Bad news for mortgage holders around the country: the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) today raised the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85%. Today we’ll look at why it did so, and how this rate hike could impact your monthly mortgage repayments.
After a lengthy run of rising prices in 2025, some pundits are tipping property prices could keep climbing in 2026. Today we’ll take a sneak peek inside the experts’ crystal ball – and what it could mean for your home buying plans.
The past couple of weeks have seen further changes to the major bank’s product lines off the back of increased scrutiny they’ve been exposed to via the royal commission.
Last week CBA confirmed they would be stopping their low doc residential loan product and this week Westpac and St George confirmed they would be calling stumps on their SMSF loans.
It’s a conundrum that many people face right now, particularly with the property boom we’ve seen in Sydney & Melbourne over the past 5 years. That is, the decision to focus on saving for a place to live or perhaps to purchase an investment property instead.
I get asked this question a lot by my clients, so I thought I’d give you my two cents in case this has been something you’ve been thinking about recently.
Read MoreThe May CoreLogic Home Index values came out last week noting the 8th consecutive month-on-month fall in property values nationally since the market peaked in September last year.
So if it wasn’t clear before, I think we can all now agree that we’re well and truly entered a new phase of the property cycle with the market effectively swinging around to be a flat, (I wouldn’t say depressed yet) buyer favoured environment where emotion is no longer much of a factor.
One of my favourite market commentators is AMP Capital’s Dr Shane Oliver. I’ve been reading his stuff for over a decade now and find him one of the few economists that provide concise insights that make (somewhat!) sense.
Read MoreFor years whenever I sat down with a client to discuss loan repayments a general rule of thumb was always applied…
If the property was owner occupied, it was best to have principal and interest repayments as the interest attached to the loan was non-deductible.
Every business goes through natural cycles. The start is the most stressful time where money is flying out the door and there’s not much coming back in!
Eventually though, things start to become more established. Cash flow evens out and in doing so, one of the questions you might have is, “I love our office but why are we spending all this money on the lease when we could own it ourselves?”
We all know the stats now. Since 2012, house prices have risen 50% in Melbourne and 70% in Sydney.
So it’s only a matter of time until we have a significant correction right?
Debt recycling is a simple strategy that is underutilised by wealth creators. In this post, I want to explain how it works so you can consider if it’s something you might want to use for yourself.
Read MoreValuations are the bugbear of my existence. An individual’s personal opinion on the value of a property can completely make or break someone’s finance application.
his post will shed some light on how bank valuations work and some of the strategies you can use to get the best result for your property.
I had a question from a prospective client recently who asked, “Why do commercial banks usually only offer 3 year rolling terms as opposed to a 30-year term like a residential home loan?”
Read MoreThey say that purchasing your first property is the most stressful thing you’ll ever do. For those that have done it, I’m sure you’ll attest to this fact. However, in my opinion, your first property doesn’t compare to the eventual upgrade in which you need to sell your current property in order to move into a new one.
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Similar to Australia’s recent 4-0 Ashes victory, it’s fair to say looking back at 2017 that commercial property markets had a good run!
So what’s ahead in 2018? Well, it’s always a bit of fun to make a few predictions at the start of the year and then look back later on to see how they panned out.
Below are my four predictions for what’s install for commercial markets this year…
Since the introduction of APRA regulations in 2015, the overall market has flattened due to tougher lending criteria resulting in borrowing capacities greatly diminishing.
There are no signs these regulations will disappear this year. However, what we have seen during this time, particularly over the last 6 months are smaller lenders, not governed by APRA creating niche policies to capture certain segments of the market.
Read MoreFor the past 4 years money has been cheap.
At the start of this month, the RBA yet again decided to keep the cash rate of 1.5% on hold where it has been for the last 16 months.
The home loan market is constantly changing, with new and attractive deals coming up all the time. Refinancing can help you secure a more competitive interest rate, access the equity in your home, add features (such as an offset account) or consolidate your debts, but there are some important questions to consider before you get the ball rolling.
Read MoreWhen it comes to buying your first home it’s not just about going through the real estate sites, checking open homes and negotiating a price. If you don’t have your finance in place BEFORE you start looking, trouble is bound to follow.
This post will seek to outline the 10 steps involved in the lending and buying process, from the beginning right through to walking into your new home for the very first time...
Recently I had the pleasure of being invited to the Spring 2017 Raine & Horne Commercial Insights event. Hosted by Ray Hadley, the event included a number of brilliant speakers such as Nerida Conisbee from REA, Martin Lakos from Macquarie and Angus Raine, Executive Chairman for Raine & Horne.
Read MoreRight now our population can be divided up into people who have amassed substantial equity and wealth, simply by owning a property over the last several years. And those who feel jaded, bitter and worried about how they will ever crack into the property market.
Read MoreAccording to CoreLogic RP data, right now there are 90,000 apartments under construction in Australia that have been sold off-the-plan. Of those apartments, 18,000 of them were exchanged with a 10% deposit or less which makes me very nervous.
Read MoreIt goes without saying that if you have a home loan, your first goal should be to work on paying that thing off! As such, the way home loans tend to pan out is that you will have minimal savings as all your money is going towards reducing your home loan.
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