The Case for Building Wealth With Stocks, Not Homes
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    HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $1,677,085 (-0.93%)       Melbourne $1,028,394 (+0.20%)       Brisbane $1,078,151 (+0.22%)       Adelaide $982,804 (+0.73%)       Perth $947,007 (+0.76%)       Hobart $769,694 (+0.31%)       Darwin $778,577 (+0.74%)       Canberra $976,606 (-1.97%)       National $1,098,248 (-0.36%)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $770,018 (+0.09%)       Melbourne $498,343 (+0.14%)       Brisbane $674,039 (+1.49%)       Adelaide $497,663 (-0.64%)       Perth $533,094 (+0.17%)       Hobart $533,129 (-0.01%)       Darwin $387,696 (+0.22%)       Canberra $494,947 (+1.38%)       National $571,202 (+0.42%)                HOUSES FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 12,026 (-343)       Melbourne 13,686 (-445)       Brisbane 8,305 (-28)       Adelaide 2,909 (-44)       Perth 7,828 (-177)       Hobart 1,264 (-5)       Darwin 160 (-2)       Canberra 1,151 (-20)       National 47,329 (-1,064)                UNITS FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 9,357 (-106)       Melbourne 7,800 (-121)       Brisbane 1,675 (-19)       Adelaide 458 (+11)       Perth 1,675 (+20)       Hobart 227 (-16)       Darwin 303 (+3)       Canberra 1,194 (+9)       National 22,689 (-219)                HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $800 ($0)       Melbourne $590 ($0)       Brisbane $650 ($0)       Adelaide $630 (-$10)       Perth $700 ($0)       Hobart $585 (+$5)       Darwin $700 (-$30)       Canberra $700 ($0)       National $676 (-$5)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $750 ($0)       Melbourne $590 (-$5)       Brisbane $645 (-$5)       Adelaide $540 (+$20)       Perth $650 ($0)       Hobart $500 ($0)       Darwin $595 (-$20)       Canberra $575 (-$5)       National $614 (-$2)                HOUSES FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 5,747 (+44)       Melbourne 7,595 (-48)       Brisbane 3,812 (-42)       Adelaide 1,418 (+23)       Perth 2,254 (+18)       Hobart 203 (-5)       Darwin 83 (+6)       Canberra 481 (-21)       National 21,593 (-25)                UNITS FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 7,827 (+22)       Melbourne 5,470 (+50)       Brisbane 1,798 (-46)       Adelaide 388 (+11)       Perth 738 (-5)       Hobart 101 (+13)       Darwin 101 (-9)       Canberra 561 (-1)       National 16,984 (+35)                HOUSE ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND       Sydney 2.48% (↑)        Melbourne 2.98% (↓)       Brisbane 3.13% (↓)       Adelaide 3.33% (↓)       Perth 3.84% (↓)     Hobart 3.95% (↑)        Darwin 4.68% (↓)     Canberra 3.73% (↑)        National 3.20% (↓)            UNIT ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND         Sydney 5.06% (↓)       Melbourne 6.16% (↓)       Brisbane 4.98% (↓)     Adelaide 5.64% (↑)        Perth 6.34% (↓)     Hobart 4.88% (↑)        Darwin 7.98% (↓)       Canberra 6.04% (↓)       National 5.59% (↓)            HOUSE RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 2.0% (↑)      Melbourne 1.9% (↑)      Brisbane 1.4% (↑)      Adelaide 1.3% (↑)      Perth 1.2% (↑)      Hobart 1.0% (↑)      Darwin 1.6% (↑)      Canberra 2.7% (↑)      National 1.7% (↑)             UNIT RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 2.4% (↑)      Melbourne 3.8% (↑)      Brisbane 2.0% (↑)      Adelaide 1.1% (↑)      Perth 0.9% (↑)      Hobart 1.4% (↑)      Darwin 2.8% (↑)      Canberra 2.9% (↑)      National 2.2% (↑)             AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL HOUSES AND TREND       Sydney 29.8 (↑)      Melbourne 29.2 (↑)        Brisbane 33.4 (↓)     Adelaide 28.1 (↑)      Perth 38.7 (↑)      Hobart 31.9 (↑)      Darwin 28.8 (↑)        Canberra 30.7 (↓)     National 31.3 (↑)             AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL UNITS AND TREND       Sydney 28.5 (↑)      Melbourne 29.8 (↑)        Brisbane 31.8 (↓)       Adelaide 25.9 (↓)       Perth 39.2 (↓)     Hobart 42.5 (↑)      Darwin 43.9 (↑)      Canberra 38.8 (↑)      National 35.0 (↑)            
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The Case for Building Wealth With Stocks, Not Homes

