News

Though not entirely shocking, it still delivered a blow to many earlier this month—and no, we’re not talking about the news that Starburst has been discontinued in Australia. Citing inflation, a tight labour market with expected wage growth and the need for ‘well anchored’ medium term inflation expectations to remain, the RBA increased the cash...

Ask any builder how busy they are right now and they’ll tell you they’ve got more jobs than Scott Morrison gave himself during the pandemic. Detached housing approvals soared to all-time highs in 2021, creating a pipeline of construction projects extensive enough to sustain the industry for years even as demand for new housing begins...

Thinking about refinancing? As interest rates rise, so do the hurdles you need to clear. Here’s why you might want to look at refinancing soon to avoid potentially missing out. When was the last time you refinanced? If the answer is “never”, or you can’t actually remember, there’s a good chance you’re paying a higher...

This year, many things have happened that weren’t on our 2022 bingo cards. An Oscars slap that stopped the world, a year’s worth of rainfall in a week, and an $11 price tag on an iceberg lettuce all knocked us for six. But just as we were starting to get used to the unexpected, the...

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has increased the official cash rate by another 50 basis points to 1.85%. Here’s how to hang in there and keep up with all these monthly cash rate hikes. Another month, another RBA cash rate hike – that’s four months in a row now! It’s hard to believe that...

Seven in 10 homeowners have recently used the equity in their home to renovate, invest in property or shares, or boost their superannuation. Have you thought about how you could take advantage of last year’s property price spike? You might have heard that property prices spiked 23.7% in 2021, yeah? That’s quite the growth spurt! So...

At a time when a single iceberg lettuce costs more than a wheel of imported French cheese, the idea that anything could cost less now than it did five years ago seems inconceivable. Even more bewildering is the suggestion that the cheaper item is in fact a piece of property in the Wild West, also...

Have you heard about the federal government’s Home Guarantee Scheme? (previously called the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme). It allows you to buy your first home with just a 5% deposit and pay no lenders’ mortgage insurance (LMI) First home buyers who use the scheme fast-track their property purchase by 4 to 4.5 years on average, because...

Rising interest rates got you feeling a little vulnerable? It might be time to take some control back by refinancing or asking for a rate review. Here’s why we’re seeing refinancing numbers surge across the country. In just two months we’ve seen the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) increase the cash rate from a record-low...

State premier Dominic Perrottet has confirmed that first home buyers will have the option of opting out of stamp duty in favour of an annual property tax as part of the 2022-23 NSW budget aimed to improve housing affordability. From 16 January 2023, eligible first home buyers who opt into the First Home Buyer Choice...