Despite confidence surrounding the housing sector taking a hit from rate hikes in 2022, Herron Todd White (HTW) is optimistic that rate cuts during the second half of 2023 will bring increased stability to the market. In its latest Monthly Review, Kevin Brogan, the national director of group risk and compliance, said that the confidence […]
Despite the value of new mortgages falling from record high levels earlier in 2022, refinancing has held strong, hitting its second highest level on record. The latest Lending Indicators data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), has revealed that refinancing activity in December 2022 totalled $19.1 billion. While the value of total housing […]
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) aggressive, inflation-stemming cash rate hiking cycle has left many Australian homeowners questioning if and when it will end. Last December Australia’s central bank opted to lift the cash rate by 25 basis points – it’s eighth hike of the year – to 3.10 per cent, further compounding the financial woes of […]
Despite property prices falling this year, it would cost a Queensland borrower 40.3 per cent of their income to service a new mortgage, according to a new report. As Queensland continues to grapple with strong internal migration and investment opportunities not slowing down, the cost of servicing a new mortgage has continued to rise, according […]
While economists remain divided on how much inflation and the cash rate will lift, there’s consensus that both will increase. ANZ’s senior economist, Catherine Birch, expects inflation to “run a little higher than previously forecast”, forecasting the Australian Bureau of Statistics consumer price index (CPI) today (30 November) for the month of October to jump […]
There are signs that financial stress caused by higher mortgage debt and rising interest rates has started to show. An estimated 22.6 per cent of mortgage holders (1,013,000) were ‘At Risk’ of ‘mortgage stress’ in the three months to October 2022, up from 21.1 per cent last month, new data from the Australian research company Roy Morgan […]
CoreLogic is predicting the seasonal activity peak is on the horizon following Australia’s busiest week since late June. Across the country, activity rose 4.4 per cent to 2,364 auctions for the week ending 20 November 2022, bringing preliminary clearance rates, which rose 3 percentage points, with it. Of the 1,790 results collected so far, 63.1 […]
Timothy Hibbert, head of building and property forecasting at BIS Oxford Economics (BOE), believes the latest property tax reforms from the state “represent stimulus more than reform”. After passing through State Parliament last week, Thursday, 10 November, the “historic” tax heralded for its capacity to assist 80 per cent of home buyers in NSW has been labelled […]
The government’s HomeBuilder grants, handed out during the pandemic, “overheated” the residential construction industry, a review has found. The KPMG review of the HomeBuilder program done on behalf of the Treasury found the up to $25,000 grants for home builders and renovators stimulated the sector as it was intended to do, however, arguably too much. The […]
While total auction activity may be down, it’s forcing more competition into the market, if the latest CoreLogic figures are anything to go by. CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy has acknowledged that auction activity was down 2 per cent across the combined capitals this week. A total of 1,883 homes were up for grabs in the […]