Mortgage Broking Articles & Tips

08/05/2010
Mortgage Broking

RBA Rates Decision – May 2010

Today the RBA announced it would increase interest rates a further 25 basis points to move the cash rate to 4.5%. This is the 6th rate rise in the last 7 meetings of the RBA and the cash rate has now risen back to similar levels as December 2008. The focus will again be on the Banks to see if they follow the RBA’s lead or move rates of their own ...

08/04/2010
Mortgage Broking

Lazy Borrowings – Are they costing you?

Recently we saw CUA (the largest Credit Union in Australia) reduce their standard variable rate by 0.25% to 6.62%. It was a marketing boon for them, as major media picked up on the story as part of what we will see as continued big bank bashing, given their recent profit results and also the overall market share they hold currently. The intere...

08/04/2010
Mortgage Broking

RBA Rates Decision – April 2010

Today the RBA announced it would increase interest rates a further 25 basis point to move the cash rate to 4.25%. They are trying to take the heat out of the booming housing market, as a threat of a bubble is forming due to the historical low rates implemented during the GFC. Yet our quick recovery out of the GFC to avoid recession has seen t...

10/03/2010
Investment Education

Mistakes Borrowers Make

With finance the flavour of this month’s newsletter I thought I’d pen a list of borrower’s mistakes. This list is not specific to investors or owner occupiers; they are basic mistakes or assumptions that lead to mistakes that all borrowers can make..... So lets take a look at them (in no particular order) Going straight to their current B...

08/03/2010
Mortgage Broking

Banks Pigeon Hole Their Customers

From my years working in the advertising industry, our Bank clients have always tried to draw a picture of who their target market client is. You’d be surprised to know that it generally meant that many people were ‘Pigeon Holed’ into the same group and that there wasn’t enough distinctive information that could tell people apart. Have...

08/03/2010
Mortgage Broking

RBA Rates Decision – March 2010

Today the RBA announced an increase in the cash rate of 0.25% to bring the cash rate to 4%. This is the first increase in 2010 and follows three consecutive increases in late 2009. The RBA decided to increase the rate based on positive economic news within the Australian economy, led mainly by the improvement in the level of unemployment. Th...

11/02/2010
Investment Education

Cash flow and Provisioning Critical

I am on record pretty much every week, talking about how property investing is a long term play and why would you sell if property values continue to grow and also provide immediate and on-going income via rent payable by tenants. Yet one of the barriers of entry for some to invest in property is the fear of borrowing money (debt) associated with ...

10/02/2010
Mortgage Broking

RBA Rates Decision – February 2010

The RBA announced an increase in the cash rate from 3.75% to 4.00% today. This is the fourth consecutive increase in rates (given the RBA doesn’t meet in January). The cash rate has now moved up 1.00% from a low of 3.00% back in April last year. Most forecasters are expecting the cash rate to increase by another 0.75% by the end of the yea...

14/01/2010
Investment Education

2010 Economic Outlook

Australia has defied the rest of the developed world and is looking at its 19th consecutive year of positive economic growth. Most economists are predicting that the economy will continue to grow this year and will fare much better than other economies. Gross Domestic Production (GDP) will be boosted by the planned Government infrastructure spen...

08/12/2009
Mortgage Broking

RBA Rates Decision – December 2009

The RBA chose to increase interest rates by another 0.25% to continue its program of moving rates up from their emergency levers. This is the first time the cash rate has moved up in three consecutive months, since the RBA starting announcing cash rate movements back in 1990. Brief Interest Rate Outlook for 1st Quarter of 2010 So will inter...

08/11/2009
Mortgage Broking

RBA Rates Decision – November 2009

The Reserve Bank has lifted interest rates by another 0.25% in November as they move to more sustainable cash rate levels, believing we are past the worst of the Global Financial Crisis. The RBA believes the Australian economy has weathered the global storm well, and will be one of only a few countries that will to lead the rest of the developed ...

08/11/2009
Mortgage Broking

Laziness Costing Borrowers

Last month saw Infochoice release their first quarterly cost-of-banking research report. It claimed borrowers are throwing away billions of dollars to the major lenders because they are paying interest rates that are too high on their mortgages. We agree, and as interest rates start moving higher and it hits the hip pocket, it is important to kn...

19/10/2009
Buyers Agents

The Affordability Question

Most people will agree it has done its job of getting more home buyers into the market and the follow on effect will be a mini-construction boom, once the land titles are registered and the new homes are under construction. Couple this with record low interest rates and it’s only natural that a spike in sales and demand would lead to price val...