Lending criteria is tightening up for personal loans, car loans and mortgages. Brokers say that lenders are being less flexible, demanding evidence of genuine savings [...]
POSTED ON February 9, 2009
Further deep cuts in interest rates are needed as well as more government spending to stimulate the economy the treasury secretary Ken Henry said yesterday. [...]
Westpac is the first of the major banks to commit to passing on the Reserve Bank's one per cent rate cut in full. Westpac's standard [...]
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Financial markets expect the Reserve bank to cut interest rates again next month by a further 0.75 per cent taking the official cash rate to [...]
The West Australian government will spend more than $300 million to build 1,000 homes in the state's regions to boost the economy and create jobs. [...]
The Reserve Bank of Australia faces extreme pressure to deliver substantial rate cuts today and in next few months as the global economic crisis spreads. [...]
Sales of new homes continued to fall in December by 1.7 per cent, adding to the 4.1 per cent fall in November according to the [...]
The Reserve Bank of Australia is likely to decide tomorrow to set a new 'floor' for Australian official interest rates of around 2 per cent [...]
Investors trading on the Sydney Futures Exchange yesterday estimated the chances of a 1.0 per cent rate cut next week by the Reserve Bank at [...]
With many economists tipping a rate cut of at least 0.75 percentage points in next Tuesday's Reserve Bank's Board Meeting, borrowers with a $400,000 mortgage [...]
Following the trend in previous years, the turnout for property auctions in Victoria and Queensland over the Australia Day long weekend attracted large crowds. In [...]
The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to cut interest rates three times in the next four to five months. Yesterday's inflation figures indicated that [...]
Mortgage applications to Westpac have been taking as long as six weeks to process because the bank's lending criteria has not been tightened as much [...]
Thousands of Wizard home loan customers who are paying above standard interest rates on their mortgages will be able to refinance into Commonwealth Bank sourced [...]
More than 600,000 households are suffering from 'mortgage stress' according to Fujitsu consulting, down from 883,000 in August. Fujitsu says the numbers are expected to [...]
Economists are expecting the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut interest rates next Tuesday by a full one per cent despite fears inflation may not [...]
The Reserve Bank is expected to cut interest rates by 1.0 per cent next week because the latest inflation figures to be released today (Tuesday) [...]
The Commonwealth Bank has the lowest mortgage package deal in the market at the moment featuring a discounted interest rate of 6.04 per cent for [...]
The real estate industry is overstating the rental crisis in a bid to lure investors into the market to purchase properties and to encourage renters [...]
National Australia Bank may not pass on in full any rate cuts delivered by the Reserve Bank at its February meeting. Chief executive Cameron Clyne [...]
NAB's Classic account will waive the $6 monthly fee if the customer deposits at least $3,500 per month. Consumers can save more money each month [...]
The rental vacancy rate has increased to a national average of 3.3 per cent, easing the burden on renters. The Melbourne vacancy rate is now [...]
The spread between the interest rate paid on $50,000 on a cash management deposit account with a bank and a standard home loan has widened [...]
MGIC Investment Corp is looking for a buyer for its Australian lenders mortgage insurance operation but, failing that, will close the business. MGIC said it [...]
Fewer mortgage brokers may be able to sell Commonwealth Bank loans after the bank set minimum volume targets for each broker. Westpac and NAB have [...]
Banks rather than niche lenders may be the beneficiary of the stimulus to home loan demand from the increase in the first home owners grant [...]
Banks are not likely to trim margins on mortgages with the cost of wholesale funding remaining very high, even if it is not as severe [...]
AIMS Home Loans is one niche lender earning a tidy return. The Sydney-based mortgage manager, which raised fresh wholesale funding shortly before debt markets turned [...]
National Australia Bank cut its maximum loan to valuation ratio on a home loan to 95 per cent. ANZ cuts its maximum LVR to 90 [...]
Mortgage brokers may have fewer reasons to introduce borrowers to a Suncorp home loan after the bank decided to cut the commission paid to brokers. [...]
More than 5,000 first home buyers applied for the beefed-up first home owner grants in the first full month of the scheme's operation, the Department [...]
New home approvals fell 12.8 per cent in November, a much bigger fall than the 1.5 per cent fall generally expected by economists. In Western [...]
The Reserve Bank will cut official interest rates to 2.5 per cent or below next year say some economists because unemployment is expected to almost [...]
