Blogs, podcasts, videos, books, webinars, articles, newspapers …the amount of financial commentary published these days is staggering. The volume of news and analysis could be cut by 90% and it would still be completely overwhelming. So how do you make use of it all? As a property commentator who spends an embarrassing amount of time…
Australia’s traditional peak property listing window is upon us. Every year during the first half of March – referred to as weeks nine to 11 on the calendar – there is a surge in listing activity. But not in 2023. Listings provide a useful real-time indicator of seller sentiment and general market confidence. However, this…
According to to Compare the Market, purchasing a first home is a significant objective for numerous young individuals. However, achieving this goal may require some form of sacrifice. To explore this further, they surveyed over 3,000 Australians, Americans, and Canadians about their living arrangements and the compromises they would be willing to make to secure…
It is not uncommon for a group of people to entertain the idea of pooling their resources in order to increase their buying power and spread the risks associated with investing in property. Surely this is a no-brainer, right? By chipping in with friends or family you will have a larger deposit and can potentially…
Whatever the result of the New South Wales election on March 25, rising housing stress is a problem the new state government will have to confront. Soaring rents and an extraordinary lack of rental vacancies are intensifying housing stress in Sydney and elsewhere. Many low-income households are spending well over 30% of their income on…
If I had a dollar for every time in my capacity as a property strategist I’ve been asked “How Many Properties does Michael Yardney own?”, I’d be almost as wealthy as Michael. Well before I put you out of your misery and answer the question I thought we could have some fun first. How about…
Women in Australia continue to trail men in the homeownership stakes amid crippling interest rate rises and falling home values. CoreLogic’s 2023 Women & Property report released ahead of International Women’s Day, found men were associated with ownership of 3.1% more of the housing stock analysed than women. Female-only ownership of dwellings was 26.8%, while…
The ‘fixed-rate cliff’ has emerged as one of the biggest potential risks to housing market values, and overall stability in 2023. This article explains what the cliff is, and five must-know pieces of information that put the cliff into context. What is the ‘fixed-rate cliff’? Mortgage rates fell dramatically during the pandemic. This was particularly…
Our property market continues to surprise us. Although the desire to purchase property has decreased slightly, the limited number of properties available on the market has led to heightened buyer competition in all major cities, except for Hobart, reaching its highest level in a year. In fact, according to PropTrack’s latest data, the overall demand…
Tuesday’s tenth successive Reserve Bank interest rate hike is the culmination of a process that has added $1,080 to the monthly cost of payments on a $600,000 variable mortgage. I’ve calculated this increase in payments – which amounts to $12,960 per year – by comparing payments on the National Australia Bank’s base variable mortgage rate…
