We’ve  spent a few days chatting to discretionary  retailers in NSW.  We wanted to know what is happening to sales.  We’ve long thought things were pretty bad, although we hear of GDP increases and statements well over 12 months ago saying the NSW economy would be moving along in a higher gear by now.  We asked a number of retailers three questions. 1) How is business.

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Well, that’s what I’ve being reading during the past few days.  Do you remember when gold almost touched US$2000 an ounce last year?  The analysts were chanting it was on an nonstop ride to $US5000 an ounce.

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Approximately 1.75 million tax payers believe rental investment property is a good option in Australia, particularly investing in residential units or houses. It is an asset class that has historically, over the long term, produced good returns.  However the growth of the  investment really depends on your skills on finding the right property in the right area. The specific property  you choose will have a significant influence on whether you make a good long-term profit.

We have some pointers to help you out.

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Since our launch we have been getting feedback as to who is actually loading property information into their MyProp account.  As we suspected, and true to our research it seems to be mostly the female partners. 

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If your work is dependent on manufacturing most likely there is some agreement with the Australian Workers Union boss Paul Howes who believes the Reserve Bank of Australia has got its interest rate policy wrong. He also wants the Federal Government to review the central bank’s charter.

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Gladstone’s house sales and letting market slowed towards the end of last year, but there are now signs of plenty of interest on the way from interstate property investors, looking for Gladstone Property Investments. 

There’s further news this week that UK’s, BG Group has stated they have a massive increase in their gas resources providing further supply for the US$16 billion Gladstone Curtis liquefied natural gas project. 

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Well this is the message from the Gillard government, telling Australian investors to dump their banks and to shop around for a better mortgage deal. Further anger comes as Westpac and ANZ cut their links with the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate which remained unchanged last week at 4.25 per cent.

Both the Treasurer and Prime Minister recommended customers to shop around in a bid to place further pressure on the banks to maintain interest rate moves in line with the Reserve Bank.

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There are about 1.75 million tax payers owning rental investment property. Are you one of them who owns more than one property looking to retire on a passive income through your property wealth?  How quickly can you achieve this?

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Anna Bligh’s government is thought to be in the process of extending its $140 million home buying grant. A Queensland pre-budget update is expected today which will provide a good indication of the states economic growth and unemployment. Other states including NSW, South Australia and Victoria released their budget updates before Christmas showing a fall in their revenues. Working with an investment property advisor and manager, could be good timing to find the next investment rental property as higher GDP growth is expected in Queensland.

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Investment property buyers, is Perth’s residential slump over?   During the past few weeks there has been some chatter of rising rental values and an expected surge in house prices. Raine & Horne CEO Angus Raine is reported as saying Perth house prices are likely to rebound by as much as 5% in 2012, a view supported by CommSec economist Craig James.

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