Newsletter Issue 34

It's hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner once again. Time seems to speed up the older we become.

The year 2006 has been an interesting one in the real estate scene, with pressure back on interest rates. Despite this however, the market has remained relatively strong. Although prices have levelled there is a steady demand from buyers. Tasmania has also benefited to some degree from the booming Perth market with cashed up investors spending some of their windfalls in our State.

With millions of dollars of planned development in the North of the state and a relatively strong economy we are well placed to enjoy a good 2007.

Our randomly selected winner for a weekend away at Hobart's Grand Chancellor is Barry and Annette Long. Mr. & Mrs. Long had their property appraised some time back through James Bird and were delighted when James told them of their win. Congratulations Barry and Annette.

Never walk without a document in your hands - People with documents in their hands look like hardworking employees heading for important meetings. People with nothing in their hands look like they're heading for the canteen. People with a newspaper in their hand look like they're heading for the toilet.

Messy desk - Top management can get away with a clean desk. For the rest of us, it looks like we're not working hard enough. Build huge piles of documents around your workspace. To the observer, last year's work looks the same as today's work; it's volume that counts. Pile them high and wide. If you know somebody is coming to your desk, bury the document you'll need halfway down in an existing stack and rummage for it when he/she arrives.

Look impatient and annoyed - Always try to look impatient and annoyed to give your bosses the impression that you are always busy.

Leave the office late - Always leave the office late, especially when the boss is still around. You could read magazines and story books that you always wanted to read but have no time until late before leaving. Make sure you walk past the boss' room on your way out.

Creative sighing for effect - Sigh loudly when there are many people around, giving the impression that you are under extreme pressure.

Stacking strategy - It is not enough to pile lots of documents on the table. Put lots of books on the floor etc. (thick computer manuals are the best).

Build your vocabulary - Read up on some computer magazines and pick out all the jargon and new products. Use the phrases freely when in conversation with your boss. Remember, they don't have to understand what you say, but you will sound impressive.

Have two jackets - If you work in a big open plan office, always leave a spare jacket draped over the back of your seat. This gives the impression that you are still on the premises. The second jacket should be worn while swanning around elsewhere.

MOST IMPORTANT - Don't forward this to your boss by mistake!

Bigger houses and smaller sites have meant that the space around and between our homes is decreasing. Yet noise levels are rising, for a variety of reasons such as increased traffic or bigger and better entertainment systems. Luckily, however, you don't need to walk around on eggshells even if your walls are paper-thin, as soundproofing materials, which will drastically reduce the amount of internal and external noise transmission, are becoming easier to source and install.

Acoustic control can be installed in the roof, walls or under the floorboards, carpet or tiles and effectively subdues noise from traffic and aircraft, the neighbour's dog or the other neighbour's teenage son's sub-woofer. With the market currently flooded with acoustic control offerings from a variety of building product manufacturers, it can be hard to know which way to look for the best solution.

When it comes to your walls, there is now a wide range of soundproofing plasterboards available. Here are some types to consider:

Gyprock Soundchek is 10mm thick plasterboard with sound reflective and absorptive properties, surrounded with heavy duty liner boards. Soundchek comes in two levels of sound resistance; the first makes conversations inaudible and significantly lowers other sounds, while the next makes loud sounds such as music very hard to hear.

Barrierboard is Australian-made plasterboard composite that can reduce noise levels by up to 75 per cent. It is made up of two sheets of varying thicknesses that are separated by an insulating layer. The panels can be fixed straight on to common walls without having to make many changes to architraves or doorway construction.

Boral SoundSTOP was designed to be used in high-performance acoustic wall and ceiling systems, reducing sound to the extent that loud voices are only heard as a murmur on the other side. If greater sound blocking is required, another layer of SoundSTOP can be added to one side of the wall.

To block out sounds more efficiently when using plasterboard, the soundproofing should be combined with roof and wall insulation, solid core doors, and door seals, while carpeting and soft furnishings can help to dampen sound.

