Listed property developer Devine Limited (ASX: DVN) has announced the acquisition of a 21.45 hectare land parcel in Brookfield, 35 kilometres south west of Melbourne, for $6.9 million in an 18 month staged settlement contract.

The roaring pace with which the commercial property markets developed momentum in the final months of 2007, has come to a grinding halt, as the full effects of interest rate rises, share market volatility and a dip in business and consumer sentiment takes its toll on a stunned market.

The latest interest rate rise, the fourth in the last six months and eleventh straight since 2002, will add about $100 a month to my mortgage repayments.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced today that the Official Cash Rate will increase 25 basis points to 7 per cent.

Financial hardship during the depression, as well as the need for more land to accommodate a growing population, has seen many of Melbourne’s most stately mansions demolished to make way for houses, flats, office buildings and hotels.