 90 percent of the businesses rely on irrigated agriculture for their incomes.

“They are the ones that spend the money and buy the houses in these communities.

“But none of them are putting people on at the moment.

“There are homes on the market but nothing is selling because there are no buyers.”

Mr Simpson said the MDBA’s water planning process had created too much uncertainly and high levels of concern, which was discouraging to business investment and property buyers.

“The plan’s proposals are causing so much angst and anxiety, people are not making business investment, which is translating to home sales,” he said.

“And it’s also extending to the farming community who are also concerned about the risk of the government introducing a plan that lacks balance and definition and the implications of all these risks.

“There are plenty of people who want to sell but there are not that many buyers.

“The level of uncertainty coming from this Plan is the key driver of the market’s dynamics.

“This is a game of psychology now and the ramifications of all this on the psychology of these communities is very real and significant.”

Mr Simpson said the MDBA had argued that a range of drivers had always existed and took place, which changed the dynamics of rural and regional Australia and impacted property values by driving population movements.

He said key change drivers like technology, communications and infrastructure had always been in play.

But he said the Authority has been saying those drivers needed to be separated from the negative impacts of the Basin planning, in order to develop accurate data.

Mr Simpson said he agreed with the viewpoint somewhat but believes the impact of the Authority’s unbalanced water planning process on housing values and the market “are real and we can substantiate them.”

The ACF’s release said analysis of the selling prices of houses in 90 local shires across the Murray Darling Basin showed that house values are rising and are strongest in river valleys in good ecological health.

The analysis was conducted by the ACF’s economic adviser Simon O’Connor, showing “a solid link between healthy rivers and a strong housing market”.

“Houses in all parts of the Basin increased in value between 2006 and 2010 but house prices in regions where the river system remains in good health increased in value at a higher rate than house prices in the parts of the Basin where the river system is struggling,” Mr O’Connor said.

“Some opponents of a strong Murray-Darling Basin Plan have tried to suggest that returning more water to the environment would damage house prices in the Basin, but our study, using a more detailed set of data, tells a different story.

“There is in fact a strong correlation between healthy rivers and healthy house prices.”

Mr O’Connor said the best protection for regional communities and farming families was to keep the Basin’s rivers, Australia’s lifeblood, flowing.

“A strong Basin Plan is the best chance we have to secure a healthy environment and strong economy in the Basin,” he said.

ACF said the study used Australian Bureau of Statistics house price data from 90 councils and shires in the Basin and matched this information against the Murray-Darling Basin Authority’s Sustainable Rivers Audit, which rated the ecological health of the Basin’s 23 major river valleys on a scale of extremely poor to good health.

here is a link…

My money’s on John John Florence , but i want to see Taj Burrow take it for us oldies!!!

enjoy!

I am one of those people. I have always lived within walking distance to the sea. I  find myself now living on a mountain, and  I crave to get back to the water.

I look at houses by the water all the time, even knowing I am no postion to buy just yet, but I will, and it will be beside the sea! So I am always confident that our dream to give people like me a place to find Beach, Coastal and Waterfront real estate would work.

I like my job at www.watersidepropertysales.com.au because I get to browse these types of properties all day. I also get to analyse metrics and stats to see what we are doing is working on data level. Numbers increasing where they should, decreasing where they should in other areas.

But it is basic human contact which gives the most satisfaction to our dream coming alive.

Recently I met two friends in a cafe. It was a chance meeting, a coincidence maybe, that we were all there together.

One friend asked of what I was doing at the moment and I told him about www.watersidepropertysales.com.au , the other friend said “yeah its great !”. I was suprised he had seen it and he told me he goes there regularly, he loves it. He visits different places around Australia and contemplates where he would like to buy a holiday home by the sea. He wasn’t just being nice, he really enjoyed the site.

But it was what my other friend was to say that knocked me off my chair.

He wanted to know if we had anything on the portal from Boat Harbour Beach in Tasmania. He was looking for a home on the beach and this was the place. I told him about one we had on our home search page, a Property of the Week that was getting a lot of enquiries. He then told me his wife had found one on the internet and that they were thinking of making an offer on it.

Jokingly I said it might have been our site. He checked with his wife…and it was!!!!

What a beautiful surprise and synchronistic moment! To know that something we had created was officially working.

Sure we have statistics and data about visitations , page veiws and everything else you could possible think of. But this was tangible, real and close to home.

www.watersidepropertysales.com.au is doing what it was designed to do!!

The development, at Illawong Beach, went into receivership in February last year and a group of land owners from one section, Palms at the Beach Mackay, are frustrated at the length of time being taken to sort out the development site.

