Will your home’s environmental performance impact its value?
By Graeme Salt Recent analysis by Cotality shows that investing in a home’s sustainability makes financial sense. Its “Watt’s it Worth” report found that adding one star to a home’s energy efficiency rating adds around $10,000 in value, while installing solar panels lifts value by more than double that ($23,100). The federal government is moving […]
Do you need bridging finance?
By Graeme Salt Bridging finance is almost a dirty word in Australia. Many of us, or our parents, are scarred by the 1990’s when they were stuck holding their old home as well as their new home and paying 18 per cent of the loans! Thankfully there are now many lenders who are offering competitive […]
What if this is as good as it gets?
By Graeme Salt What if there are no more mortgage interest rates to come? Underlying inflation increased to three per cent in the year to September, which was well above economists’ expectations of 2.7 per cent. As a result, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept interest rates on hold this month at 3.6 per […]
Prepare for take-off
By Graeme Salt Prices for first home-buyer properties are about to take off due to recent announcements from the federal government. Following of the from its election commitment, the Labor Party has announced an expansion of the first home buyers’ scheme – beginning this October. These changes see an expansion of the scheme and the […]
Is Covid still driving the property market?
By Graeme Salt Australians have coped with 4.25 per cent rate rises between 2022 and 2024 – which may indicate resilience of the household budget, the economy and the property market. Much of this is due to buffers built up during the pandemic according to new research. During 2020-2021, household savings shot up to around […]