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Lenders Offer Home Loan Specials
Lenders are offering deals to win new customers, including
cashback, rewards points, rate discounts and no establishment fees.
Mozo’s spokeswoman Kirsty Lamont says there are dozens
of special discounted deals and incentives rolling into the
market, particularly as the end of financial year looms.
Lamont says the home loan market is relatively quiet,
with some banks struggling with the fallout from the
Royal Commission. “We have lenders who are desperate
to drum up some business,” she says.
1300homeloans director John Kolenda says: “We are
seeing competition to try to attract additional customers
by offering much better rates.”
Aussie Home Loans’ chief executive officer James
Symond says there have been some rate fluctuations by
lenders who are finding new ways to compete. But he
warns: “Borrowers should always beware that so-called
specials don’t turn sour once any honeymoon period or
limited time offer expires.’’
Mozo says the lowest principal-and-interest variable
rate on a $300,000 30-year owner-occupier home loan
is 3.39%, with monthly repayments of $1550.
Quote of the Week
“First-home buyers as a percentage of total owner-occupied housing finance
commitments rose to 17.6% in April, from 13.7% in January. This is significant
and first-home buyers seem to be propping up the market.”
Susan Mitchell, Mortgage Choice CEO.
Level 5 Nexus Norwest, 4 Columbia Crt
BAULKHAM HILLS NSW 2153
bruno@acquestaustralia.com.au
www.acquestaustralia.com.au
23rd June 2018
Vacancies Tighten In Most Cities
Vacancies have trended lower nationally and in most
individual cities over the past 12 months.
New data from SQM Research shows that the average
vacancy rate across the eight capital cities is currently
2.1%, compared to 2.3% a year ago.
Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra all have
vacancy rates significantly lower than a year ago, while
Melbourne is unchanged at a low 1.4%.
Hobart’s vacancy rate has increased slightly but, at
0.7%, remains the lowest in capital city Australia.
Canberra has dropped to 0.8%, Brisbane is down from
3.5% to 2.9%, Perth has dropped from 5.1% to 4.1% and
Adelaide has improved from 1.7% to 1.3%
The only cities with negative trends in vacancies are
Sydney, up from 1.7% to 2.5%, and Darwin, up from
3.3% to 3.5%.It means six of the eight cities have
vacancies below 3%. Four of these are under 1.5%.
Perth remains the highest, but continues to trend
in the right direction. Another of the big improvers
is Brisbane, where vacancies have fallen for five
consecutive months.
Home Buyer Sentiment Rises
The latest Westpac Melbourne Institute index of
consumer sentiment suggests home-buyer demand
is gradually recovering from its recent low, with the
number of consumers who think now is “a good time
to buy a home” lifting substantially in the past year.
Over the decades this survey has been running, a
change like this would normally suggest prices
might stabilise within about six months.
The Westpac “good time to buy a dwelling” index
has recovered from its low point of 90 in May 2017 to
105.7 now, where a reading of 100 means pessimists
balance optimists.
The index is still below long-term averages, but it
is now clearly ahead of last year’s lows. And the
sharpest increase in sentiment has been in NSW,
the least affordable market.
“It’s telling you that demand should improve,”
Westpac economist Matthew Hassan says. “Under
ordinary circumstances the market should be
stabilising in the second half of this year.”
No Rate Rise Until Wages Move
Interest rates will not rise until there are clear signs
of wage growth moving towards 3%, Reserve Bank
Governor Philip Lowe says.
The failure to keep wages growing faster than
the cost of living has put some financial strain on
households and “diminished our shared sense of
prosperity”, he says.
It has also created a political headache for the
Federal Government despite two years of record jobs
growth, as it tries to sell its $65 billion company tax
cuts and its decade-long income tax plan.
Lowe says the tax cuts will help household budgets
and stimulate some consumer spending, but does
not constitute the type of “fundamental” tax reform
that would affect productivity growth and the
economy.
Lowe also says the current squeeze on lending credit
is “manageable”.“We are watching it carefully,”
Lowe says. “At the moment it is manageable. We had
many, many years where we had credit growth rising
faster than incomes.”

Most Opt For Variable Rate Loans

Property buyers continue to choose variable rate home loans, with
demand for fixed-rate home loans falling for the eighth consecutive
month, Mortgage Choice says.
Variable rate home loans accounted for 82% of all home loans written
in May, up 2% from the month prior and almost 7% higher than the
12-month average.
Mortgage Choice CEO Susan Mitchell says this trend will continue as
borrowers develop apathy towards the RBA’s stagnant cash rate.
“We continue to see borrowers opt for the flexible nature of variable
rate home loans which may offer a redraw facility, offset accounts and the ability to make extra repayments,”
she says. “These features are not typically associated with fixed-rate loans.”
The Housing Finance data from the ABS shows 52,116 home loans were approved in April, down 1.4% from the
previous month.
Mitchell says she is unsurprised that the value of investment loans has dipped. “However, May data may show an
increase in investment loans following APRA lifting the cap on investor loan growth at the end of April,” she says.