Comparitive Information for South Africa, Australiaand the UK | |||||||
Key Indicators: | RSA | AUS | UK | ||||
Population (millions) | 50.5 | 21.5 | 61.9 | ||||
GDP (US$ billions) | 357.3 | 1,235.50 | 2,247.50 | ||||
GDP per capita (US$) | 7,158 | 55,950 | 36,120 | ||||
GDP (PPP) as share (%) of world total | 0.71% | 1.19% | 2.94% | ||||
Interest Rate as at June 2012 | 5.50% | 3.75% | 0.50% | ||||
Inflation Rate as at June 2012 | 5.70% | 1.60% | 2.80% | ||||
Unemployment Rate | 23.90% | 5.10% | 8.20% | ||||
World Ranking(out of 142) | |||||||
Basic requirements: | RSA | AUS | UK | ||||
Institutions | 46 | 13 | 15 | ||||
Infrastructure | 62 | 24 | 6 | ||||
Macroeconomic environment | 55 | 26 | 85 | ||||
Health and primary education | 131 | 10 | 14 | ||||
Efficiency enhancers: | |||||||
Higher education and training | 73 | 11 | 16 | ||||
Goods market efficiency | 32 | 22 | 19 | ||||
Labor market efficiency | 95 | 13 | 7 | ||||
Financial market development | 4 | 6 | 20 | ||||
Technological readiness | 76 | 22 | 8 | ||||
Market size | 25 | 19 | 6 | ||||
Innovation and sophistication factors: | |||||||
Business sophistication | 38 | 29 | 8 | ||||
Innovation | 41 | 22 | 13 | ||||
The most problematic factors for doing business in percentages: | |||||||
RSA | AUS | UK | |||||
Restrictive labor regulations | 16.1 | 16.6 | 8.4 | ||||
Inefficient government bureaucracy | 19.6 | 12.3 | 13.5 | ||||
Tax rates | 0.5 | 12.3 | 17.8 | ||||
Access to financing | 3.5 | 10.7 | 14.5 | ||||
Inadequate supply of infrastructure | 8 | 10.3 | 5 | ||||
Tax regulations | 0.8 | 8 | 11.7 | ||||
Inadequately educated workforce | 16.8 | 7.7 | 6.8 | ||||
Poor work ethic in national labor force | 5.5 | 7.4 | 6.1 | ||||
Inflation | 1.1 | 6.8 | 9.4 | ||||
Policy instability | 3.2 | 5.3 | 4 | ||||
Foreign currency regulations | 1.9 | 2.5 | 0.6 | ||||
Corruption | 11.5 | 0 | 0.9 | ||||
Crime and theft | 9.8 | 0 | 0.2 | ||||
Government instability/coups | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
Poor public health | 1.8 | 0 | 0.8 | ||||
Source: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 © 2011 World Economic Forum | |||||||
2012 started well for the UK property market with both sales and rental asking prices rising for the first time since Sep. ’11. Over the past year, London’s average sales asking price increased by 7.3% – the equivalent of £2,617 per month. Nonetheless, the figures are well below their pre-financial crisis levels, and in real terms property prices are still around 25% lower which only leaves them one place to go – up.
The United Kingdom is a triple “A” rated economy in which property prices have doubled every 7 years for the past 100 years.
Australian property investors sidestepped the worst of the global financial crisis as the country’s housing market held up well. Prices for Australia overall show a similar trend, with average prices over the six major capital cities growing at an average of 8.6% per annum since 1955 until Global financial crisis of 2008 also halted growth.
When we look at the graph we can see that the amazing boom years from 2000 to 2006 are long gone, when house prices rose by an average of almost 20% annually. As a result of the empowered middle class, the house prices peaked in 2004 with 32% growth. The Global financial crisis ground the boom to a halt in 2008 and prices still haven’t recovered.
Comparitive currency exchange rates over the last 12 years: | ||||||
Date | AUD | USD | EUR | GBP | ||
15/06/2000 | 4.15 | 6.90 | 6.58 | 10.56 | ||
15/06/2001 | 4.21 | 8.00 | 6.90 | 11.25 | ||
15/06/2002 | 5.87 | 10.48 | 9.90 | 15.69 | ||
15/06/2003 | 5.24 | 7.78 | 9.21 | 13.08 | ||
15/06/2004 | 4.49 | 6.47 | 7.85 | 11.82 | ||
15/06/2005 | 5.20 | 6.77 | 8.20 | 12.34 | ||
15/06/2006 | 5.09 | 6.90 | 8.71 | 12.75 | ||
15/06/2007 | 5.98 | 7.12 | 9.51 | 14.07 | ||
15/06/2008 | 7.55 | 8.12 | 12.53 | 15.90 | ||
15/06/2009 | 6.46 | 8.06 | 11.16 | 13.17 | ||
15/06/2010 | 6.59 | 7.69 | 9.43 | 11.33 | ||
15/06/2011 | 7.26 | 6.80 | 9.72 | 11.05 | ||
15/06/2012 | 8.41 | 8.39 | 10.56 | 13.01 | ||
Gain over 12 Years against the Rand: | ||||||
103% | 21.60% | 60.48% | 23.20% | |||
Gain on 15/06/2012 if you invested when the Rand was at its weakest over the past 12 years: |
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11.39% | -19.94% | -15.72% | -18.18% | |||
Source: X-Rates
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