Freehold property what is that?

I noticed an article yesterday about residents in Byron Bay having a bad case of the NIMBYs (Not In My BackYard), no it is not that nuclear reactor or power station, or that three storey development over the back fence. It is about summer holidaymakers i.e. Tourists.
Byron is sick of tourists who won't use the motels, hotels and caravan parks!
Today the local council discussed issuing rules to homeowners on how long they could rent their houses for each year!!! Here is the article from the SMH.

The best line for mind was from the Mayor who clearly has a socialist (perhaps watermelon) bent over private property and the use thereof.

Quote:"Asked if the impact would be to stop all summer lettings in the town's residential areas, Cr Barham said: "Essentially, yes. I'm challenging this because it has become so commercial it is having a negative impact on our community, and it puts at risk our legitimate tourism industry."

Someone better tell her that issuing compliance letters with the threat of fines will destroy summer lettings. That "so commercial" use of vacant property adds money to the local economy. I have been meaning to read up on Australian property law to get a better feel for freehold title, but this would smack of stepping over the mark.
More tourist business for the local councils which allow property owners to let as much as they want.
I wonder how much the 600 houses (homeowners) add to the local tourist economy? (see update)

This is one of those thought balloons which is floated to see what reaction occurs. Testing the waters, if this is let slide what is the next thing that local councils will issue compliance letters for???
There is already some NSW legislation which requires removal, introduced no doubt with approval from the watermelons. That is the native vegetation act, not only does this cover trees is also covers native grasses. So farmers wishing to improve their land can be fined for planting better pastoral grasses. So instead of running 20-30 DSE per acre they have to survive with grasses which can support 1-3 DSE per acre!! This means running 3 sheep rather than 20 sheep, so if the average profit per sheep is $30, that is $90 vs $600 per acre, that means you would need to own 6 times more land to produce the same profit.

The other side of this whole process is that local residents see tourists as spoiling their town and atmosphere. Instead of complaining, why don't they rent their houses during the summer period as well and holiday somewhere else! It makes good economic sense, as their holiday is partially subsidised by the renters and they don't have to be around during summer to get distressed about tourists.

Have Fun

Update: The cost of stopping the practice of holiday letting.
I did a search on Domainholiday for holiday houses and apartments in Byron Bay. Check it out. Places range from $700-$5000+ that would be per week.
So you live in Byron Bay and rent your house for 8 weeks over summer for an average of $2000 per week. That is $16,000 gross ($9000-$12000 depending on tax bracket) that you can spend on having a holiday somewhere else!
What if you want to be there for summer and work in Sydney or Melbourne for the rest of the year, the offpeak rate would be lower, say $500 per week,
so 52-8 weeks = 44 weeks @ $500 per week = $22,000.
That rent would mostly cover the loan on a investment/holiday apartment or house being slightly negatively geared.

After the holiday tourist has paid the $2000 for the week, they are probably going to spend $50-$200 per person if not more per day. That money is spent in town and surrounding areas.
So 8 weeks (56 days) for a couple or family spending $200 per day, that is $11,200 per house. Or $6.7 million for the 600 houses. If the current average letting period is 13 weeks (3 months), the town will forgo 5 weeks (35 days) or $7000 per house, or $4.2 million is tourist spending, plus the owners will miss out on $10,000 (5 weeks @ $2000 per week), a cost of $6 million.

Whereabouts

I have decided I should spend more time developing a proper essay rather than short newspaper like opinion pieces, not that I won't post short articles. I might even write a book review occasionally. I read alot, but I tend to reread the books I have as I get more ideas on the 2nd and 3rd reading.

In amongst that my wife and I became proud parents for the second time on Wednesday 3.48pm Aus EST to a lovely (little) daughter.
This means things have been slightly hectic over the last couple of days.

My sympathies to all the families who lost friends and family to the bomb attacks recently in London, and to the recent attacks in Iraq. I could say more, but you'll get better commentary at belmontclub for starters.

Have Fun

Trade deficit and Foreign Debt - 4

That time of the month again. Most papers ran the same article from AAP on the day of the release of the May 2005 Trade figures. The next day it was doom and gloom again.
SMH:
Australia falls off Sheeps back. How old is this, it has been happening for a century or more. The 1950s were a blip caused by cold climate Korean War.

Here is the full publication of the May 2005 trade figures from the ABS. Scroll past the trend estimates (Moving average of seasonally adjusted figures) and seasonally adjusted figures (moving average of original (real) figures to the breakdown by type.

As I have mentioned in the past, non-rural, specially coal and iron ore are having explosive growth coal up 54% over last year and ore up 31.7%. Whilst wheat farmers, up until last week's rain were the focus of woe for the rural sector, meat goods have been going well too up 22% on last year. If you managed to catch landline (ABC TV) you would have noticed that live sheep exports have restarted, causing a very big jump in mutton prices!
So the drivers for exports are iron ore, coke and coal, and meat. The stuff to make and have a BBQ with... iron and coke for steel, coal for electricity and meat to eat!
Don't forget to gold plate that BBQ as non-monetary gold has been doing well.

The BBQ exports will continue to growth as the 90 day receivables start to be paid by Mr Japan and Mr China et al.

The forecast (sounding like an economist now) is for a trade surplus in the June or July 2005 figures.

On the other side, imports are looking good. If the economic reporters actually looked at the figures in detail they see that consumptions goods are only part of the import picture.
The biggest growth in imports has been fuel (48%), and iron and steel (485), both immediate goods. The iron and steel is getting used to make stuff to make Australia more productive.

In capital good land, the land of greater productivity, machinery and industrial equipment and industrial transport have risen 22% or more over last year. This is stuff which enables us to mine more, sow and harvest more and transport to market more.

Things are looking good, companies are investing in more equipment to drive increased exports in our key comparative advantage areas.

Go and read for yourself, down deep in the report and see for yourself what Australia buys and sells. It is not ten billions of Chinese toys, clothes and furniture in a lopsided one way trade as the media and others portray. The Chinese are fourth behind Germany, Japan and the US.

Have Fun

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