Such an escalation of home prices is unlikely to repeat, especially from here after their frantic climb

By RANDALL W. FORSYTH
Mon, Apr 4, 2022 11:28amGrey Clock 2 min

Once upon a time, a young family bought a modest three-bedroom Cape, the worst house in the best location in a prosperous suburb. Many years later, during the housing frenzy of 15 years ago and after the kids had grown and moved away, they received an unsolicited cash bid—for 20 times what they paid. That became their nest egg, which provided a comfortable retirement.

It’s all true, but it might as well be a fairy tale. Such an escalation of home prices is unlikely to repeat, especially from here after their frantic climb. Over the long term, history shows the stock market has returned about twice as much as residential real estate. And it’s done so with far fewer headaches than the attendant expenses of upkeep, which have come as a shock to many recent home buyers.

Looking at the data assembled by NYU Stern School of Business professor Aswath Damodaran, stocks (as measured by the S&P 500) returned 12.47% annually from 1972 to 2021, versus 5.41% for residential housing (based on the Case-Shiller Index, through last October), a span that encompasses inflation’s liftoff after the dollar’s link to gold was severed. Looking at 2012-2021, which takes in the recovery from the housing bust that precipitated the 2007-09 financial crisis, stocks returned an average 16.98%, versus 7.38% for housing.

In a new paper prepared for the Brookings Institution, Robert Shiller, a creator of the housing index, and Anne K. Thompson found 72.4% of respondents in a survey said recent bidding wars had resulted in “panic buying that caused prices to become irrelevant.” That was attributed to the now-familiar story of buyers wanting more room, especially for a home office, in the suburbs. White-collar workers who could work from home were mostly unscathed or benefited from lower spending outlays during the worst of the pandemic.

Historically low mortgage interest rates further leveraged bidders’ buying power. With Freddie Mac’s average 30-year loan down to 3.05% in December, the monthly payment on the median-priced house of $408,100 in the fourth quarter, bought with a 20% down payment, would be US$1,385. With the jump in mortgage rates, to 4.67% as of March 31, that same loan would cost US$1,687 a month. The reduction in affordability is sure to slow home-price appreciation.

Shiller and Thompson found that recent buyers are realistic about near-term home-price trends, expecting some moderation, but may be “given to flights of fancy for the longer run.” Damodaran’s parsing of their data showed buyers at the peak of the previous bubble in 2006 didn’t recover fully from the ensuing bust for 10 years. That wasn’t the first time home buyers were stuck with losses. After the dip from the peak in 1989, prices didn’t recover fully until 1992. And those losing spans didn’t take into account transaction costs, which are huge for residential real estate.

It’s axiomatic that buying high lowers future returns. In human terms, stuff happens, from better job opportunities elsewhere—especially given the ability to work from anywhere for knowledge workers—to unfortunate circumstances such as death and divorce. The ability to pick up stakes with totally portable and liquid financial assets may provide more freedom in the near term, along with greater wealth over the longer span.

Reprinted by permission of Barron’s. Copyright 2021 Dow Jones & Company. Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Original date of publication: April,



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Foreign Home Buyers Craving a Piece of the Swiss Alps Finally Have a Way In

The government in Switzerland has waived residency requirements in a handful of locations, including one that’s growing fast.

By MICHAEL KAMINER
Tue, Apr 22, 2025 3 min

While golden visa schemes proliferate, Switzerland remains famously protective about buying property in the country.

Rules known as Lex Koller, introduced in 1983, prohibit foreigners from buying homes in cities like Geneva and Zurich. And in the few locations where foreigners can buy, purchase permits come with rules around size and occupancy.

But non-Swiss buyers who have coveted an Alpine home now have a pathway to ownership, and it’s likely to come with financial upside. The Swiss government has waived residency requirements in a handful of locations where developers have negotiated exemptions in exchange for billions of dollars of investment in construction and improvements.

