Our commentary on issues important to home owners, investors and borrowers
As property prices in Sydney have soared so have the revenues flowing to the State government as it rakes in record levels of tax revenue through the stamp duty on property transfers. This stamp duty, approximately 4% of each property transfer, is a significant impost which increases the savings threshold for first home buyers and acts as a brake on mobility in the property market.
Read MoreHistorically Australian government strategy, implemented via the FIRB, has been to funnel foreign investment in real estate into creating more housing stock. According to the report, that was the case this financial year with 85% of approvals being for new dwellings or vacant land for development. But we also know that there have been problems with compliance with this law due to poor oversight - many overseas buyers were simply ignoring the guidelines and buying local real estate anyway.
Read MoreAs the year starts to take hold, the national property market is likely to continue to “peter out” over the year, according to researchers at Deloitte, who say tighter lending and expected higher interest rates will start to bite.
Read MoreMost of Australia’s capital cities have started the year on the right foot, outside of Sydney and Melbourne, where average growth has started to plateau after years of exceptional gains.
Read MoreA senior economist has called for state governments to remove “inefficient” stamp duty taxes in order to ease housing affordability issues.
Housing Industry Association (HIA) senior economist Geordan Murray believes that state governments should remove stamp duty, adding that first home buyers would benefit most from the move.
Read MoreAs we close out the year, it’s been a mixed bag for capital cities across Australia. Despite the ups for the east coast and the downs for the west coast, a recent survey from ME Bank found that Australians are increasingly keen to see property prices fall, with 25 per cent saying they’d be “happy” to see prices decline. More than a third wanted lower prices – and a quarter of these owned real estate themselves. No doubt most of these respondents lived in Sydney.
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.