Have we reached the peak affordable housing debate in Australia? Or is it a case of that old mountaineering saying: the fog is thickest just before the summit? As someone who has been involved in building innovation for the past decade, what strikes me about the current debate is not its height, but its flatness….
Borrowing capacity has reduced by around 30% over the past year due to the impact of higher interest rates and the increased 3% interest rate buffer that banks must use to calculate your borrowing capacity. This was eloquently depicted in this chart by CBA in February 2023. I wanted to explore the common strategies that people can use to…
It’s human nature for us to exaggerate when talking about our achievements. We tend to embroider facts about our relationships, families, work and homes, placing them in the best possible light while we push any uncomfortable truths which don’t fit our picture of perfection into the background. Salespeople do exactly the same, but we often…
You’ve found the ideal new home – a beautiful established terrace and then comes the shock. The building and pest inspection reveal rising damp. Rising damp is when moisture from under the house gets into the internal walls. So what should you do? You’ll often be able to tell a home has rising damp when…
Many of our property markets have been improving recently. The sense that interest rates are near their peak and that inflation is coming under control has helped motivate people to buy and sell their property after a period of waiting cautiously on the sidelines. While we are a long way off markets booming but sellers…
If you sell a dud investment property, you may have to pay capital gain tax (CGT), selling costs and then stamp duty again when you reinvest… it can be a very expensive exercise! And if you have owned the property for a while, it is probably putting money in your pocket each month (i.e. more…
You won’t have to look far to hear an opinion on property. From dabblers through to multi-million-dollar portfolio owners, it’s an industry with plenty of advice coming from all corners, and plenty of emotion attached to each opinion. In fact, I’ve often said there are 25 million property experts in Australia But I should warn…
Even though the property market has cooled from its pandemic-induced peak, Australia’s sky-high inflation, soaring cost of living, near-record-high interest rates and tightening lending requirements mean many would-be first-home buyers are still struggling to get their foot onto the property ladder. And those who are homeowners might be struggling to keep up with hiking repayment costs….
In today’s changing property market where there are fewer good properties for sale than there are buyers, there are some who may wonder what are the benefits of hiring a real estate professional to help them in their home search. Other homebuyers figure that in today’s fast-paced world, where answers are a Google search away, and…
After outperforming house values since May 2022, national unit values recorded a milder monthly increase compared to houses in May. Unit values increased 0.9% compared to houses, which rose 1.2% while the quarterly trend also switched in favour of houses, up 2.4% over the three months to May, compared to a 2.2% quarterly rise for…
