Moves by APRA, migration outflows, mortgage demands, and overvalued house prices lead us to predict a housing market cool down. The Australian property market has enjoyed incredible growth in the past two years, pushing aside predictions that the global pandemic would cause property prices to plummet. Australia’s property market has sustained strong price gains through… Read more »
CoreLogic’s November property market analysis saw house values rise 1.3 per cent for the month – the 14th consecutive monthly rise – for an annual rise of 22 per cent. That means the median value of an Australian house has risen $126,000 in a year. That’s a $126,000 increase in the equity in your property, which means… Read more »
I’m starting to get a lot of anecdotal evidence that the hot property market, particularly in Sydney, is cooling. Last weekend the combined capitals auction market experienced its second busiest week of the year, with 3,562 homes taken to auction – up 8.2 per cent. This week properties for sale are up again to 3,810.… Read more »
Super stapling is the new buzzword in superannuation circles (ooh, now there’s a circle we all want to be in). Here’s what the changes mean for you. Some changes to superannuation have come into effect this month that may affect the way your super is managed. Under the old ‘default’ superannuation system, if you started… Read more »
Warren Buffett has been very busy selling shares and switching to cash, indicating that he thinks the sharemarket is at “peak greed”. Buffett is regarded as one of the world’s best investors. The 91 year old runs an investment company called Berkshire Hathaway based in Omaha, Nebraska… he’s known as the Oracle of Omaha. I… Read more »
As it hits new highs, there is no shortage of bold predictions about Bitcoin reaching US$100,000 or more. Often these are based on not much more than extrapolations by people with vested interests: the price has gone up a lot so it will keep going up. If it gets above its previous high, it must… Read more »
The share of total income collected by the top 1 per cent of Australia’s income earners has been trending upwards since the 1980s. It is now about 9 per cent of total income. How concerned should we be about this? To some extent it depends on fluidity of membership of the top 1 per cent… Read more »
Yesterday Westpac hiked its fixed rate home loan for the second time in less than two weeks, and today the CBA followed suit. Which begs the question: Is it time for a fixed-rate home loan? Three-year fixed-rate mortgages are tied to market rates of that term because banks borrow or hedge interest rate risk at… Read more »
Reserve Bank of Australia had a Cup Day surprise in store for the country, announcing it was abandoning its policy of “yield curve control”, meaning it was no longer going to defend any particular interest rate for borrowing over any particular duration. Until then it had a formal target for the three-year bond yield of… Read more »
A new report has revealed that a quarter of all Aussies aren’t being paid their super. Don’t assume – check your super balance regularly, because some of it could be yours. A new Industry Super Australia (ISA) report has found almost 3 million workers lose on average $1,700 in super each year. And those ripped… Read more »