Ian Joblin said he was among a group of owners that had been “at loggerheads” with the receiver, trying to get them to do something about a swamp in front of their prime blocks of land.

“They just don’t seem to be in any great rush,” he said.

Fellow owner Brenden Norman said no-one wanted to build at the site because it was “simply a swamp”.

“The building approvals and everything else is done,” he said.

“The problem is… a massive hole in front of the blocks of land.

“There’s just been a total lack of action. We could build there tomorrow but the reality is it would be like building beside a dump.”

Jamie Harris, of McGrathNicol, said he and the other receivers were working diligently on a strategy, put to them by lot owners, to make the property more readily saleable.

“We have engaged consultants to prepare the detailed documents required to effect that strategy and have committed to meet all related costs,” he said.

“We appreciate the engagement and involvement of the owners of the lots we have dealt with.

“We also acknowledge they invested in this development some time ago…”

story sourced from…Daily Mercury.com.au

Be it on the coast, a river or an inland lake, Victorians want that wet aspect.

Victorians love houses with water views, and although the coast soaks up much of the attention when it comes to buying a property with a liquid outlook, the state also boasts numerous rivers and lakes, some of which provide stunning water vistas.

Property consultant Peter Hay says inland water views are in demand ”because we love water; it gives life, it’s peaceful and it’s in limited supply”.

Noting that part of the attraction also lies in the recreation opportunities it provides, Mr Hay says properties with water views always attract a premium – ”the better the view, the bigger the premium, especially if the property has actual water frontage”.

The value added to a property depends on its location, including the view and whether it actually fronts the water, but Mr Hay says good water views can add anything between 20 per cent and 40 per cent to the value.

Although there’s no blanket rule, such properties in the country can be more affordable than on the coast.

Among the areas Mr Hay tips are the western end of Lake Eppalock; the eastern shores of Cairn Curran Reservoir (between Castlemaine and Maryborough) overlooking the Tarago Reservoir at Neerim South; and at Exford, just west of Melbourne, where properties have views over the Melton Reservoir. ”You get some magnificent views there,” Mr Hay says of Exford.

Christine Ibbotson and her partner, Keith Lawson. 

Other great water views can be found on the Murray River at Bundalong, just east of Lake Mulwala in Victoria’s north-east. ”There are just some magnificent water views there,” Mr Hay says. ”[It's] a hidden little pocket … a gem.”

Sales consultant Donna Jennings, of Ray White in Yarrawonga, says Bundalong, where the Murray and Ovens rivers meet, is popular with waterskiers. Blocks, however, are limited and, as a result, when properties do come on the market, a substantial block on the water can sell for about $1 million – more if there’s a good house.

To the west, on the shores of Lake Mulwala, Ms Jennings says people should expect to pay between $450,000 and $1.2 million for land on the Yarrawonga side.

In the state’s north-west, the opening of the new marina at Mildura has created new opportunities for people to buy properties with water views. But outside the marina development, buyers looking for a property on the river might be best to look over the border.

First National Collie & Tierney property consultant Frank Tierney says there are not a lot of freeholds available on the Victorian side ”because of the Crown easement – in Victoria you’ve got the two-chain [40-metre] Crown easement, so you can’t go down to the water’s edge – but in New South Wales you can”.

”Along that stretch of water, you’ve actually got quite a number of properties that would be suitable with good views.”

He says places such as the NSW community of Gol Gol – just north-east of Mildura – offer splendid water views, with land selling for anywhere from $750,000 to $1.3 million and homes for up to $3 million.

”There are some absolutely magnificent properties on the river, tucked out of sight a little bit from roadways, but they’re enjoying good water views.” Mildura is just one of many towns in Victoria that have properties with such outlooks.

Another is Daylesford, where the limited number of properties overlooking Lake Daylesford, many of which serve as holiday accommodation, means they are always in demand.

”Anything with views of the lake or [that] has easy access to the lake is always held in fairly high regard,” says sales consultant Jonathan Bell of Hocking Stuart in Daylesford.

He says a property listed for sale with lake frontage will certainly attract more interest than a house without a view and he adds that properties right on the lake can sell for up to $1.3 million.

Andrew Del Vecchio, of Launceston-based national property listings website Waterside Property Sales – which lists about 1500 Victorian properties, including holiday rentals – says Australians have something of a love affair with the water. He points to studies that indicate being by the water can have calming and restorative effects on people.

He says that although recent flooding in Murray River communities led to a downturn in visitors looking for property in the region, the numbers went back to usual levels quickly. ”We watched that last year as well in Queensland,” Mr Del Vecchio says.

