SecretAgent - The inside scoop

The inside scoop

Cook Islands - My holiday in paradise and what we could all learn from their real estate market

2010/09/08 Wednesday 00:00:00 EST

I've just come back from a short break. Just over a week was spent in Rarotonga and Aitutaki in the Cook Islands.

If you've never been to the Cook Islands, I'd highly suggest a visit there at some point. The place is paradise and the people are among the most friendly I've encountered anywhere in the world.

As much as this was a holiday - my curiosity for real estate led me to the local real estate office to check the values of land and property.

I was a little surprised to see the office 'closed' with a sign that said 'if you are foreign citizens, you cannot purchase property anywhere in the Cook Islands - we are sorry about that'

Pretty much real estate in unavailable to outsiders (including New Zealand citizens). Certain land holdings may be available for hotels and business's but even these are limited to 60 year leases.

Cook Islands is a tribal place. Land is passed down to decedents and from what I could see this is a good thing.

For one thing, many locals seemed actually well off. Unlike many other places in the world, the locals seemed to be less focused on money. Most locals I spoke with laughed at having a mortgage and very few paid rent either. They made enough to cover food expenses and that was about it.

Secondly major development has been limited due to the many restrictions - this has helped keep the place still largely 'untouched' which is very rare to see these days.

Introducing a free market without restrictions would be a very bad move for a place like the Cook Islands. So while I've always been a big fan of a free market society - the system currently used in the Cook Islands really works for them.

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Interest rates staying fixed

2010/09/07 Tuesday 00:00:00 EST
It was a pretty uneventful meeting with the RBA leaving rates on hold as expected as its statement of the outcome of the meeting (find here ) not really reporting much. China's growth has moderated, this was about the only real take away here. The economy seems to be upbeat. \| \|

Auction Wrap

2010/09/06 Monday 00:00:00 EST

The first week in the spring auction market has performed quite well with the auction clearance rate up this weekend to 72% - from last weekend's 70%.

There were 603 auctions reported, of which 433 sold and 170 passed in, 90 of those on a vendor bid.

Results also appear solid this weekend - 26 Westgarth Street, Northcote sold for $1,151,000 after bidding began at $900,000 where four bidders fought it out to secure the weatherboard family home.

Over the next two weeks there are scheduled to be around 1430 auctions.

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We've taken a few days off!

2010/08/31 Tuesday 00:00:00 EST

A quick sunshine break before the Spring market really starts to kick into gear.

We will be back next Monday with the normal auction wrap.

Catch you then - Thanks for reading.

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Auction Wrap

2010/08/30 Monday 12:27:40 EST

Auction numbers increased this weekend, however this did not stop the clearance rate from remaining solid.

This weekend 687 auctions took place, of which 488 sold and 199 were passed in resulting in a clearance rate of 71%, this compared to the 72% achieved last weekend from 343 auctions.

A number of auctions that we attended over the weekend that were passed in were later sold, like 113 Millswyn Street, South Yarra which was passed in at $1,750,000 Vendor Bid after having no bids on the street. The property later sold for $1,825,000.

Next weekend around 600 auctions are scheduled to take place.

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