Limited Chance of Negative Equity
By Graeme Salt For most people who buy a home, a mortgage represents the single largest debt they will take on in their lives. But what happens if the market value of a property you’ve bought falls below the amount you still owe on your home loan? This situation is called “negative equity”. In Australia, […]
What to expect this Spring selling season
There are divided opinions about this year’s property market
A crash won’t happen and it won’t make new housing cheap
By Graeme Salt House prices have fallen for five straight months and right now the mood is starkly divided. Is now a good time to buy? Should you be worried? Housing can keep you awake at night for any number of reasons, but there is a floor that is likely to determine how low prices […]
Budget: Only half of investors face tax hike
By Graeme Salt Taxes rise for only about half of property investments under the latest budget – and in many cases they fall. That is the conclusion of research from economics think tank the e61 Institute (linked to University of NSW) Its research followed 920,000 individual housing investments held between 2008 and 2025 and concluded: […]
It’s hard for the kids
By Graeme Salt Young Australians are resorting to complex methods to buy their own homes. That is the conclusion of new research from the University of Adelaide. It found that almost half of young people followed disrupted housing pathways, moving repeatedly between renting, homeownership and, in some cases, back to the family home. In the […]
Is your offset really saving you money?
Offset Accounts
Your next mortgage may not be with a bank.
By Graeme Salt You want to buy a house; your first call is often to your bank. But increasingly, many non-bank lenders are finding solutions to would-be home buyers when the bank says no. Sometimes, highly-regulated banks just won’t lend you enough for the expensive Australian property markets. This image shows the borrowing capacity of […]
Property in 2026
By Graeme Salt Home prices will finish 2026 largely flat across the combined capitals, as higher interest rates and strained affordability see soft to falling prices through the back half of 2026, before a turning point and return to growth late in the year and into 2027. But the result is not a uniform slowdown. […]
Can’t save a 20pc deposit? Four ways to buy property sooner
By Graeme Salt Amassing a down payment remains a huge hurdle for aspiring buyers, despite easing house prices. A house deposit generally needs to be 20 per cent of the value of the property if buyers want to avoid paying what’s called lenders mortgage insurance (LMI). LMI protects lenders from losing money if a borrower defaults and […]
8 out of 10 Australians Can’t Be Wrong
By Graeme Salt More than eight out 10 Australians now use mortgage brokers to arrange their home loans new figures have revealed. But why would you use a mortgage broker? According to research house, Cotality, 81.0 per cent of new home loans are arranged by mortgage brokers – an increase of 4.2 per cent since […]