It’s no surprise to hear that land prices in Sydney have risen almost 11% in 2016, but it’s not just homebuying hopefuls being affected - low income renters are also feeling pressures from high property prices as demand for rental properties outstrips supply.
ANZ has announced changes to its fixed home loan products, which saw interest-only loan rates rise by as much as 0.40%, while principal and interest rates were slashed by up to 0.50%, effective today.
Treasurer Scott Morrison has today indicated that the May 2017 Budget will have Australia’s growing housing affordability problem in mind.
A new report by the Property Council of Australia has today pointed to dwelling undersupply as a major hindrance to housing affordability, along with other obstacles such as stamp duty.
Westpac has raised the fixed rates attached to nearly all of its interest only packaged loans, in a move that will affect new investor and owner occupier customers.
Commonwealth Bank has announced another sweeping range of rate increases, hiking its fixed rate home loans by as much as 0.50% across 14 fixed rate mortgages.
In the face of sky high property prices that don’t look like dropping any time soon, Aussies are opting to renovate their home rather than trading in for a newer property, according to Westpac’s Home Ownership Report.
As Australian property prices continue to soar in Australia’s major cities and more and more Aussies retire later in life , over the next few years we could see home loan terms increase from the standard 25-30 years, up to 40 years.
In a pre-budget speech today, Treasurer Scott Morrison said that restricting negative gearing would worsen housing affordability problems for renters and hurt “mum and dad” investors.
Interest rates are on the rise for Aussie home loan hopefuls, but banks are now offering other incentives to snag borrowers’ business, including the chance to earn rewards points on their home loan balance.