What happens if interest rates rise, and how does one strategize…? In terms of the expectations of some of Australia’s most respected interest rate commentators, they generally see higher interest rates moving forward, but not quite as high as the market is currently pricing. For example last week Westpac’s Bill Evans revised the bank’s projections…
Some homebuyers are looking at the property market now and thinking “how will we ever afford to buy the XYZ house we want to live in…?” Not only have the last 12 months resulted in a substantial uplift in house prices, but the amount of money people can also borrow has been reduced by approximately…
Fuelled largely by a reduction in ‘assessment rates’ – the interest rate lenders use in their serviceability calculations, borrowing capacities for certain clients have increased 10% over the past couple of months. Here are two examples from recent tests we’ve done for clients… * NAB broker serviceability calculator, accessed 15 November 2020 (previous version) and…
I have had a number of people contact me recently about wanting to establish property investment portfolios. One such person referenced Steve McKnight’s book “From 0 to 260+ properties in 7 years” (published in 2012) and asked me what’s necessary to embark on this kind of journey. I’m the last person to get in the…
Anyone in lending will tell you that assessments for home loans and investment loans have tightened since Covid, however the scrutiny around living expense assessments has noticeably softened. Lenders seem more concerned about the continuity of a borrower’s income and this is likely to remain the case now that the “shiraz and wagyu” dispute between…
I’ve seen a number of quite alarming headlines recently that there’s going to be a wave of mortgage defaults in September/ October once the relief measures like Jobkeeper and loan repayment deferrals end simultaneously. Here’s an alternative point of view… Firstly, readers can take comfort that the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and the banking…