Posts Tagged ‘interest rates’
When to buy an investment property
Most people in the home finance industry have previously considered 7.00% to be an unofficial tipping point when it comes to sparking the property industry into action. Since the early 90’s, sub 7.00% interest rates became synonymous with increased property market activity. Clearly that rule no longer applies. The last two years have seen our…
Read MoreHow does the official cash rate affect me
So the RBA at its August meeting decided to reduce the official cash rate by .25% bringing the official cash rate to 2.50%. Already a number of lenders, including some of the major banks in Australia, have advised that they will pass this cut onto their customers in full. A .25% rate cut equates to…
Read MoreA little bit adds to a lot, make sure you are not missing out
Some of my colleagues at Smartline were recently involved in an argument about the size of the gap that has opened up between the RBA cash rate and basic home loan rates since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). During this friendly argument they all decided to have a guess at the size of the “RBA…
Read MoreNobody pays the Standard Variable Rate. Really? Really
Do you have parents who don’t use the internet like yourself? If so, please take a couple of minutes to read this quick story. Last week I met with Monica*. Monica is in her 50’s and works in a manual labour occupation and whilst she has an email address and can access the internet she…
Read MoreTime to use interest rates to your advantage
Wayne Swan delivered the 2013 federal budget last night and continued to roll back welfare entitlements for middle income earners with the abolition of the baby bonus and a lower threshold for entitlement to its replacement payment via family tax benefit. A freeze on indexation will reduce eligible households into the future. In order to…
Read MoreBanking on procrastination is good for business
We have some positive news to kick off the working year. The RBA Governor has just confirmed that our banks are now able to raise funds at far “more favourable” rates. These savings should see our banks passing on interest rate cuts in the near future. Interestingly, Michael Pascoe (Fairfax Journalist) has a suspicion that…
Read MoreWhy would I use a mortgage broker?
School has returned and the working year for almost everyone is back in full swing, can you believe that it is February 2013 already, soon we will be asking where the year went again if we are not careful. Having returned to work from a good break I have taken the chance to reflect on…
Read MoreEven the major banks are not the same
Recent media commentary has been focused on the lack of competition in the Australian mortgage market but we are seeing something very different. The non majors are fighting back in a big way. In fact, approximately 25% of Smartline’s clients are now choosing these competitive lenders. Smartline’s chart below shows a comparison between the variable…
Read MoreFixed v Variable Interest Rate Home Loans In Australia
I have been asked many times over the last few months by my clients whether I think that they should fix the interest rate on their home loan with three year fixed rates being significantly lower than their long term average. The real question that most of my client’s are in fact asking is Do…
Read MoreThe RBA has a difficult problem on its hands
In our last RBA update we mentioned that the current RBA cash rate of 3.00% p.a. was equal to the “emergency” level reached during the height of the GFC. Many have mistakenly viewed this as a reason to be worried about our economy. However, the reason for this rate cut is quite different to the…
Read More