More than fifteen per cent of home loan customers of the sub-prime lenders such as Adelaide Bank, Challenger Financial, Liberty Financial and Bluestone remain in [...]
Wizard customers will get the chance to cut their mortgage rates by between 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent when Aussie Home Loans and [...]
Property investors in Sydney will get the higher yields from properties in Woolloomooloo than in any other suburb. A house, with the median price of [...]
Almost 1,300 families in NSW had their properties repossessed in the first nine months of the year - before big interest rate cuts came into [...]
Only NAB and Westpac are still offering no deposit standard mortgages. ANZ has imposed a ten per cent minimum deposit rule while Commonwealth Bank and [...]
Property prices in Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide are expected to stagnate or even go backwards over the next year says Residex. Towns exposed or dependent [...]
Paying down debt is the best protection you can give yourself and your family in uncertain economic times. Debts with high interest rates, such as [...]
National Australia Bank is now predicting interest rates will fall further than previously expected early next year. Markets are pricing in rate cuts of 1.5 [...]
Maximum loan to valuation ratios for low-doc mortgages loans have shrunk from around 80 per cent to about 60 per cent over the past year [...]
The boost given to first home buyers by the federal government's big increase in the first home buyer's grants is expected to be largely negated [...]
Westpac's Premier Advantage Package home loan is offering a three year fixed rate home loan of 4.99 per cent for a limited time. The Westpac [...]
Non bank lenders are starting to lend again with the assistance of the federal government's $8 billion assistance scheme that has allowed them access to [...]
Auction clearance rates declined throughout 2008 after a property boom in 2007 that saw 82 per cent of properties put up for auction sell under [...]
Borrowers who have 'redrawn' on the equity in their home or used 'line of credit' home loan facilities are now the most likely to be [...]
Mortgage insurer Genworth Financial has tightened its underwriting standards ahead of tougher conditions in 2009. With effect from December 1, Genworth will no longer cover [...]
Low doc loans are the source of most of the increase in arrears on home loans, at least among those loans funded through securitisation. A [...]
Complaints by consumers to the Banking and Financial Services Ombudsman jumped up 22 per cent in 2007-08 to 7,911 new cases, apparently largely driven by [...]
The governor of the Reserve Bank, Glenn Stevens, said yesterday that there were reasons to have "quiet confidence" about the economy and signalled that while [...]
A borrower with an average $300,000 mortgage who maintained their high repayments over the last three months as standard variable mortgage interest rates have fallen [...]
Victoria's Consumer Action Law Centre is running a test case in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal that it hopes will set a precedent over [...]
More than half of mortgagees have loan repayments of more than 30 per cent of their gross income according to a survey by Deloitte. A [...]
The number of problem mortgages and loans could triple according to the financial regulators. The big banks continued to make low doc and risky loans [...]
Auction clearances were up slightly on the weekend of the 6-7 December, but still well down on the same weekend last year. In Melbourne, 48 [...]
The number of new housing approvals fell 5 per cent in October to 10,730. Approvals in Queensland have slumped by 32 per cent in the [...]
Members Equity Bank today announced it would cut the variable interest rate on its Standard Variable Home Loans by 100 basis points. The reduced rate [...]
43,632 borrowers took out fixed rate home loans between March and September when interest rates were at the peak according to the Australian Bureau of [...]
The Reserve Bank's interest rate rises early in 2008 are being blamed for weak results in the September quarter national accounts. Non-farm gross domestic product [...]
No bank appears to have announced any reduction in interest rates in other lending categories such as personal loans, credit cards and overdrafts. Many business [...]
Homeowners with an average mortgage of about $300,000 will save about $193 per month or about $2,000 per year as a result of the Reserve [...]
The Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank yesterday passed on the full one per cent rate cut to home loan borrowers to take their standard [...]
The Reserve Bank of Australia cut official interest rates to their lowest point in more than seven years yesterday. The RBA board cut another full [...]
Standard variable mortgage interest rates could fall to five per cent within six months, taking them to the lowest level since 1964 when they were [...]
The Reserve Bank is expected to cut interest rates by at least 0.75 per cent tomorrow as expectations rise of zero or even negative economic [...]
Sydney home buyers are paying higher rates of stamp duty on residential properties than buyers in other states. The BankWest residential stamp duty report shows [...]
