Check the revert rate. Check what rate your loan will revert to after the introductory period. Is it fixed or variable? Will you be locked into that rate for several years? What are the exit fees? Can you make extra payments? How does the loan measure [...]

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Many home buyers are unaware that just one or two overdue bills can adversely affect their aspirations to purchase property as it may impact on their home loan application. “Lenders have really tightened their lending policies since the Global Financial Crisis,” said Madeleine Hicks of LJ Hooker Everton Park. “These day’s applicants can be disadvantaged [...]

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Heated competition in the home loan market, a wider range of variable loan special offers and extended cash rate stability look to be suppressing borrowers’ appetite for fixed rate loans. Demand for such loans has taken a tumble, the first fall since July 2010, as a greater proportion of new borrowers move to take up [...]

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Interest rates are on hold for now but economists expect the next move to be up. Home buyers are turning to fixed-rate mortgages in response to the steady rise in interest rates last year and predictions that rates will go higher this year.Mortgage broker AFG publishes a monthly mortgage index, which shows that the proportion [...]

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More new home loans than anticipated It adds to the case for a lift in rates Prediction of cash rate of 5pc by May NEW home loans for owner-occupiers rose 2.1 per cent in December despite the interest rate rise from the RBA and private banks the previous month. The rise may surprise those who [...]

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Australia’s largest independently-owned mortgage broker, Mortgage Choice, is delighted to see yet another encouraging result from the ABS Housing Finance report 5609.0.December 2010 was the fourth successive month to show an increase in the overall value of dwelling commitments*, up by 2.5%, despite November’s much talked about rate rises that led the Federal Government to [...]

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It’s now easier to get a job, but owning your own home is expected to become much more difficult. As the nation moves into a period of higher house prices, rising interest rates and falling unemployment, economic commentators are pointing to declining housing affordability over the next few years. Housing surveys released this week show [...]

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Many Australian homeowners can’t be bothered switching lenders even to save more than a thousand dollars, according to mortgage broker Loan Market. A national survey by Loan Market found 58 per cent of respondents said they would need to save at least $1500 a year to be motivated to refinance with another lender. Loan Market [...]

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Have we become overly obsessed with housing affordability? There’s been a government summit into what is shaping up as a huge election issue. Even Aussie Home Loans’ John Symond — who lives in a house estimate to cost more than $70million — is worried about affordability and wants tax breaks for first home buyers. Annoying [...]

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Housing affordability in Australia has continued to decline over the June quarter, according to a Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) report. The Deposit Power Housing Affordability Report shows that the decline in the June quarter was the sixth consecutive quarterly decline in housing affordability. REIA president David Airey says what’s of great concern is [...]

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