6 Simple And Easy Translation Tips For Real Estate Jargon In Modern Australia

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As the nation comes to term with the dystopian hellscape that is post 26 Budget Australia, a lot of strong chat is being thrown around. Thankfully for all the battlers out there, Australia's political, media and property profiteering classes are continuing to scream bloody murder on their behalf. Not motivated by self interested at all, those major stakeholders are continuing to drive outrage over a couple of relatively minor changes to the way profits on property are taxed. So for anyone out there who is seeing the relentless coverage of Australia's property market and worried that the housing is going to be worth nothing and the government is going to STEAL their private property, here are some easy translation hacks.

1. Housing Crash

You have probably been hearing and seeing this one a lot! And if you haven't, jealoussssss. It's the number one phrase that Australia's media like to use. You'd be forgiven if you thought that the Australian housing market was going off a cliff and family homes will be worth peanuts in just a few months. However, property prices in July fell 0.7 per cent. While it is the largest single monthly decline in value since December 2022 - prices have gone up 54% since 2020. So you can do the math.

2. Motivated Seller

It's a term agents like to use when insinuating that there is a BARGAIN to be had. This one has become particularly prevalent while the media and real estate agents are simultaneously carrying on about the government causing a housing crash, while saying everyone should have confidence in the market. 'Motivated seller' means someone wants this property gone, and they will probably not wait it out for an inflated bullshit offer. If you are a first home buyer, and you learn you've got a motivated seller on your hands, well you might be able to snag a property for 52% of what you could have paid for it 6 years ago.

3. Weakening Market

Remember how the media has spent the last few years going on about the 'housing crisis?' Well, to ease that you need housing prices to stall or go down. So while you will see a weakening market presented as a terrible thing for 'family homes' it actually means people might be able to get a 6 or 12 month jump on getting closer to a deposit that keeps getting lapped by rising property prices.

4. Socialist Government Polices

If something makes you angry, as yourself why it makes you angry, and who is making you angry. The recent minor changes to investor profits on a human right (housing) have frequently been labelled 'socialism' by online commentators and commercial media which generates a significant amount of revenue from Australia's property market. When you see this term, it normally translates to 'I have made lots of money off property because that's fast becoming the only industry in Australia and I'm angry that I won't be able to make quite as much money moving forward. Socialism roughly means the government or state control the means of production and the ownership of capital. However in this case it is being used to describe the government providing a slightly smaller hand out to property investors purchasing properties after July next year that aren't new builds.

5. Negative Equity

Negative equity means your asset is worth less than you owe on it. Negative Equity is a scary term. It becomes less scary when you remember it means your name is on the title of a property and you own a dwelling to live in. Sure it might be a tiny bit less than you bought it for, but at least you got to buy something to live in. If you bought it as an investment, well guess what, here's a news flash, sometimes investments LOSE money. I know right, that's not fair. When you see stories about a person losing 100,000 after purchasing a house early this year, most of the time they did not lose that money, there house is just worth a bit less and IF they sold 6 months after they bought for some reason, they would lose money because they invested in the Australian housing market.

6. Industry Expert

This is one term you ALWAYS need to check. In a world of online courses and LinkedIn, we've got more experts then we've ever had. However, what you need to check is whether you've got the right expert for the job, because the media often won't. For example a real state agent who has made heads of money in a short period of time as a result of an unrestricted housing boom is not actually an expert. That person has no formal qualifications and thinks that housing prices must just go up forever.