Australian Property

Domainfax has been flogging this story to death: Mina O’Neill, 28, and her husband Scott, 30, started buying properties in late-2010.

By Leith van Onselen ABC’s The Business last night ran a segment on the out-of-cycle mortgage rate hikes by the the banks, which is primarily affecting property investors, as well as some interest-only owner-occupier borrowers.

From The Australian: A year ago, independent economist Saul Eslake got an unusual call from the Prime Minister’s office.

Cross-posted from LF Economics: A fascinating aspect of the Great Australian Housing Market Bubble is that most of the price growth has occurred under LNP governments, not ALP.

Get on with it APRA and make it count: 5% investor lending cap and higher investors risk weights.

From CBA: Commonwealth Bank has today announced an increase in its Variable Home Loan interest rates and Viridian Line of Credit products effective Monday 8 May 2017: – The standard variable rate for owner-occupier home loan customers paying principal and interest will increase 3 basis points to 5.25 per cent per annum.

From ANZ: Principal and interest owner-occupier home lending Variable interest rates for the 80% of owner-occupier borrowers who repay principal and interest on their standard variable home loan remain unchanged at 5.25%pa.

Weeo, weeoo, weeoo, from the Pascometer yesterday: The bad news about the regulators’ new attempts to hose down housing investment enthusiasm is that they are, at best, second rate.

From Chris Joye: The once market-orientated RBA now hopes that the bubble blown by its cheap money policies can be cauterised by getting the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority to re-regulate lending via “macroprudential” constraints on credit creation.

By Leith van Onselen The AFR has reported today that the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) is believed to be considering imposing a higher risk-weighting for mortgage loans made for investment purpose in a bid to curtail house price increases in Melbourne and Sydney.

From Credit Suisse: Shanghai?

I’ve been tracking the Great Australian Housing Bubble for a decade and more but I have never before seen what is transpiring today.

By Leith van Onselen With the ABS yesterday releasing its population data for the September quarter, it’s an opportune time to once again examine how dwelling construction is tracking against population growth at the national and state and territory levels.

This reeks of desperation: It is the sort of deal that would have any real estate investor salivating: Interest-free loans, and the ability to walk walk away from any losses if the price falls.

By Leith van Onselen The Australian property bubble has grown so absurdly large, and is so connected from the sad little economy beneath it, that it is consuming everything in its path.

Via the AFR: Lenders and developers are offering property investors lucrative incentives ranging from annual commission payments of $100,000, loan discounts of more than 100 basis points and cash incentives, a review of top deals reveals.

By Leith van Onselen I never thought I’d see the day that Australia’s real estate lobby – the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) – supports Australia’s anti-money laundering (AML) regime being extended to real estate gatekeepers, provided offshore sales offices and websites are also captured.

Via the AFR: It should not be surprising then that, when media started reporting Melbourne apartments being resold at substantial losses in early 2016, this was a cause for alarm among offshore buyers of “off the plan” Melbourne apartments.