”And I think it is that lifestyle factor. They know the risks with any lifestyle [purchase], even living in the bush with bushfires and so on, but they do know it and work with it.”

It may come as a surprise to many that Victoria boasts the biggest lakes system in the southern hemisphere.

Close to the coast, east of Melbourne, the Gippsland Lakes system includes three large lakes – Wellington, Victoria and King – with 400 square kilometres of navigable waterways.

Joan Carter, the sales manager at King & Heath’s office in Paynesville – which lies between Lake Victoria and Lake King – says many people are unaware of the extent of the area’s lakes. ”If you come over the Great Alpine Road … which comes over the mountains, people coming that way see the lakes and they’re drawn to [them] like a magnet.”

“But most people travelling through this area come from Melbourne and they don’t know we exist. They still think it’s a little lake like the one they see on the grade 6 atlas.”

She says a series of new subdivisions in Paynesville has been designed to make the most of the lake and mountain views to the north, as well as along man-made canals linking Lake King and Lake Victoria. There are also views to be had along the rivers – the Mitchell, Nicholson and Tambo – which flow into the lake.

For a contemporary property with a view, expect to pay upwards of $800,000.

”I think we’re the cheapest land in Australia,” Ms Carter says. ”You can buy a block here for $350,000 on the water, absolute waterfront with a jetty berth, and just build your own home.”

Join the jetty set

Melburnians Christina Ibbotson and her partner, Keith Lawson, bought their first holiday house off the plan in Paynesville in 1997 and loved it so much that, about four years later, they upgraded to their current property at the intersection of two canals.

The two-storey timber property projects out over the water and has its own jetty, where they moor their boat.

Ms Ibbotson says having a mooring for their 10-metre cruiser was key to their decision to be by the water.

”The great attraction is that you can walk three paces down to the jetty and you’re on the boat and away you go,” she says. The couple, aged in their early 60s, run a financial planning business in Melbourne and own an apartment in St Kilda Road.

They spend about a dozen days a month at the property, mostly at weekends and in holiday periods. Ms Ibbotson says that while the plan was to move permanently to Paynesville after retiring, the fact they have family in Melbourne means they might continue to maintain a property there.

But they’ll be looking to spend as much time by the water as possible.

”Water has always played a huge part in our lives,” she says. ”Keith’s always had boats of some sort. So if we were going to retire anywhere, it had to be by the water … water, water, water, we couldn’t be happier.”

Gemma Gadd |  March 29, 2012

THE Australian Conservation Foundation has been criticised over a report concerning the health of the Murray-Darling river system.

An ACF report released last week found regional house values were rising and strongest in river valleys that are in good health.

Analysis of the selling prices of houses in 90 local shires across the Murray-Darling Basin showed a distinct link between healthy rivers and a strong housing market, ACF economic adviser Simon O’Connor said.

“Houses in all parts of the basin increased in value between 2006 and 2010, but house prices in regions where the river system remains in good health increased in value at a higher rate than house prices in the parts of the basin where the river system is struggling,” Mr O’Connor said.

But a Victorian Farmers Federation spokesman said data gathered for the report only proved house values in regions targeted by the ACF for water buy-backs were fairing worst.

According to the report, house values in regions where the river system is in poor health rose 11.5 per cent in the five years from 2006 to 2010.

House values in regions where the river system is in good health rose 21 per cent, compared to an average of almost 19 per cent across the basin.

“It’s ridiculous; an 11 per cent increase over five years, or 2.2 per cent per year, is less than CPI (consumer price index). These property values have actually declined in real terms,” the VFF spokesman said.

“Compare that to the Melbourne housing market which has jumped 30 to 45 per cent in growth areas and almost doubled in inner-city Melbourne over the same time.”

“The research is flawed; those valleys they deem in poor health are the same ones set to lose the greatest volumes of water (through buy-backs) and where most uncertainty lies.”

The data was also collected during a period when drought would have had the most significant effect on prices, he said.

This was sourced from Weekly Times Now!

from the ABC…

The Corangamite Shire wants to rezone dozens of sites, including several that a planning panel recommended be excluded for environmental reasons.

Some residents near Port Campbell fear the planning amendment will lead to overdevelopment.

Mr Baillieu says there is a shortage of accommodation around some key tourism facilities and the developments could balance economic and environmental needs.

“Obviously you would do this in a very sensitive way,” he said.

“I think that’s what’s evident in other jurisdictions. It can be done well, and it can be done sensitivitely.

