Ongoing discount rate loans still leading the packThe popularity of fixed interest rate home loans hit its highest level in five months in June 2011, reaching 12.3% of all approvals for Australia’s largest independently-owned mortgage broker, Mortgage Choice.Every state apart from SA saw a rise in appetite for fixed rate loans. The largest increase in [...]

In these times of lower auction results, and tales abounding of property bargains galore it might seem a bit unbelievable to be talking about a housing supply issue.Many vendors are probably thinking that the only supply issue they have right now is that there’s too many properties on the market. But behind the scenes there’s [...]

It’s the great generational debate. Who pays more for their housing?Did the boomers have it easy in 1986 when house price to income ratios were a little over 2.5? As opposed to today’s ratio of 4.2, which is where HIA Economics put it as of December last year. (Other commentators say the ratio is higher [...]

If you are one of over 1.69 million* Australian property investors preparing to lodge their annual tax return, are you aware of what to declare and how to make the most of your investment strategy?Ahead of the next financial year, thoroughly research your tax obligations and claimable expenses to find out how to use these [...]

Nearly 11 years on since it was first introduced the federal grant for first-home owners still stands at $7000, even though the average house price has more than doubled in that time.That’s led one leading mortgage broker to suggest it is time the scheme was upgraded.The residential housing market had changed significantly since 2000 and [...]

Go behind the scenes of the fourth season of reality TV’s renovation show The Block. It’s a cacophony of construction noise: drilling, sanding, sawing, banging. Trees are hurried along hallways, which are lined with drop cloths and paint tins.Some rooms are furnished, others look a long way from done. There’s scaffolding and tarpaulins and tools. [...]

A threat by the Coalition to overturn the Gillard government’s ban on bank mortgage exit fees has prompted an angry response from consumer group Choice.The ban is due to take effect from July 1, but can still be reversed by a majority vote in federal Parliament.The Coalition would need the votes of two crossbench senators [...]

Hopes by some mortgage brokers and non-bank lenders that the Government would not garner sufficient numbers in the Parliament to maintain a ban on mortgage exit fees appear to have been dashed, with the Australian Greens indicating their strong support.The Greens’ only member in the House of Representatives and the party’s banking spokesman, Adam Bandt, [...]

The central bank has again signalled that interest rates will increase “at some point” but says it will wait for more news on the state of the international economy and on Australia’s domestic demand.The minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) June 7 board meeting, show the bank believes inflation is being moderated by [...]

Australian home owners are among the most indebted in the world, but most had no trouble meeting monthly repayments on their mortgage in the last year, new research shows.A survey of home owners and aspiring first-home buyers in eight countries by mortgage insurance provider Genworth has shown one in five Australian home owners spend more [...]

In many new areas, power lines are going underground. But if you live in an older area, would you fork out for the privilege?A paper released last year by the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University found that underground power lines could increase a home’s value by 3 per cent. [...]

The issue of the government’s ban on exit fees is one that has crept up unnoticed on the Australian public.Some people have asked me, what the issue is and who cares?Well, the issue is that banning exit fees in the mortgage market will reduce competition by making it very hard for the most competitive players [...]

DO you renovate before you sell, or just shove it on the market? Unfortunately, the answer is not simple. There are a few tasks that cost little or nothing that should be undertaken without question. The big clean, the touch-up of paintwork, storing the clutter and fixing anything obvious.Tidy that yard and make sure everything [...]

Mortgage delinquencies in the north- eastern Australian state of Queensland have risen to the highest in more than three years as floods and higher interest rates pushed up arrears, Fitch Ratings said. Some 2 percent of mortgages in Queensland were in arrears in the six months to March 31, compared with 1.54 percent six months [...]

AUSTRALIAN institutional investors, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, are trailing their European counterparts in funding projects to tackle climate change because of delays getting a carbon price established.In a global survey of 90 firms – owning and managing assets of $12 trillion – Australian respondents said they were eager to develop an approach to [...]