Boom? Ray White Surfers Paradise Prestige Event ends without a sale

NOT one home sold under the hammer as buyers kept purse strings tight and vendors refused to budge at one of the country's biggest luxury property auctions.

The Ray White Surfers Paradise Prestige Event, held last night at Palazzo Versace, attracted a room full of high-end buyers but couldn't attract a winning bid on the 11 high-end homes plated up...

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/realestate/ray-white-surfers-paradise-prestige-event-ends-without-a-sale-as-bids-fall-short-of-expectation/story-fnjdgobq-1226814507636

Are house prices rising or falling? Property analysts are divided

Research analyst RP Data said on Monday that property prices are dropping. But its competitor, the Fairfax-owned Australian Property Monitors, said with auction clearance rates at three-year highs prices are on the rise.

So who to believe?

It's plausible, perhaps, that they're both right... Are house prices rising or falling? | smh.com.au

As home US prices soar, smart-money investors head for the exits...

Here is something sad about financial markets: By the time ordinary investors notice a market is rising, it is often too late: Smart money heads for the exits, while the dumb money rushes in, just in time for the selloff.

Take housing, for example: If you have merely glanced at thefront page of any major American newspaper this week, you have seen fist-pumpingheadlines about how the housing market is soaring. National home prices are upmore than 10 percent in March from a year earlier, the biggest gain in seven years.

But before you borrow against your new-found housing wealth to fill your home with flat-screens and Cheez Doodles, please note that some of the same investors who helped pump up the market are now getting out, Bloomberg Businessweek reported on Wednesday.... more》 Huffington Post

Sydney harbour home fetches record $54 million.. New property record

A Sydney harbour-front mansion has been sold to a Chinese-born businessman for $53 million dollars (US$54.3 million), setting a new property record for the city, reports said Thursday.The eight-bedroom, seven-bathroom house "Altona" in prestigious .
Sydney harbour home fetches record $54 million - FRANCE 24