PROPERTY

Investors scramble as rental crisis bites

From Sydney's inner suburbs to the mining towns of Western Australia, investors are scrambling to take advantage of a growing rental crisis and the lowest mortgage costs in years.

INTELLIGENT INVESTOR

Lowy family signs up to doubter list

Nathan Bell When the smart money sells down, why wouldn't you follow suit? That's a question shareholders in Westfield Retail Trust are asking themselves.

Quirky Investments

Treasured maps

Quirky Investments In a world of Google and GPS, it's interesting that the significance of antique maps, the ones actually printed on paper, appears to be increasing.

Analysts sniff out the mother of all sharemarket tips

Madeleine Heffernan Phil Burgess, the outspoken former public policy chief at Telstra, famously said he wouldn't recommend Telstra shares to his mother.

Listen up: it's all gold

Barbara Drury The summer holidays are a time to kick back and relax, but they are also a perfect opportunity to ponder the future and make some New Year's resolutions.

Proceed with caution

Investors are having one of their best years since the global financial crisis started.

Insight: holiday homes

Clancy Yeates About this time of year, many people are tempted by the lure of a holiday home.

After the shock, ore brings relief to Rio

Nathan Bell Being the chief executive of one of the largest and most eminent global miners should be a dream job, especially in a boom.

Matthew Kidman

Falling rates may drive rush to shares

Matthew Kidman There is a robust case to argue we could be heading towards cash rates of just 2 per cent.

Insight: household savings

Clancy Yeates Putting your savings into the sharemarket is so last decade - at least, that's what the figures suggest.

Predicting markets for the year ahead

John Collett If the fearless forecasts of economists and analysts for 2013 prove correct, our sharemarket will hit 5000 points, interest rates will slide, and the Australian dollar will finally lose some heat.

Stock-ing fillers for mum

Nathan Bell Tricky things, Christmas presents, especially for your mum. How many facials and cookbooks does she need? And why punish her for your lack of creativity?

Expect the unexpected to keep 2013 a lucky one

Marcus Padley At the end of any investment period, you can produce a list of the 10 best-performing stocks and the 10 worst-performing stocks and, despite all the highbrow debate, opinions and blah-blah-blah,...

Bushranger booty

Quirky Investments There must be something in the air. Last night, Sotheby's Australia auctioned one of Sidney Nolan's celebrated Ned Kelly paintings, hoping to fetch more than $1 million (a full report on this sale...

Hot stock: Westfield

Greg Smith What's new? Westfield's solid performance continues, with its premium suite of assets and world-class management keeping the mama of shopping centres on top of its game.

Nolan art hits target

Quirky Investments First Class Marksman, one of Sidney Nolan's paintings from his first 1946 Ned Kelly series, sold for $5.4 million, including buyer's premium, through Menzies Art Brands in March 2010.

Time to go for growth

Barbara Drury Behavioural finance teaches us that people tend to prefer a small, certain reward today over a larger, uncertain one in the future. That pretty much sums up current sharemarket behaviour.

Returns of the decade

Residential real estate is a much-loved investment and everyone seems to know someone who has doubled their money playing property.

Quirky Investments

Red-hot 'roo stamps

Quirky Investments Any outbreaks of spontaneous joy you may have witnessed this month could have been coming from stamp collectors, known as philatelists, celebrating the centenary of Australia's Kangaroo and Map...