{"id":12286,"date":"2017-06-18T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-17T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realestatetalk.com.au\/?p=12286"},"modified":"2017-06-18T03:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-17T17:00:00","slug":"take-what-the-media-says-with-a-grain-of-salt-chris-gray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/channels.realty.com.au\/realtytalk\/take-what-the-media-says-with-a-grain-of-salt-chris-gray\/","title":{"rendered":"Take what the media says with a grain of salt \u2013 Chris Gray"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Chris Gray<\/strong>, it\u2019s very easy for us in Australia to say \u201cOh look, property prices are high and that\u2019s all going to crash,\u201d but at the same time, we are in the top ten of the best cities to live and work in the world and the property prices reasonably should be up there.\u00a0 He has just returned from China with a whole new perspective.
\nTranscript:<\/strong>
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Joining me in the show now, Chris Gray from Your Empire buyer\u2019s agents.
\nChris, you\u2019ve just returned from an overseas trip. It doesn\u2019t hurt to leave the country occasionally to get a bit of a perspective about what\u2019s happening back here. What\u2019s your take on the market right now, Chris?
\nChris:<\/b>\u00a0 It\u2019s great to travel the world because you get a different perspective on things. I was in Guangzho in China about six weeks ago, and they were selling apartments for $40,000 or $50,000 a square meter \u2013 $50 million penthouses \u2013 and I\u2019ve just been in Seoul, literally flew in this morning, and again, property prices are high there.
\nIt\u2019s very easy for us in Australia to say \u201cOh look, property prices are high and that\u2019s all going to crash,\u201d but at the same time, we are in the top ten of the best cities to live and work in the world and the property prices reasonably should be up there. I think you just have to take the media and take some of these thoughts with a pinch of salt, because just looking out the window now, we live in an amazing country.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 We talk about the cost of housing but we then associate that with affordability. Do you think that\u2019s a valid argument? Is property becoming unaffordable?
\nChris:<\/b>\u00a0 It is definitely an argument, and it\u2019s one that is a worldwide issue as well. Again, I think when you\u2019re comparing us to other countries you have to take the exchange rate into account as well, because if the exchange rate changes 20% or 30% compared to Europe or Asia, or the U.S., we\u2019re still earning Aussie dollars and we\u2019re still paying the same mortgages, so whatever something is in another country, I think is absolutely irrelevant.
\nJohn Edwards from Residex \u2013 who a lot of us have followed for decades \u2013 one of the things he\u2019s said is that affordability is a problem but the market finds a way to get around it. So, we live in smaller houses than our parents, we have two income earners, we have first-home owner grants, we have very, very low interest rates, and all of these things help for us to be able to afford the property.
\nThe bottom line \u2013 again, quoting him, as one of my guests on\u00a0Sky News<\/i>\u00a0\u2013 is it comes down to supply and demand. We know areas around Australia \u2013 like the mining towns \u2013 where there\u2019s a massive supply of properties and no one works there, and so the market\u2019s going to crash, and it might have crashed down to 20% of the former prices, but we know that there are other places in Australia where there\u2019s no stock, there are lots of rich, high-income, young people who are willing to work and are willing to sacrifice who can afford that and there are parents who will give the kids a 10% or 20% deposit to help them get into the market. This is the thing that the economists don\u2019t always get, I think.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Chris, the point you made there, that comment from John Edwards, I think is very, very worthwhile considering just for a moment and that is we do adjust over a period. I look back several decades and I\u2019ve told this story before about how difficult it was then, but we adjusted and we did purchase.
\nDo you think sometimes we just complain about a situation and try and make it better for ourselves rather than try to look for an opportunity to adapt?
\nChris:<\/b>\u00a0 I reckon 99% of the time, we complain, whinge, and moan. It\u2019s either bashing the banks or you\u2019re bashing the politicians or something. I recently did an article talking about my first home, which I bought at the age of 22 \u2013 so 24 years ago, so obviously a long time.
\nThe numbers then were I earned \u00a310,000 and I could borrow three times my income \u2013 so \u00a330,000 \u2013 and that would get you nothing. You\u2019d be in a horrible little pit in a horrible place in town, but I guess with being able to work out my numbers and also having parents\u2019 support in terms of a guarantee \u2013 so not necessarily a handout but more of a guarantee to get me through the mortgage \u2013 I borrowed seven times my income to buy a place for $70,000 or $80,000 that was worth $100,000.
\nI negotiated well. I got 20% off, which was two years\u2019 salary. My mortgage was massive \u2013 it was more than my income even before tax \u2013 but because I was willing to sacrifice and have two people live in the house, their rent actually paid for the whole of my mortgage.
\nI guess the equation then is do you want to live in your own home and own it 100% but live in a bad place, or do you want to suffer and have a couple of other people living with you but spin it and get some mates in and have a good time because then suddenly they can pay all of your mortgage?
\nI think it comes down to if there\u2019s a will there\u2019s a way. If you really want something to happen even if you have no money, no job, no nothing, there is a way. You just have to work a bit harder.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Yes, make those sacrifices. \u00a0Final question for you \u2013 I probably know your answer to this one \u2013 whether or not you can see the market continuing to rise, Chris.
\nChris:\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>In some areas, I think it will, yes. I think in a lot of areas, it won\u2019t. With APRA, with the banks changing all the serviceability, it\u2019s getting tougher and tougher. Even with me, I have $10 million of debt, before they used to assess me at $500,000; now they\u2019re assessing me at $1 million. So, it hits all of us, and even though we professionals may make it look easy, it\u2019s not.
\nThere are some areas that are really going to be stuffed, and I think it\u2019s the high rise developments, the brand new stuff that\u2019s being overpriced, sold to foreigners who can\u2019t get the loans to settle on it. I think those are the danger areas \u2013 not all brand new property but some of it.
\nAgain, the further out areas, some are going to be good and some are going to be bad. But again, my core thing \u2013 everyone knows my strategy \u2013 which is the median-priced, blue-chip, inner-city suburbs, there\u2019s no more stock and there are lots of queues of people with money. It\u2019s not going to go down, I think, but the growth rate is going to go down. I think we\u2019re still going to be in the positive growth but just not as much in the double digits as before.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Always good talking to you, Chris Gray. Chris, of course, from Your Empire buyer\u2019s agents.
\nChris, thanks for your time.
\nChris:<\/b>\u00a0 My pleasure. Thanks a lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to Chris Gray, it\u2019s very easy for us in Australia to say \u201cOh look, property prices are high and that\u2019s all going to crash,\u201d but at the same time, we are in the top ten of the best cities to live and work in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176692471,"featured_media":12288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,10,11,13,36,22,25],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-12286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buying-a-property-topic","category-kevin-turner-sponsored-channels","category-kevin-update","category-latest-story","category-property-investment-topic","category-research-topic","category-sponsored-channels","tag-podcast"],"yoast_head":"\nTake what the media says with a grain of salt \u2013 Chris Gray - Realty Talk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/channels.realty.com.au\/realtytalk\/take-what-the-media-says-with-a-grain-of-salt-chris-gray\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Take what the media says with a grain of salt \u2013 Chris Gray - 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