Three steps to choosing the right real estate agent

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Three steps to choosing the right real estate agent

Republished from ME Bank.

Selling your home can be a stressful process, and the last thing you need is to hand over your best asset to a dud. It’s important to form a healthy working relationship with a selling agent who has drive, a healthy sales track record and a genuine desire to get you the best possible deal.

Instead of wondering what to look for in a real estate agent, look for recommendations. One of the best ways to track down a selling agent with these qualities is through word of mouth. If someone you know has bought or sold recently, ask about their experience.

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How first home loan deposit scheme placements will affect the market

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How first home loan deposit scheme placements will affect the market

Republished from Michael Matusik.

Whilst most of the housing industry applauds another 10,000 new federal government first home loan deposit scheme placements, some of us continue to shake our heads.

How did come to this, when it seems okay to place the top loan threshold for a first home buyer at $950,000!

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Market Essentials - October 2020

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Market Essentials - October 2020

Despite phase one of the Federal Government’s Covid-19 stimulus coming to an end this month, there’s been a positive turn in housing market sentiment. Consumer confidence has increased, and according to Core Logic, new listings rose, with six of the eight capital cities recording a rise in home values over the month.

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Government extends assistance for first home buyers to stimulate building industry

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Government extends assistance for first home buyers to stimulate building industry

Republished from The Conversation.

In its latest stimulus measure, the Morrison government will extend its first home loan deposit scheme to an extra 10,000 home buyers.

But unlike existing arrangements, where people can purchase a new or existing home, these buyers will have to build a house or buy a newly-built property.

The condition is to direct maximum help to the residential building sector.

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After COVID, we’ll need a rethink to repair Australia’s housing system and the economy

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After COVID, we’ll need a rethink to repair Australia’s housing system and the economy

Republished from The Conversation.

A new report from the New South Wales Productivity Commission (NSWPC) announces that “[higher] housing costs […] impose broader economic costs”. That chimes with our own newly published research. The implication is that Australia’s heavily capitalised housing market will weigh down economic recovery from the shocks of the coronavirus pandemic.

A niche group of economists and epidemiologists had warned the world for decades that a pandemic would have devastating economic and social consequences. When it comes to Australia’s housing, though, the COVID-19 crisis has only served to highlight deep and long-standing faultlines.

The housing system has produced triple crises of rising homelessness, growing queues for non-market, affordable housing and the pervasive affordability problems for middle- and lower-income households who depend on the private housing market. All these pressures were building well before the pandemic.

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