Empower Blog Global Financial Crisis (GFC)

Interest Rate Outlook for 2013 – Variable or Fix?

As a professional who makes a living out of helping people find the right lending option and loan structuring outcomes,  I know I will get asked what should ‘we’ meaning my clients,  be doing regarding our lending in 2013. Everybody got your Crystal Balls out? Good, because we are going to need them to pick what is going to happen with...

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Is the Australian Property market about to crash?

The continuing commentary around the Australian property market is a bit like a movie review that you’d read in any weekend magazine – it’s simply reporting someone’s opinion about the subject and quite often results in very conflicting views. It’s not uncommon to read that one reviewer loved a particular movie and rated it very highly wh...

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2011 Valuer General Data Released For Victoria

Most commentators say that property investing should be a long term investment, and you have no debate on this point from me, but when commentators are asked what is short, medium and long term, that is when you start getting mix responses. My view has always been consistent and I’ll again share with you. Short term in property investing for me i...

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Chasing the Deal of the Day – Good Luck with That

Over the many years that I have been dealing in mortgage finance I have learnt a lot about this game, especially given the fact that at any point in time I’ve had access to over 600 different loan products at my disposal; from different credit policies, to loan structuring to maximising borrowing capacity etc. But the most important lesson in my ...

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Stable Market – Good News for Now…

Can we call it yet?…….. Do we have to repeat ourselves again? Will the papers and naysayers' such as the likes of Steven Keen  finally admit they got it wrong (Mind you Steven was claiming  well before the GFC that property values would drop as much as 40%, when in fact property prices since have record double digit growth). So will everyd...

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RBA Rates Decision – April 2012

The RBA has held off on a cash rate movement again this month, as they still appear happy with the current economic activity within the economy. Those doing business in the two biggest state economies of Sydney and Melbourne might disagree about the level of growth they are enjoying! But it’s not the RBA’s job to set cash rates for each state; ...

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Property Market ‘Too Important to Fail’

Imagine a situation where what you’re investing in, is also so critical to the overall economy in which that investment is found, that if it failed it would severely cripple the economy and standard of living of its population. You don’t really have to imagine too hard, because that is exactly the situation we have in the Australian market. ...

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What makes a Buyer’s Market become a Seller’s market?

Without doubt, the defining aspect of 2011 for us was the rapid swing of the Melbourne Seller's market to a Buyer's market. To explain this, cast your mind back to 2009 when, after the full impact of the GFC first hit Australia, our government and RBA instigated some immediate moves to aid buoyancy in our market. We had one-off stimulus cheques ...

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So when is the best time to buy?

It’s a well-accepted theory that buyers shop in spring right through to Easter – and then the cooler months in Melbourne take hold and buyers slow down – but is this really what happens? The correct answer is that the season is only one tiny factor in what dictates property buyer and vendor behaviour. Economic outlook, suburb, location, go...

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Higher LVR’s Back in Play = Good News for First Home Buyers

Over the past few weeks we have seen several lenders adjust their Loan to Value Ratio (LVR) to allow for more First Home Buyers and Investors take on higher levels of lending against the security of the property they are purchasing.  There are some lenders who are in the 100% lending space, meaning that the borrower only needs to find approx. 5% t...

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Rates on the Rise….?

I can understand why we are referred to as the ‘Lucky Country’.  Great climate, enough fertile land to produce food to support our population & provide a great quality of life and standard of living, stable government (well sort of) and the most important thing from an investors view point - an economy that has grown over the last 20 years...

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Why Property Over Salary Sacrifice

Most of you who have been following my monthly commentary and newsletters  over the years understand I have a bias towards investing in residential property, because I have been successful at building a multi-million dollar property portfolio over the past 16 years of investing, yet my compulsory superannuation has grown to only a few hundred thou...

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‘Mixed Economic Messages – Is this a V Shaped Recovery or a Hidden W for equity markets

Economic forecasting is ‘Rocket Science’ which is my way of saying that the forecasters and experts don’t always get it right.  Take for example the latest forecasts below from three major banks, who all have access to the same data and most likely same resources, yet their cash rate forecast for the next 12 months are significantly differen...

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