Can Older Australians Get a Mortgage?
By Graeme Salt Many banks are realistic about lending to older Australians. Over the past 20 years, the number of Australians aged 55 to 64 who own their homes outright has almost halved. Meanwhile the portion of homeowners older than 65 with mortgage debt has gone from 4 per cent in 2002-03 to about 13 […]
If rates go up next week, what will it do to property?
By Graeme Salt Inflation figures released today, indicate that we are up for an interest rate rise. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, inflation gained a further 3.8 per cent – economists had been predicting a rise of 3.4 per cent. As a result, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is likely to raise […]
Big Australia’s impact on the property market
By Graeme Salt There’s set to be 40 million Australians by the 2050s. Where will we house them? Already 52 per cent of us live in the three biggest cities. Despite its size, Australia is highly urbanised. And this urban concentration is not just confined to the largest cities; eight in 10 Western Australians and […]
Looking to buy a property but waiting for prices to drop?
By Graeme Salt Want to buy but nervous of a collapse in property prices? Chances are you will be waiting a very long time. Research just release by Cotality shows that over the past four decades, there were only six years where home values fell. At most it was a 6.1 per cent drop in […]
Too late for first-time buyers?
By Graeme Salt In news that surprises nobody, prices on properties suitable to the government’s First Home Guarantee Scheme have risen sharper than the rest of the property market. Research by the Australian Financial Review and Cotality showed that, across the country, 89 per cent of locations saw above average growth in the first home […]
Where do you want to live?
By Graeme Salt I thought about buying an apartment yesterday, but got cold feet as it made me wonder what do we want from a home? I am a ‘rentvester’; I have decided to rent where I want to live while building an investment portfolio of properties around the country. But, I am starting to […]
Unsure where to go?
By Graeme Salt The property market enters 2026 in a state of confusion, with many would-be buyers unsure where prices are heading. Over 2025, home prices rose by 8.6 per cent last year to a median of $991,331 after three Reserve Bank rate cuts boosted borrowing capacity, but the pace of monthly growth slowed to just 0.7 […]
Next Year’s Growth Spots
By Graeme Salt Perth and Brisbane will be where it’s at in 2026. Two research houses (SQM and PropTrack) have concluded that these two cities will see most price growth. SQM predict that Perth could rise as much as 14 per cent next year and Brisbane by 12 per cent (assuming no change to interest […]
A $42 billion value gap driven by flood risk
By Graeme Salt According to new research by PropTrack at least 70 per cent of homes in flood zones have experienced a reduction in property value as a result of flood risk. On average, this equates to a $37,000 drop in property values across all dwellings. Collectively this equates to a loss of $42.2bn in […]
No cuts for ‘foreseeable future’
By Graeme Salt Today, the Reserve Bank Governor said, “it does look like additional cuts are not needed”. She also stated that the Reserve Bank Board was not expecting inflation to come back below three for another 12 months. With no cuts expected for “the foreseeable future” this means rates are either going to hold […]