Branson gives IPS the thumbs up!

At a recent Leadership Summit, Brad Allan and Scott Picken from IPS, met some of the top personalities both locally and globally. This is what they had to say:

• Sir Richard Branson – Scott asked Sir Richard how he leads and gets the best out of his people with offices around the world, as geography is such a challenge. “He said, firstly it is easier as he owns an airline, but most importantly when he sees his staff it is very important to have fun. Then once the company gets to 30 odd people it is important to get a MD who is a people person and who doesn’t know how to criticize.

• Malcolm Gladwell (Author of tipping point) – there are 4 main things which determine success.
o Put in the hard work and the success will come – law of 10 000 hours, you become successful after 10 000 hours of practice.
o Compensation – learning through failure.
o After time people learn what they are good at – trial and error.
o Leadership – need to give team and people the time and the space to grow, fail and learn. This requires faith from the leaders.

• Shaun Tomson (Famous Surfer)– he learnt life from surfing, but his two main messages is that leadership is to inspire and that commitment takes away your fear!

• Adrian Gore (Started Discovery) – said there were 7 key attributes to leadership
o Positive & Optimism – you always make better decisions when you positive.
o Set dreams and Goals – you have to know where you going.
o Sense of urgency, your time is limited – now is the time to achieve greatness.
o Never stop learning – always learning stops aging and makes the most of life.
o Persistency – key to success.
o Power of innovation – always be looking for the better way to do it.
o Integrity and Honesty – foundation for long term success.

• Wendy Luhabe (SA top female entrepreneur) – to succeed in the 21st century you need to act within the interest of humanity.

• Ronnie Apteker (started Internet Solutions) – basically persuasion sits at the centre of life and also he always invests in people rather than ideas.

• Matthews Phosa (ANC Secretary) – was very positive about South Africa’s future and all citizens. He joked about Michael Jackson and how they are striving for, “it doesn’t matter if you are black or white.” A future to encompass all citizens, in a strong, safe and secure South Africa with a multitude of opportunities.”

Who said we would not be ready for 2010?

I lived in London for 9 years and so many people used to tell me South Africa would never be ready for 2010! It used to anoy me so much as I knew we would 'make a plan'. Even with the strikes on at the moment (and to be honest they deserve the pay rises) I heard one construction worker say he would even work Sundays to make sure it was finished.

2010 is the pride of South Africa and we will not only make it happen - it is going to be fantastic!

Take a look at this picture of King Shaka airport in Durban.



Win 2 tickets to the World Cup 2010 Final - go to www.ipsinvest.com

UK Rental Index - June 09

© 2009 FindaProperty.com

In June 2009, rents increased for the first time since August 2008, demonstrating further signs of recovery in the UK rental market.

Average asking rents have increased by 0.5% month-on-month to £823 pcm, but are still 5.3% lower than June 2008 when rents stood at £869 pcm.

Supply levels of rental property fell by 0.4% in June 2009.

This is the first time that supply has fallen in 18 months.

The average time a property is on the market now stands at 63 days, which is still 14 days longer than properties were available for in June 2008.

Asking rents in London remain volatile, declining 0.3% in June 2009 after a month-on-month increase of 0.4% in May 2009. The average rent in the Capital now stands at £1,625 pcm.

The majority of regions continue to suffer from both month-on-month and year-on-year declines in asking rents. However, the South East continued to show signs of recovery with asking rents rising by 0.2% in June 2009.

UK rental yield remained stable at 4.56% in June 2009, with average yields now standing at 4.33% for UK houses and 5.24% for UK flats.

Click here for the whole article.


http://www.ipsinvest.com/Controls/File/DownloadDocument.aspx?id=18&sec=CountryDocuments

June - Nationwide UK Property Index - Growth 0.9%

House price rises continued in June

• House prices rose by 0.9% in June
• Three month rate of change turns positive for first time since December 2007
• Low supply supporting prices for now, but a sustained recovery still faces risks

Commenting on the figures Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said:

“The price of a typical house rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.9% in June, building upon the improving trend seen over the last several months. At £156,442, the average house price across the UK was still 9.3% lower than a year ago, but this marks the first time since July 2008 that the year-on-year fall has been in single digits. The three month on three month rate of change – a smoother indicator of the short-term price trend – turned positive for the first time since December 2007 to stand at 0.9%, up from -0.4% in May. If the pattern of price movements seen in the first half of the year is repeated over the second half, then prices could show only a small single digit fall for 2009 as a whole. This would represent a stark shift from trends seen at the turn of the year, when most indicators were pointing to a repeat of the large declines seen in 2008.

Prices have stabilised despite very low house purchase activity

“House prices have now risen in three of the last four months, suggesting that the improvement that began to show up in March represents more than just statistical noise. What is unusual about the recent trend reversal, however, is that it has taken place against a background of transactions activity that is still very low by historical standards. Although it has risen from the all-time record low reached in November 2008, the industry-wide number of mortgages approved for house purchases is still 55% below its long-run average and 33% below the trough reached in the 1990s downturn. Normally, such a low level of house purchases would be associated with falling house prices. Alongside the low level of mortgage approvals, however, there continues to be a relentless drop in the stock of property available for sale, as potential sellers and builders have responded to depressed demand conditions by reducing the supply of property coming onto the market. As a result, prices have been able to stabilise even in the face of very low demand.

