The Reserve Bank of Australia board has kept interest rates on hold, leaving the official cash rate at 4.25 percent. The shock move comes as many parts of the economy continue to struggle with the side effects of the mining boom. Data published yesterday showed retail trade contracted 0.1 percent in December, traditionally the sector’s [...]

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Ongoing discount loans lose momentum Borrowers’ preference for fixed rate home loans is continuing at an unrelenting pace regardless of recent cash rate cuts, national loan approval data from Mortgage Choice has revealed. Fixed rate loans accounted for 24% of all new home loan approvals during December 2011, up from 21% in November and well [...]

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Home loans by value fell in October and remained flat over the year, suggesting the housing sector remains stagnant. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Monday that total housing finance by value fell 2.5 per cent in October, seasonally adjusted, to $20.458 billion. The ABS data also showed that the value of home [...]

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The Reserve Bank of Australia board has cut the official interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 per cent, giving mortgage holders and borrowers a pre-Christmas reprieve. The RBA announced the rate cut at 2.30pm AEDT today following the board’s final meeting for the year. It’s the second interest rate cut in as many [...]

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Economists are divided on whether borrowers will get a second interest rate cut in as many months on Tuesday. Seven of the 14 economists surveyed by AAP say the RBA will cut the cash rate to 4.25 per cent from 4.5 per cent on December 6. On Melbourne Cup day, the Reserve Bank of Australia [...]

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With the Reserve Bank serving up a rate cut, it’s a smart move to keep your repayments at the same level. Many lenders don’t automatically reduce your repayments when rates fall. That doesn’t mean, of course, that you’re not getting a cut in interest rates – just that your weekly or fortnightly (or monthly, but [...]

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Homeowners have been granted a long awaited reprieve, with the Reserve Bank opting to drop interest rates by 25 basis points. The cut continues what is becoming a tradition, with the Reserve Bank changing the cash rate on Melbourne Cup Day for the sixth year in a row. It is also the first time in [...]

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The central bank has decided to keep the cash rate unchanged this month and has opened the door for possible future cuts. The decision was expected, with all 15 economists surveyed last week by AAP predicting the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would keep rates on hold at 4.75 per cent on Tuesday. The central [...]

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OVERSEAS money is increasingly driving the recovery of the Australian commercial property market, with net foreign investment last year at its highest level since 1994, according to research from Jones Lang LaSalle.Combined with the steady growth of superannuation money and the repatriation of funds from the sale of offshore assets by Australian investors, a big [...]

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Federal MPs should open their hearts as they debate the $1.8 billion flood levy bill and remember that the victims are human beings, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says. Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday introduced draft laws establishing the flood reconstruction levy. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and the coalition support a federal package to affect [...]

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