News

It’s been three years since the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme was launched, and while it’s known today as the Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS), it’s still helping first home buyers get into the market with just a 5% deposit and no lenders’ mortgage insurance (LMI). The HGS attracted criticism from some circles – some pundits...

What’s the purpose of a property listing video? It’s all in the title, really. To list a property on video! It sounds pretty straight forward, and yet, the trend to stand out by inserting song, dance, plot, or Porsche continues. Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn’t, and all of the time the...

If streaming platforms are starved for content because of the writer’s strike in Hollywood, they should just look to the Australian property market for inspiration. With more plot twists than the Succession finale, rising interest rates, surging migration, and low housing supply have made forecaster’s jobs particularly difficult this year. As Sydney’s housing market continues...

Mortgage holders rejoice – the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept the cash rate on hold in August for the second month in a row. So have we finally reached calmer waters? Or is there one last rate rise wave headed our way? In what many will see as better news than a Matildas’ World...

In the world of finance, interest rates can feel like a roller coaster ride. This time, though, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has decided to give us all a breather. In its latest monetary policy get-together held on the 1st of August, the RBA announced it would be keeping the official cash rate steady...

Taking a stroll through the streets of Parramatta or Rhodes—where only about 11.5% and 14.6% of dwellings are houses—you might think this city has more than enough high-density housing. Apartment abundant Penshurst in southern Sydney invites the same sentiment, with units accounting for approximately 83% of accommodations in the suburb. Neutral Bay, Ryde, Bankstown, and...

Australians are showering their homes with $1 billion worth of love each month as home improvement spending ramps up. We look at the cost of popular renovations – and how to foot the bill. Belts may be tightening but not, it seems, for renovators. The latest figures from the ABS show Australians spent a whopping $1,044 million...

High risk tolerant or low risk tolerant, rapid interest rate hikes and inflation-related financial stresses are turning both ends of the spectrum investment intolerant. Last month, investor-owned listings across Sydney surged to a record 39.8%, with more likely to follow suit in the coming months. Australia-wide, the share of investor-owned listings increased to 32.7%, its...

The decision to keep the official cash rate at 4.10% will be welcomed by homeowners around the country after monthly repayments increased by about $1,135 per $500,000 loaned (for a 25-year loan) since 1 May 2022. RBA Governor Philip said as interest rates had been increased by 4% since May last year, the Board decided...