The Federal budget on May 12 changed the rules for property investors in ways that most people are still working through, and Westpac’s economics team has now put some concrete numbers around the likely market impact. If you’ve been wondering how to think about the combination of the tax changes and rising interest rates, I’ll…
It feels like the year has barely begun, and already our housing markets are under pressure. An interest rate rise. Talk of tax reform. Political instability here and overseas. If you only listened to the headlines, you’d think the foundations of Australia’s property market were starting to crack. They’re not. In fact, we’ve just been…
Before the federal budget lands, I think every Australian property investor needs to understand what happened across the Tasman over the last four years, because New Zealand didn’t just debate whether to remove negative gearing and interest deductibility from property investors. They actually did it! And then, after watching rents hit record highs, investors bail…
There’s a lot of noise around property at the moment. Whenever governments start talking about tax changes, trusts, capital gains, inheritance, or “fairness,” investors understandably sit up and take notice. And so they should. The proposed Budget changes now being discussed could have important implications for property investors, business owners, families, and anyone trying to build…
Fresh data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released today shows the unemployment rate climbed to 4.5% in April, up from 4.3% in March, with employment falling by around 19,000 people in the month. The unemployment rate is now at a level above Federal Treasury and the Reserve Bank’s forecasts, and that’s before the full…
You learn some lessons about money from books. Others you only learn the hard way – through experience, mistakes, and time. Looking back over several decades of investing and wealth creation, there are quite a few things I wish someone had explained to me earlier in life. Not because the information wasn’t available. I read…
What if I told you the single biggest threat, or opportunity, for your wealth creation journey could be something you never saw coming? In the early 1980s, long before there was a TV show by the same name, economist Dr. Don Stammer taught me to always watch out for the “X Factor.” These are the…
Do you want more money? Most Australians do. Most Australians earn enough to build real wealth, yet so few actually do – and the reason is rarely dramatic. Somewhere along the way, most people pick up money habits that quietly work against them, and the frustrating part is that better habits aren’t complicated. They’re just…
For much of the last two years Australia’s property markets have defied expectations. Despite higher interest rates, affordability pressures, and cost-of-living concerns, property values in many parts of the country continued to push higher as strong population growth, tight rental markets, and limited housing supply kept prices resilient. But the landscape is beginning to change….
There is no doubt that our housing markets are facing challenges from all directions, but clearly, they have remained resilient. To better understand what’s happening, this monthly collection of charts from Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) paints an interesting picture. Cotality’s latest Housing Chart Pack shows conditions are easing as borrowing capacity tightens, with analysis of the Home Value…