What the rest - click here.


http://www.ipsinvest.com/Controls/File/DownloadDocument.aspx?id=17&sec=CountryDocuments

Property prices up 4 per cent this year in Aus

Posted on Tuesday, July 07 2009 at 9:00 AM

House and unit prices climbed 3.9 per cent over the first five months of 2009, all but cancelling out the losses incurred last year, according to figures from RP Data and Rismark International.

Values climbed in every mainland capital city except Perth during the five months to the end of May, the RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Index suggests.

The national median price for all dwellings sits at $468,819 as of the end of May 2009, just 0.1 per cent or $520 shy of its peak in February 2008.

“These latest results herald a national residential market recovery,” says RP Data head of research Tim Lawless.

“It’s important to note that it has taken just 15 months for values to recover (to) the February 2008 peak.”

Melbourne is the top performer in terms of house price growth over the first five months of 2009, with the median climbing 5.9 per cent to $469,357.

Darwin tops the growth charts for units for the same time period, with its median price climbing 7.1 per cent to $342,724.

Rismark International managing director Christopher Joye says housing finance approvals, auction clearance rates and other independent house price data all confirm the remarkably resilient condition of the Australian housing market.

“The recovery in Australia’s housing market, which has defied countless doomsayers, has in turn been the cornerstone of the Australian economy’s stability in 2009,” Joye says.

Looking at each of the mainland capital cities, RP Data and Rismark report that over the first five months of 2009:

* Sydney’s median house price rose 5.1 per cent to $582,543, while the city’s median unit price climbed 5.4 per cent to $442,994.
* Melbourne’s median house price rose 5.9 per cent to $469,357, while its median unit price jumped 6.7 per cent to $377,077.
* Brisbane’s median house price climbed 3.1 per cent to $458,748, while its median unit price fell 0.3 per cent to $327,982.
* Adelaide’s median house price fell 0.2 per cent to $412,516, while its median unit price climbed three per cent to $345,466.
* Perth’s median house price fell 0.5 per cent to $475,481, and its median unit price was down 0.3 per cent to $440,783.
* Darwin’s median house price climbed 4.8 per cent to $493,430, and its median unit price jumped 7.6 per cent to $342,724.

Go to www.ipsinvest.com for more information on Australia.

Survey suggests Aus property upswing looms

Australian Property Investor Magazine
Posted on Tuesday, July 07 2009 at 9:00 AM

Property professionals and investors believe Australia is approaching the next upswing in its property cycle, according to a survey conducted by Colliers International.

Most investors believe property is somewhere between four o’clock and six o’clock on the property clock. Six o’clock is considered to be the bottom of the cycle, while nine o’clock represents the upswing, 12 o’clock is the peak and three o’clock is the downswing.

Colliers International asked its institutional and private clients across Australia to plot where the market sits on the property clock, with 42 per cent of its respondents in charge of a portfolio of $1 billion or more.

Felice Spark, director of commercial research at Colliers International, says the residential market is providing the first ‘green shoots’ of growth.

“Typically when the cycle starts to improve we see the first signs of positive growth in the residential sector and this has just started to happen in recent weeks in Australia, providing a strong indication that the tide may be about to turn,” Spark explains.

“Thirty-six per cent of investors surveyed believe Australia is at five o’clock on the property clock, with a further 36 per cent identifying either four or six o’clock,” she adds.

Asked when the upswing would be well under way, 64 per cent of respondents nominated 2010, with more inclined to think it will occur in the latter half of the year.

John Marasco, director of investment sales at Colliers, says the survey results indicate that “the window of opportunity for the best purchases will soon close”.



Go to www.ipsinvest.com for more information on Australia.

Financial Times UK Property Market Review - June 09

If you want to know what is happening in the UK property market, the Financial Times Property Index is the best way understand the trends. There are many indices, but the Financial Times Index is the only one which takes all property in the UK into account. This is what they had to say for June 09.

House prices in June fell by 0.3%

The average price of all property transactions completed in England & Wales in June 2009 was 0.3% lower than in May – the lowest monthly fall since April 2008.

• Prices are now 13.1% lower than a year ago
On an annual basis, the average price of all completed transactions in England and Wales in June is 13.1% lower than a year ago – and together with the revised figure for May now show that on an annual basis, the fall in house prices was at its highest in April 2009 at minus 13.7%.

• Housing Transactions are on the increase
Although from a very low base, the traditional increase in housing transactions during the Spring did take place in 2009, despite the reported difficulties in obtaining mortgage finance. May housing transactions were up 43% over February 2009, against an average increase of 36% for the equivalent period over the last 9 years. However the overall level of housing transactions in May 2009, at approximately 40,000, is down 62% from the average 103,937 homes sold in May, for the years 2000–2008.

Dr Peter Williams Chairman of Acadametrics said
“The average house price has fallen well below the £200,000 mark and at £197,802 is now back to where it was in January 2006, that is more than 3 years ago.

“The monthly % change at -0.3% is one seventh of the peak monthly fall recorded some six months ago, at -2.2% in November 2008, and the data do suggest that the sharpest falls are behind us and that the rate of decline has now slowed significantly.”

If you want to read the report, along with regional analysis then click here for the download.

Go to www.ipsinvest.com for more information on the UK market and the current opportunities.