Home Loans & Mortgages

A growing number of mortgaged homeowners are feeling the pinch and mortgage payment arrears are rising to 2 percent in some areas of Australia. Whilst this is still tiny compared to what has happened in the US, it should be a red flag to the RBA when considering any further rate rises. In fact some are now believing that the next interest rate move could be lower.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia [CBA] has just dropped the home loan rate on its recently introduced ”no fee” home loan offer to 7.11% in response to other major players offering deep discounts in order to attract home buyers and mortgage refinance customers in a slow mortgage market.

The way some people see it, BankWest head of mortgages John Rolfe holds the key to profitability in the nation’s $600 billion mortgage market. The theory goes like this. BankWest’s aggressive parent HBOS, having already caused chaos in the cosy banking industry by hiking deposit rates, is ready to move to the asset side of [...]

The Reserve Bank of Australia [RBA] is being blamed for a dive in housing construction, raising fears that rents are set to rise sky high due to a lack of residential rental housing accomodation in most Capital Cities and many regional areas. The number of new housing plans approved by local councils dipped 2 per cent in [...]

More than 63,300 people took a home home loan in March Owner occupied loans totalled $20.82bn Strong housing demand will boost house prices More than 63,300 Australians secured a home home loan in March, the highest level in eight months, with stronger demand for housing expected to boost house prices. Financial markets are now pricing [...]