“And if they can do it in other jurisdictions, I would have thought we can do it in Victoria.”

see video here

Research by an American university of marinas in Australia has revealed that marinas in general are good for the whole community and not just the boat owners who pay to have their yachts berthed there. The research goes a good way to dispelling the myth that marinas are exclusive and not of benefit to the community at large.

The recently released research was conducted by the Recreational Marine Research Center at Michigan State University for the Marinas Industries Association of Australia (MIAA). The comprehensive research into Australian marinas found that marinas provide very significant public and community benefit.

During the 2010/11 period nearly 60% of Australia’s 356 marinas held structured social and/or recreational programs or events available to the general public. Programs such as ‘Try Sailing’ or celebratory events such as weddings are typical according to MIAA Executive Officer Colin Bransgrove. Interestingly marinas in Tasmania (80%) and Victoria (72%) were most likely to hold programs or events for the public. Colin Bransgrove said ‘there is a trend across all states to provide restaurant/food beverage facilities at marinas to meet local demand. This is contributing to the growing role of marinas as important social hubs with their communities’.

Over 80% of marinas provided the general public with some access to the marina. This is highest in NSW where 93% of marinas provided access. About 67% of Australian marinas provided support to their local community in the form of cash or in-kind support. For larger marinas the percentage was 81%.

While a core marina function is to provide services to those that pay to store their boat at the marina, most marinas (84%) also provided services to boaters who did not rent space at the marina. At larger marinas this rose to 97%. Nearly 40% of marinas had a boat launch facility that was available for use by the general public. In addition, marinas provided non-renting customers access to buy fuel (59%), repair services (52%) as well as launch and haul-out services (58%).

Colin Bransgrove said ‘this most comprehensive research provides the hard evidence that the vast majority of marinas are a significant community asset delivering a wide range of social, recreational and cultural benefits’. Copies of the 91 page report are available from the MIAA – to order email: info@marinas.net.au

A Lakefront only Niche is starting to prove successful for this Real Estate Agent in the United States. Do You see the same thing happening here or maybe it already is.

There must be agents out there willing to take or already have the Niche approach in regards to waterside / waterfront property…

Realtor steers to success by selling lakefront property

By Jennifer Heldt Powell
Sunday, March 18, 2012 -Boston Herald

When the location scouts for the movie “Shutter Island” needed to find an isolated lake setting, they didn’t have to look far. They just called “The Lake Guy,” aka Realtor Scott Freerksen.

They told him they wanted a place with shallow water and no modern houses in the background. Armed with an intimate knowledge of the region’s lakes, Freerksen quickly steered them toward Borderland State Park.

The call was a validation that Freerksen had accomplished at least some of what he set out to do.

Early on in his real estate career, Freerksen decided to specialize in selling direct lakefront property. In order to do that well, he also decided to become one of the region’s foremost experts on those properties.

When he started in 2003, he thought the lakes would be just a part of his business, but he soon realized that it could be his entire focus.

“When you first start a niche, you have to get comfortable with the fact that you are cutting out 99 percent of the market,” he said. “But if that 1 percent of the market is profitable, and you can establish dominance, it can certainly be rewarding.”

There are 15,000 properties coded as lakefront in the Multiple Listing Service, but of those, just 2,000 can be considered direct lakefront. It’s a tiny market about which Freerksen is passionate.

“There really is nothing like lake living,” said Freerksen, who both lives and works near the water. “You wake up every morning to a new scene. The wildlife changes and the seasons change differently than anywhere else.”

This is the sort of career Freerksen was hoping for when he somewhat abruptly walked away from 17 years in the corporate world. He left a management job to rehab houses. After working on a few, he decided to get a real estate license and then came up with the lakefront concept.

He knew he would have to take an unusual approach given the limitations of the market. He spent hours of intensive research on the state’s 700 lakes so that he could create a comprehensive, searchable public database at masslakes.com.

Within two years, he was so busy that he had to take on another agent. He’s now up to four and works with a handful of lakefront specialists from other companies.

Freerksen continues to update the database with constantly changing information about lakes. He and his team also provide workshops to help buyers avoid classic mistakes like finding out after the sale that someone else has control over draining the lake.

The challenge with a niche business is figuring out how to stay focused and still grow. Freerksen is doing this by expanding his geographical reach. He has already moved into New Hampshire and Rhode Island and now has plans for Connecticut. After that, he’ll head into Maine and then Vermont.

All of this, of course, means a lot more research, which is fine with Freerksen.

“They key is whatever your niche is, you have to be passionate about it because there is a lot of information to learn,” he said. “And if you’re passionate, you won’t mind.”