Unless you have hired help, household chores can stack up quickly, and it's easy to let certain jobs slide. With a busy schedule, things like remembering to water the plants may get pushed to the back of the mind until you notice the plants starting to droop, and often by that stage it's too late. This is where self-watering pots come into their own.

Simply conceived, a plain ceramic pot containing the plant is set atop a well of water, with the roots of the plant extended from the pot to the well via a set of nylon strings. Just as it would naturally, the plant's "extended roots" soak up water whenever needed. The well holds enough water to last about a week, so you have just enough time to remember to water your plant before it dies.

People in their 50s can expect to live longer than the same group 20 years ago, are more highly educated and less likely to own their home outright, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) flagship publication, Australian Social Trends 2006.

The publication also says the last two decades have seen an increase in working hours for both full-time and part-time workers and in the energy used per person in the home.

Australian Social Trends 2006 provides a snapshot of life in Australia and how it is changing over time, including for the first time, an examination of the wealth of Australians.

Families And Work

Fathers of children under 15 years who worked full-time in 2004-05 spent an average of 43 hours per week at work and one-third worked more than 50 hours per week. However, fathers are increasingly using flexible working arrangements to help care for their children. In 2002, 30 per cent of fathers used such arrangements, up from 24 per cent in 1993.

Average weekly hours worked have increased over the last two decades, to around 43.2 hours for men and 39.3 hours for women. Women still put in more hours of part-time work than men (16.9 to 16.4 hours, respectively) per week.

More women are working, with 53 per cent of women aged 15 years and over working in 2004, up from 40 per cent in 1979. The growth in women's employment has been mainly in part-time work. In 2004, 24 per cent of women aged 15 years and over were employed part-time, an increase from 14 per cent in 1979.

Australians Growing Older

Many aspects of life today for people in their 50s are different from 20 years ago. People at age 50 now can expect to live longer with men living to 80.6 years and women to 84.6 years (an additional 5.5 years for men and 3.9 years for women between 1980-82 and 2002-04).

Both men and women are far more highly educated and many more women in their 50s are in the labour force than 20 years ago (37 per cent in 1984 increasing to 62 per cent in 2004).

People in their 50s are less likely to have children living with them (35 per cent in 2001 compared with 43 per cent in 1981) and are less likely to own their home outright in (46 per cent in 2003-04 compared with 56 per cent in 1982).

Australia's population is ageing, but not as fast as some other countries, including Japan, which in 2005 had the highest median age of all countries in the world (42.9 years). In comparison, Australia's median age in 2005 was 36.7 years. Projections are that Japan's median age in 2050 will be 53.4 years compared with 45.2 years in Australia.

Our Spending Patterns, Wealth And Homes

Almost half (49 per cent) of household spending on goods and services in 2003-04 was on food and non-alcoholic beverages, current housing costs and transport. This proportion was unchanged from 1984.

The wealth of households is commonly accumulated over the working years and utilised during retirement. In 2003-04, the average net worth (wealth) of all Australian households was $468,000. The median was substantially lower at $295,000, reflecting the relatively large proportion of households at the lower end of the wealth distribution.

The home is the biggest asset for a large proportion of Australians. In capital cities, the home accounted for 49 per cent of the assets of households in 2003-04 and 40 per cent of assets for households outside capital cities.

Despite new homes becoming more energy efficient, Australians are using more energy per person. Average household energy consumption per person increased by 17 per cent between 1983-84 and 2003-04.

Recent changes to Superannuation rules by the Federal Government are a reflection of their realisation that many baby boomers were heading for a lean retirement if not provided with attractive incentives to invest more funds into this area. For full details of the changes it is advisable to contact your accountant.

The changes are likely to stimulate the transfer of many millions of dollars into Super Funds over the next few years and may result in lots of real estate changing hands as baby boomers both sell existing property and in the case of self managed funds, purchase property and shares with cash. It remains to be seen if this distorts the market and what the much longer term affects may be.

As always if you have any comments or questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Noel R. Towns
Managing Director