News

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...

The year is 2019. Some guy in the coffee line is talking loudly on the phone about investing in toilet paper. You are chuckling to yourself in disbelief. Poor guy, you remember thinking. Where’s the money in toilet paper? The year is 2020. You are no longer chuckling, but you’re certainly in disbelief. The year...

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has increased the official cash rate by 50 basis points to 0.85%. How much extra should you expect to pay on your home loan? Today’s cash rate hike is the second in as many months, with the RBA last month increasing the official cash rate from a record-low 0.10%...

The year is 2007. The first iPhone has just been released, along with Paris Hilton after 23 days in prison. APEC security have failed to distinguish the difference between real world leaders and The Chaser boys dressed up as Bin Laden. And after a long campaign, Kevin Rudd and deputy leader Julia Gillard have won...

Housing affordability was one of the key battlegrounds of the federal election with both major parties proposing radical policies in an attempt to woo voters. Now that Anthony Albanese has been officially sworn in as Australia’s new Prime Minister, let’s take a look at what housing policies Labor has promised the electorate. Help to Buy...

It’s getting a little chilly and we’re not just talking about the weather. For the third straight month, Sydney home prices have fallen and home lending eased, signalling that our once piping hot property market is beginning to cool. It’s a similar story across Australia, except for one capital city to our north that appears...

Can you buy a sandwich? That reads like a rhetorical question, but it’s not. As with buying property, buying a BLT with bitcoin is, in theory, possible. But in practice, your options are extremely limited. And if you’re starving, forgedaboutit. Back in 2019, the first widely reported crypto-for-food sale took place. Incredibly, the pantry item...