Key Points:

• Continuing strong price growth in major metro markets in Winter and Spring.
• No correction coming but slower pace of price growth inevitable in 2011.
• Main market strength is in inner city metro locations, many regional areas yet to fully recover.
• The seasonal influence of Winter provides a new opportunity in metro areas with demand
• subsiding.
• Upgraders are dominant but the proportion of investors in metro markets has increased
• substantially.
• Buying opportunities still available for first home buyers but they must do their research.
• Prestige market above $5M remains largely untested.

We saw strong price growth in the first quarterof 2010 in most major cities and I predict this will continue through the Winter season. There’s been some speculation that the property market will be impacted  by rising interest

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Last week I chatted with Peter Switzer on the Sky Business Channel about the property market. I hope you enjoy the interview.

For more information visit www.switzer.com.au. (Used with permission of Switzer Media + Publishing).

I have been a fan of Sydney's Northern Beaches for a long time now. It's just a great part of Australia and I think it has always represented good value compared to nearby city beaches. Now with tele-commuting allowing people to work away from their CBD offices more often, it suggests to me the value gap will narrow in the near future.  After all, the only possible reason anyone could have for not wanting to wake up and go for a swim at Avalon Beach before coffee and heading off to work is the hefty commute into the city.

So it was with great interest last week when I met with a few of my team from our Collaroy and Avalon offices to hear

I remember reading this somewhere… I think it was said by the famous sports coach in the USA, John Wooden. I believe what he means by this is that there's no time to waste but it's certainly not a time to rush.  I'll assume so for this blog post anyway. 

That quote came to me when I was speaking to someone today about buying property. They were saying, in essence, that they had been looking to buy and weren't sure if this was the right time. The funny thing about buyers is that most want to buy when things are white hot, and they choose to wait when things cool, albeit temporarily. The smartest thing to do is the opposite, if you have the courage and opportunity to do so. 

Right now in our major Eastern cities (Sydney, Melbourne,

Australians have always loved renovating. During the property boom we saw a major surge in renovating as home buyers turned to run down homes for affordability and investors realised the opportunity to renovate enchanced the value of their investment.

Today, the desire to add value to our own homes continues. There's definitely a group of buyers who want a ready-to-move-into property, but the many of us love the challenge of adding our own style.  It can be great fun.

If you're thinking of renovating, before you get started you need to consider four key factors.

1. Talk to your council. Structural renovations may require a DA approval, so make your council

Between Friday 30th April and Sunday 2nd May, a team of 10 riders from McGrath will be participating in the Entoure Cycle Classic, a 400km bike ride, to raise funds for Ron Delezio's Day of Difference Foundation.

Please join me in wishing the team well. You can learn more or make a donation by visiting www.entoure.com.au

On Monday evening I chatted with Peter Switzer on the Sky Business Channel about the property market. I hope you find the interview interesting.
For more information visit http://switzer.com.au. (Used with permission of Switzer Media + Publishing).

Watch my latest review on the property market & my insights for the quarter.

We recently asked our team why they love working for McGrath and this is what they had to say...

It's been a few weeks since my last blog post... so I thought I'd make up for lost time by sharing with you my top 10 hot suburbs for the year ahead. These are the areas that I think are either great buying opportunities or are set to fly in 2010.

Overall, I expect the market in most parts of Australia to be up by 8%-10% by Christmas. There are a few simple factors that will drive this:

1. The economy is coming out of a chilly winter and the mood is positive. Real estate values move with the sentiment as much as they do with things like interest rates
2. There's been a severe shortage of new