Australian Property

By Leith van Onselen With concerns over Australia’s housing bubble now spreading like wildfire, John McGrathmaggeddon has penned a desperate piece telling punters not to “panic” because “the property bubble isn’t about to burst”.

Recall this story at Domainfax: Mina O’Neill, 28, and her husband Scott, 30, started buying properties in late-2010.

Via Domainfax: Altair’s sell-all strategy has attracted criticism with Macquarie Group’s former head of real estate business Bill Moss suggesting it was overstated.

Via Domainfax: Westpac’s latest changes, which will also apply to Bank of Melbourne, BankSA and St George Bank, will from next Monday raise minimum deposits for interest-only borrowers to 20 per cent.

By Leith van Onselen Property locusts are swarming Canberra to lobby against the modest changes affecting foreign buyers announced in the Federal Budget.

Parliament tried to find it yesterday: Treasury secretary John Fraser declined to indicate what level of household debt would represent a grave threat to the nation’s economy, saying his department’s priority was to monitor the problem.

Has anyone noticed how MB is no longer the local “doomsayer”?

By Leith van Onselen GetUp!

Via AFR: AMP and other property lenders are announcing a new round of rate rises for interest-only loans of up to 28 basis points and doubling mortgage minimum deposits in the latest round of tightening.

From CoreLogic today: Note that although the leading mortgage index has come off its lows, it is doing so much more slowly than last year.

By Leith van Onselen The latest screwed-up example of Australia’s politico-housing complex has the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) hiding “significant” chemical contamination from the public in a bid to support property values.

From Domainfax over the weekend: Any advantages of funding property portfolios with popular interest-only loans are rapidly disappearing as lenders hit the red alert button by raising rates, tighten terms and offer lucrative incentives to pay down debt.

By Leith van Onselen The flood of apartment supply that is currently hitting Brisbane is forcing landlords to slash rents and offer incentives to lure prospective tenants.

By Leith van Onselen After the latest FIRB Annual Report for 2015-16 showed exploding investment in Australian residential property by China, Treasury Secretary John Fraser has stated that Chinese investment has plunged so far in 2016-17, due to credit curbs implemented in China.

By Leith van Onselen Domainfax has run another fluffer piece trying to argue that buying a home is not much more expensive than renting: If you’ve ever thought the cost of your rent was so expensive you could afford a mortgage instead, you’re not far wrong.