12 January

Fixed rate home loans for many borrowers are due to expire in January 2023 and will be converted to variable rates. This will lead to substantial increases in monthly payments for home owners and investors and could see considerable mortgage stress in the community. Real Estate Your Way is currently developing our new website and this is planned to go live in late January 2023 with a new range of offerings. 

05 July 

For the third month in a row the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has again lifted the official cash rate, this time by 0.5% with it now sitting at 1.35%. Most large lenders have increased variable rates in line with the cash rate move in June. This means if you have a variable or split loan, you will probably have noticed an increase in repayments

22 June

From January 2023 first home buyers in NSW buying properties up to $1,500,000 will be able to pay annual land tax of $400 and 0.3% of the land value instead of stamp duty. This major reform is expected to be extended to all home buyers in a modified form over time and may be adopted by other states where stamp duty is seen as a significant barrier to entry into the market.

07 June

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced a 0.5% rise in the official cash rate bringing the rate to 0.85%. This is the first rise in over 20 years. House prices have risen 25% since the start of the pandemic fuelling inflation.

07 October In a move designed to mitigate the growing risks of financial instability and over borrowing in the residential housing market the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has written to all banks and authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) advising them that “Given risks in the current environment, APRA expects all ADIs to adopt a more prudent setting for the mortgage serviceability buffer that is used to test borrowers’ capacity to repay. All ADIs should be operating with a buffer of at least 3.0 percentage points over the loan interest rate.^1,2″   This new requirement is expected to significantly impact on first home buyers who may already be struggling to save enough for a deposit and gain entry to the housing market. For full details of the APRA announcement click here . 

12 JULY Due to the economic impact of the global Corona Virus pandemic it is anticipated that government support to households and businesses will be gradually reduced between September and December 2020. The potential impact of this on the real estate market is unclear as yet.

28 October The federal govt has announced a government mortgage guarantee scheme for first home buyers. The scheme will be available on a ‘first in – best dressed” basis for 10,000 people and will commence from January 2020. There will be eligibility criteria applied to the scheme for major cities such as Sydney and Melbourne and regional cities

01 October The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has dropped the official cash interest rate boy 0.25% to an historic low of 0.75% this move is seen by many commentators as signs of a sluggish economy despite some signs of recovery in house prices in the Sydney and Melbourne real estate markets

21 July Australian State and Federal Govt ministers have met and have agreed to work together to implement the recommendations of the Shergold Weir report into changes to building and construction industry to make compliance with the National Construction Code

04 June 4 Reserve Bank of Australia cuts official interest rates by 0.25% to a historic low of 1.25% after 3 years. Banks are beiing urged by Federal Treasurer to pass on the cut in full to customers to help ease mortgage stress and boost the economy

19 May In an upset win the Liberal National coalition have won the Australian federal election overnight. Labor’s proposed changes to negative gearing, amongst other initiatives, are being held responsible for the unexpected loss. Labor had flagged the cessation of negative gearing tax breaks on existing properties from 1 January 2020, instead cutting this back to investments in new build properties only. 

03 May Former Domain CEO Antony Catalano  is reported to be the buyer of a large stable of community newspapers from formerly owned by Fairfax. Masteheads include The Canberra Times and Bendigo Advertiser 

01 April Negative gearing tax deductions for loans on existing properties to be scrapped from 1 Jan 2020 if Labor is elected

01 March Flammable building cladding court decision. Following the serious Melbourne Docklands Lacrosse residential tower fire in November 2014 attributed to building cladding, a court has awarded damages of $5.7M against the architect, fire engineer and building surveyors.

15 November realestate.com.au has announced that Tracey Fellows, will be moving into a newly created role with News Corp as President, Global Digital Real Estate, based in New York from January next year. 

14 October New Laws regarding combustible building cladding are coming into effect in NSW on 22 October 2018. This follows on from the tragic Grenfell fire disaster in London where over 70 people died when the buidling caught fire. For further information on the NSW laws please click on this link

30 August Westpac Bank has announced a 0.14% rise on all variable interest home loans from September 19 blaming rising costs of borrowing on international money markets. The Westpac rise is out of sync with the Reserve Bank who has not increased the official bank rate for over 2 years. Other banks have not yet made any announcements on their respective rates

26 July In a major shake up of the media landscape in Australia the Domain real estate listing website is to be merged into a new entity “Nine” . The move is subject to approval by regulatory and competition authorities

23 March The Federal Govt has launched a new website to assist homebuyers and can be seen here homeownership.gov.au in addition the treasury dept has also updated it’s website to provide more information on various grants and housing affordability intiatives and can be seen at this link treasury.gov.au

23 January In a surprise announcement Antony Catalano CEO of major listing platform Domain.com.au has announced his retirement for family reasons only two months after Domain was spun out of Fairfax Media and listed on the ASX. The Domain share price dropped by more than 12% on the news. In another event some members of McGrath Real Estate board have resigned and the company is now also looking for a new CEO. McGrath earnings performance has been well below market expectations since it listed 2 years ago. The share price dropped by 11% on the news

05 December Dangerous building cladding has been identified on major Victorian buildings including several large hospitals. The Vic Govt task force media release and actions to be undertaken are available here

10 November  A vacancy tax is to begin in Victoria effective from 1 Jan 2018. This is part of a suite of measure aimed at easing homelessness and housing affordability. For more detailed information on the vacancy tax click here

27 October The federal government has (again) announced a $375M homelessness and community housing support package. This was originally flagged in the 2017 budget. The funding is contingent upon the states and territory governments developing a housing and homelessness strategy for their respective jurisdictionsre

8 September  The Insurance Council of Australia have now entered the debate on the fire risk of sub-standard building cladding. A spokesman stated that properties with such cladding may not be insured, leaving many building owners and apartment owners uninsured against the risk of fire

7 August National Homelessness week is now on from 7-13 August. With rising house prices and lack of affordable housing the plight of the homeless is an increasing issue in cities as well as regional and rural Australia

10 July   A new report from the Grattan Institute, based on data from the last 2 ABS census has identified that many property owners would struggle to pay their mortgages if interest rates were to rise by just 2%

22 June It appears that the market is softening as prices ease for units and apartments in particular due to the large number of completions that are about to occur. Analysts are also noting that first home buyers are staying out of the market until stamp duty changes come into effect next week in NSW and Victoria

15 June A residential tower block has been destroyed with the loss of many lives. It appears that the external cladding on the building may have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire. Multiple investigations are underway by UK authorities. In Australia, many buildings are now being inspected to ascertain if there is a similar risk.

10 April Westpac bank picks Real Estate Your Way as one of the 200 Businesses of Tomorrow. 

05 March The Victorian state govt has announced a stamp duty cut for first home buyers in a bid to ease the housing affordability crisis

07 Feb Interest Rates remain on hold at historic low of 1.5% RBA announcement today contained cautionary notes on “considerable supply of apartments” expected to reach completion in next couple of years

31 Jan Media reports have speculated that the Federal Govt may be considering introducing capital gain tax on the family home. The expected revenue from such a measure would save the budget approx $60Billion pa according to Treasury annual reports

11 Jan The Victorian Govt has issued an options paper on residential renting laws. Submissions are invited from the public and close on 10 Feb 2017. More information on the options paper and how to submit feedback can be found here 

06 Jan  Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley has become embroiled in alleged abuse of parliamentary travel entitlements in relation to the purchase of an investment apartment property on the Gold Coast. The Minister has denied any misue of entitlements and has offered to repay the money.