Andermatt, a village 4,715 feet above sea level in the centre of the Swiss Alps, is the largest municipality to open up to foreign buyers.

Its main investor, Egyptian magnate Samih Sawiris, “believed Andermatt could become a full-town redevelopment when he first visited in 2005, but the key was to offer real estate to people outside of Switzerland,” said Russell Collins, chief commercial officer of Andermatt-Swiss Alps, Sawiris’s development company.

“We became the only large-scale real estate development in Switzerland with an exemption from the Lex Koller regulations.”

In the ensuing decades, Andermatt has become a major draw for high-net-worth buyers from around the world, said Alex Koch de Gooreynd, a partner at Knight Frank in London and head of its Swiss residential sales team.

“What the Andermatt-Swiss Alps guys have done is incredible,” he said. “It’s an impressive resort, and there is still a good 10 years’ worth of construction to come. The future of the resort is very good.”

Andermatt’s profile got another boost from the 2022 acquisition of its ski and resort operations by Vail Resorts, which runs 41 ski destinations worldwide.

“Vail has committed to 150 million Swiss francs (US$175 million) in investments, which is another game-changer,” de Gooreynd said.

“If you’d asked me about Andermatt 10 years ago, I would have said the ski areas weren’t good enough of a draw.”

Along with the five-star Chedi Andermatt hotel and residences, which opened in 2013, residential offerings include the Gotthard Residences at the Radisson Blu hotel; at least six branded residences are planned to open by 2030, according to Jeremy Rollason, director for France, Switzerland, and Austria at Savills Ski.

“Most of these are niche, boutique buildings with anywhere from eight to 14 units, and they’re releasing them selectively to create interest and demand, which has been a very successful approach,” he said.

“Andermatt is an emerging destination, and an intelligent buy. Many buyers haven’t heard of it, but it’s about building a brand to the level of Verbier, Courchevel or Gstaad.”

The Alpinist, Andermatt’s third hotel residence, is slated to open in 2027; with 164 apartments, the five-star project will be run by Andermatt-Swiss Alps, according to Collins.

Other developments include Tova, an 18-unit project designed by Norwegian architects Snohetta, and La Foret, an 18-apartment building conceived by Swiss architects Brandenberger Kloter.

Prices in Andermatt’s new buildings range from around 1.35 million francs for a one-bedroom apartment to as much as 3.5 million francs for a two-bedroom unit, according to Astrid Josuran, an agent with Zurich Sotheby’s International Realty.

Penthouses with four or more bedrooms average 5 million-6 million francs. “Property values have been increasing steadily, with an average annual growth rate of 7.7% in the last 10 years,” she said.

“New developments will continue for the next 10 years, after which supply will be limited.”

Foreign buyers can obtain mortgages from Swiss banks, where current rates hover around 1.5% “and are declining,” Josuran said.

Compared to other countries with Alpine resorts, Switzerland also offers tax advantages, said Rollason of Savills. “France has a wealth tax on property wealth, which can become quite penal if you own $4 million or $5 million worth of property,” he said.

Andermatt’s high-end lifestyle has enhanced its appeal, said Collins of Andermatt-Swiss Alps.

“We have three Michelin-starred restaurants, and we want to create a culinary hub here,” he said. “We’ve redeveloped the main shopping promenade, Furkagasse, with 20 new retail and culinary outlets.

And there is a unique international community developing. While half our owners are Swiss, we have British, Italian and German buyers, and we are seeing inquiries from the U.S.”

But Andermatt is not the only Swiss location to cut red tape for foreign buyers.

The much smaller Samnaun resort, between Davos and Innsbruck, Austria, “is zoned so we can sell to foreigners,” said Thomas Joyce of Alpine property specialist Pure International.

“It’s high-altitude, with good restaurants and offers low property taxes of the Graubunden canton where it’s located.”

At the Edge, a new 22-apartment project by a Dutch developer, prices range from 12,000-13,500 francs per square metre, he said.

As Andermatt’s stature grows, this is a strategic time for foreigners to invest, said Josuran of Sotheby’s.

“It might be under the radar now, but it’s rapidly growing, and already among Switzerland’s most attractive ski locations,” she said. “Now’s the time to buy, before it reaches the status of a St. Moritz or Zermatt.”

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