With the new housing affordability measures now in place as of 1st July, how will this affect housing demand and property prices? Some have even predicted a change in the cash rate. However, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) met today for its July RBA rates decision and decided to keep the official cash rate on hold [...]
After a month where we have seen property prices cooling down in Melbourne and Sydney there was talk of a possible rate cut. However, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) met today for its June RBA rates decision and decided to keep the official cash rate on hold at 1.50 per cent. In their official statement, the [...]
There’s a lot to love about tax time (said no one ever!). We know it’s very easy to find ways to keep putting it off, but in the end there’s no avoiding EOFY. Nobody loves the idea of having to spend hours searching through their inbox, files, and drawers and wherever else they keep their invoices, receipts [...]
With the Autumn property market in full swing, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) met today for its May RBA rates decision shindig and decided to keep the official cash rate on hold at 1.50 per cent. We have no doubt that this will (if not already) generate a collective sigh of relief from mortgage holders [...]
With the final RBA rates decision today until February 2017 (that is one long summer vacay!), the Board have decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 1.50 per cent, hmmm...that sounds familiar, anybody else have that Déjà vu feeling? The global economy is continuing to grow, at a lower than average pace. Labour market [...]
Rising property prices are pushing homeowners to find new ways to achieve their dream home. Unable to afford the upgrade to a larger property, more and more homeowners are instead choosing to renovate their existing property – spending an average of almost $70,000 while they're at it, according to new research. The 'Houzz and Home' [...]
Scott Morrison has just made a commitment to something that could make or break the Coalition's campaign for the next election. The Treasurer has acknowledged the need for housing to become more affordable – and soon – but his solution steers clear of the controversial changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax that Labor [...]
If you're on the verge of buying your first home but have been waiting for property prices to stabilise or even fall, it looks like you'll have to hold out for a while longer. After this morning's RBA decision to leave the rate unchanged at 1.50 per cent, it was noted that housing market conditions [...]
All of the banks are lining up and the gates are drawn and they are off! But is looks like there will be neigh change for the month of November. In the RBA's meeting today, the Board have decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 1.50 per cent. The global economy is continuing to [...]
Sydney is falling out of favour with property investors. It's becoming too expensive – even for them, say experts, and Queensland is benefitting from their investment dollars instead. A survey of 1000 property investors carried out by the Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) found that the years of booming prices have taken their toll and [...]
Just when you thought the banks couldn't make it any harder for first homebuyers to secure a place of their own, one of the major banks has announced you'll now need a 30% deposit if you want to buy in one of its blacklisted 'risky' suburbs. NAB's blacklist contains more than 600 suburbs and towns [...]
While location is still king when it comes to driving up real estate prices, there's something else that encourages buyers to pay more – even if they may not realise it. It turns out that a good, functional floor plan can make a property stand out from the crowd and have buyers fighting over it. [...]
There are no signs of new home construction slowing in Sydney, with the latest figures from the NSW Department of Planning & Environment reporting a 16-year high. Over the 2015/16 period more than 30,000 new homes were completed in Sydney – that's 10.4% up on the previous year. And two out of three new homes [...]
We LOVE the convenience of tumble dryers and the lovely fluffy clothes they give us, but there are some things you just need to take a little more time and effort over. Avoid the stress and cost of ruined clothes or – worse – an expensive dryer repair by keeping these things out of your [...]
Owning a home with a mortgage may give you a sense of financial security, but a new report by Roy Morgan has shown that 6.8% of people with a mortgage (311,000) in fact have hardly any real equity built up in their home. In these cases, people's homes were found to be worth the same, [...]
