Our commentary on issues important to home owners, investors and borrowers
In what has been described as “an opportunistic attempt to to reduce competition in the Australian mortgage market”, CBA CEO Matt Comyn has disingenuously led the Royal Commission Into Financial Services Industry to form the view that Mortgage Brokers are paid trailing commissions, but not required to do any work to receive them.
Read MoreThe peak body for Mortgage Brokers, the MFAA has issued a strong defence of the current lending industry structure following bad publicity emanating from the Royal Commission into the banking sector. Whilst nearly all of the bad behaviour exposed by the Commission has fallen directly at the feet of the banks, some of the major banks have tried to use the commission as an opportunity to wrest back control of the lending market.
Read MoreThe dust now appears to be settling after the latest round of interest rate volatility which we have seen during the course of the past 4 months. All major lenders have made dramatic changes to interest rates and lending criteria for new and existing borrowers preferring interest-only loans. How should borrowers respond?
Read MoreOne way to purchase property is to buy off the plan. This is where a buyer enters into a contract to buy a property before it’s completed – usually as part of a multi-unit development. And while there are benefits to this, there are also risks.
Read MoreA range of lenders have raised interest rates for both variable rate and fixed rate loans during the past few weeks. We have included a summary of these changes in the table below. And there will almost almost certainly be further changes as we move into the new year.
Read MoreFurther to changes made by ANZ in March and Westpac in April, now all 4 major banks have tightened their rules relating to lending to Australian citizens earning their income overseas. In addition, 2nd tier lender Citibank has responded to a flood of applications diverted to them to wind back their lending to overseas based borrowers.
Read MoreLoanscape is your information resource about lending and property.
Loanscape has today released its Borrowing Capacity Index for Q3/2024. It shows that the borrowing capacities of Australian individuals and families have started to recover after the sharp decline over the past 2 years. Lower income borrowers continue to be disproportionately impacted by interest rate increases: the family income required to qualify for the average size loan in Australia is 37% higher than 2 years ago.
Loanscape has today released its Borrowing Capacity Index for Q2/2024. It shows that the borrowing capacities of Australian individuals and families have stabilised after the sharp decline over the past 2 years. Lower income borrowers continue to be disproportionately impacted by interest rate increases: the family income required to qualify for the average size loan in Australia is 35% higher than 2 years ago.
Combined dwelling values have re-accelerated across the nation in February, with all mainland capitals soaring in value. It probably comes as no surprise that Perth claimed the top spot by gaining a whopping 1.8% for the month
Loanscape has today released its Borrowing Capacity Index for Q1/2024. It shows that the borrowing capacities of Australian individuals and families continue to decline. The more modest decline in the size of average loans being taken confirms that lower income borrowers are being disproportionately impacted by interest rate hikes: the family income required to qualify for the average loan in Australia is now 32% higher than 18 months ago.
The end of the year is fast approaching, with most capitals experiencing a strong recovery on dwelling values from the downturn that culminated at the start of 2023.
The recovery is mainly due to an influx of immigration and constricted supply, which the Government is trying to remedy with its ambitious goal of building 1.2 million homes by 2029 through HAFF.
Loanscape has today released its Borrowing Capacity Index for Q4/2024. It confirms the forecast trend that borrowing capacities of Australian individuals and families are recovering from their low levels which coincided with the last of the recent increases to borrowing rates initiated by the Reserve Bank of Australia.