Auction clearances in Melbourne slumped to a four year low on the weekend with just 51 per cent of 807 properties selling under the hammer. [...]
Non-conforming mortgage manager Majestic Mortgages yesterday announced it would close its doors and cease operations immediately. Managing Director Trevor Scott blamed lower levels of activity [...]
Seventy two per cent of mortgagees are not planning to reduce their mortgage repayments to match recent interest rate cuts according to an online survey [...]
House prices will not fall in Australia by as much as they have in other English speaking countries says Saul Eslake, chief economist of the [...]
The increased first home buyer grant from the federal government is driving increased home building and buying in regional Australia, where house prices are generally [...]
Owner occupiers and property investors can get comparable or better returns than people who invest in the share market, even in buoyant economic times say [...]
Auction clearance rates remain low in Sydney with just 44 per cent of listed properties selling on Saturday for a total value of $103 million. [...]
Mortgage brokers are reporting that demand and enquiries are increasing, even before the full effect of the October first-home buyers’ grant increase, and Tuesday’s 75-point [...]
The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to cut interest rates by half a per cent on Melbourne Cup day, next Tuesday, as it seeks [...]
The median house price in Sydney and Perth is falling, while prices in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide are still going up in affordable areas for [...]
Westpac has embarked on a 'NSW sales blitz' campaign on home loans. Westpac is offering 7.66 per cent home loan interest rates for first home [...]
GE Money is closing its home lending, motor finance and small business lending divisions in Australia and New Zealand, costing 335 staff their jobs. GE [...]
Aussie Home Loans has cut its basic variable home loan rate by 0.50 per cent to 7.59 per cent. The standard variable rate is 8.09 [...]
The Sydney residential property market continues to produce lacklustre auction results with just $56 million worth of homes being sold at auction on Saturday the [...]
The Federal Government's bank deposit guarantee could weaken the property market mortgage finance companies are warning. "This issue has caused concern and uncertainty where it [...]
Westpac and St George have followed the other major banks and announced further cuts to standard variable mortgage interest rates. Westpac will reduce rates by [...]
NAB is believed to be preparing to announce it will buy GE Money owned Wizard Home Loans within days. In the last few months Wizard [...]
The Reserve Bank is expected to cut interest rates on Melbourne Cup Day, the first Tuesday in November, but improving financial and economic conditions reducing [...]
Rising unemployment will force one million households into mortgage stress by March next year says Fujitsu consulting. Expected big interest rate cuts are not expected [...]
Commonwealth Bank announced a 0.21 per cent in its standard variable mortgage rate yesterday taking it down to 8.32 per cent. The move follows similar [...]
The Commonwealth Bank has closed its low cost online mortgage business HomePath and will transfer all HomePath customers to Commonwealth Bank branded loans. HomePath represents [...]
The big increase to the first homebuyers grant has failed to ignite the capital city auction market with sluggish results being recorded over the weekend. [...]
Aussie Home Loans yesterday announced that first home buyers would be eligible for a special loan rate of 6.79 per cent. Aussie Home Loans chief [...]
National Australia Bank yesterday announced interest rate cuts of 0.2 per cent on standard variable mortgages as well as business loans and loans to farmers. [...]
The average standard variable mortgage interest rate will be 6.3 per cent within five months according to market expectations. That would translate to repayments on [...]
The first home buyers grant could be used wisely to manage the purchase of a property or to reduce the total amount being borrowed or [...]
Fourteen thousand first home buyers are expected to benefit from the doubling of the first home buyers grant to $14,000. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced [...]
Many smaller mortgage providers such as Easy Living Finance who are funded by GE Money Australia will not be able to pass on any of [...]
Commonwealth Bank has followed the other major banks by announcing big cuts in interest rates on fixed rate mortgages. The Commonwealth will cut rates by [...]
If the financing is wrong, investors can potentially end up losing their own home and their investment property as well. Plenty of inexperienced property investors [...]
Rate cuts of 0.5 per cent are predicted for Melbourne Cup day and a further 0.5 per cent in the first week in December. That [...]
The Sydney auction results from the weekend were a slight improvement on the week before, with 49.8 per cent of 344 properties put up for [...]
BankWest has cut its standard variable rate by 80 basis points from 9.25 per cent to 8.45 per cent. The popular Rate Tracker home loan [...]