“Don't believe real estate hype on property shortages”, according to Terry Ryder, commenting in the Australian Newspaper (10 February 2011). A more true statement has never been said. The Australian Newspaper continues “people are motivated to tip money into various forms of property because of the alleged shortage. There are many places across Australia that deserve focus from investors and many good reasons why people should buy or develop property in 2011. But only notions of a desperate shortage should not influence decisions” (10 February 2011).

Hype is usually based on little or no facts. And, making decisions based on single slices of data is fraught with danger. Whatever your investment appetite, make sure you have correct data, a proven research methodology and the skills to collate an objective, collected perspective of the investment opportunity.