Empower Blog Affordability

Housing Affordability

The latest home price figures confirmed what many of us already know: Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra markets are going gangbusters. But if the dream of homeownership seems to slip further away, savvy investors are looking for a bit of the square to get a foothold on the property ladder. Angelique Donnellan reports. Every morning Rob Cooper ch...

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RENTVESTING: The Best of Both Worlds

Want to live in an inner city suburb, but simply can’t afford to buy in it? Hello, rentvesting! In this Money Magazine article, Ben explores the alternative strategy to tackle housing affordability: Rent in the location you want to live; but still invest property. Rentvesting is a shift from the baby boomer view of home ownership; but it is ...

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RBA Rate Decision – February 2017

At the first board meeting of 2017, the Reserve Governor and the Board met and they've kept interest rates on hold. It's been a while since we last caught up you know. We last met in December so there's been a lot of data that I've wanted to share with you and talk through, and a lot of developments that have been happening in the housing market. ...

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Q&A with our Treasurer, Scott Morrison

As a buyers agent and property expert, it's always a great opportunity when you get to talk to the Treasurer. You get to ask questions on current policies, pick the Treasurer's brain on political issues and most importantly, voice your opinion on the industry. In this Money Magazine's November 2016 Edition, Bryce is given this opportunity to pose ...

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RBA Rate Decision – November 2016

On this Melbourne Cup Day, Governor Lowe and his Board met, and they've kept interest rates on hold. It is an interesting time in our economy at the moment because the RBA is wrestling with one big problem and that is the growing amount of household debt. We are starting to see the household debt to GDP ratio increasing, and that is concerning. Wha...

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What is a Family Pledge or Guarantor Loan?

What is a family pledge or guarantor loan? Well in simple terms, what we are saying is that parents or a family member can put up security to help a child buy a property. Now, why is this needed? In Australia, we do know that in the bigger cities, property prices are increasing more and more. And as they increase, it is becoming harder for the chil...

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Why is property investing so hard?

Hi Ben Kingsley here, today on our How to Session, I'm going to talk about why is property investing so hard. Now I'm here on the whiteboard but today we are using some cards. We are going to basically look at the whole complexity surrounding property. You've heard us talk before if you've watched some of our other videos about owner occupier appea...

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Is Property in Australia Affordable?

There's a lot of hype around the Australian Property Market and whether or not we are in a price bubble. Now the reality is, when we see low interest rates, what it means is it increases our ability to afford property. We got to understand the psychology behind buying property in Australia, just as in buying properties in most countries where we se...

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Seven Property Investment Myths Keeping You From Growing

Investing in property can be a bit frightening if you are unfamiliar with what it entails. When considering it, realise that properties can generally be categorised into two groups: active or passive investments. Active investment requires the investors to be on the run and this could be buying a house, fixing it up and then selling it for a profit...

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World Comparisons Irrelevant

You’re sitting down about to read the paper or watch the nightly news or one of those incredibly intellectually  stimulating current affairs programs and  the headline grab is something along the lines of: Australian Property - some of the most expensive in the world! Melbourne / Sydney - in the top 10 most expensive cities in the world to li...

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Reducing the ‘Fear Factor’ in property investing

Without a doubt, one of the biggest reasons people hold back from investing in property is fear of risk. This fear shows up in many different ways, from well thought out objections to procrastination itself. There are books on the shelves, magazines on the racks, shows about investing and presenters advertising the merits of investing. There are...

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What is the outlook for Melbourne?

On occasion I get asked if it’s time to start considering our interstate capitals now that Melbourne has had a recent and fabulous run. Naturally many investors are keen to identify the next booming city to perform for their portfolio. Before they take our beloved city off the shopping list, I bring their attention to a few compelling reasons why...

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Investors – Start your engines…

There is always a positive to any negative.  Talk of a housing market bubble, higher interest rates, softening demand for property, worsening affordability and value decreases are all playing on the psychology of those looking to get into the property market. It is fair to report that in most markets across the capitals that we are certainly in...

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