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Author: Laze Spasevski

How Inflation is Affecting the Economy

Posted on by Laze Spasevski
Prices soaring for some items, declining for others
The national inflation rate in January was a moderate 2.5% but prices are changing at different rates and are affecting different parts of the economy, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. On the high side, prices increased by 6.5% year-on-year for education, 6.4% for alcohol & tobacco and 5.3% for insurance & financial services. On the low side, prices rose only 0.9...
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Banks Are Offering LMI Waivers

Posted on by Laze Spasevski
Banks Offering Special Deals To Certain Professions
Good news if you’re an essential worker! Some banks are offering LMI waivers to professions such as police officers, teachers, firefighters, nurses, midwives and paramedics. Lender’s mortgage insurance, or LMI, is an insurance premium you generally get charged when you provide a deposit of less than 20%. For example, if you were a first home buyer and wanted to buy a $600,000 property with ...
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Government Aims to Protect Small Businesses

Posted on by Laze Spasevski
New protections aim to level the playing field between big & small companies
The federal government aims to protect small businesses from unfair trading practices imposed on them by larger companies. The government said, "Treasury will consult this year on the design of protections for businesses, including whether a principles-based prohibition should apply and whether specific unfair trading practices should target small businesses." Unfair practices may includ...
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Homebuilding Approvals Hit 2-Year High

Posted on by Laze Spasevski
Building approvals hit two-year high
Homebuilding approvals are heading in the right direction as it hit a 2-year high, opening up the possibility of more residential construction activity in the near future. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, a total of 16,579 approvals were issued in January. This marked a 6.3% month-on-month increase and 21.7% year-on-year increase. This increase was also the highest monthly ...
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US Tariffs May Raise Costs

Posted on by Laze Spasevski
US Tariffs Expected To Harm Local Firms
A report by PwC says that the tariffs imposed by the US government may raise costs. Not only that, but it could also create greater compliance challenges and introduce more uncertainty for Australian businesses. PwC said that supply chain costs for Australian businesses, particularly in the manufacturing and retail sectors with operations in the US may rise. “Many of these businesses depend...
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Rate Gap Highlights Need for Regular Loan Reviews

Posted on by Laze Spasevski
 Rate gap highlights a need for regular loan reviews as results on Finder, a comparison website, shows a gap between the average variable interest rate and lowest variable rate of 1.57 percentage points in early March, while the gap between the average and lowest fixed rate was 1.37 percentage points. It is very important to note that interest rate comparisons are not always equal, and some loa...
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Labor And Liberal Parties’ Promises For Homebuyers

Posted on by Laze Spasevski
What are the Labor and Liberal Parties promising homebuyers?
As the election approaches, lets break down what the Labor and Liberal parties' promises are for homebuyers. LABOR PARTY Labor is promising to assist eligible Australians in purchasing homes through a shared equity arrangement with the government.​ Government Equity Contribution: Up to 40% of the purchase price for new homes.​ Up to 30% for existing homes.​ This reduces the...
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Insolvency Levels Surged

Posted on by Laze Spasevski
Insolvency Levels Surge
In worrying news for the small business sector, insolvency levels have surged to their highest point in nine years. Insolvency levels in the March quarter were 41.1% higher than the year before and 145.7% higher than the year before that, according to the latest data from credit bureau Equifax. Business owners in the construction and hospitality sectors are doing it particularly tough, b...
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Wages Increased 0.8% in the March Quarter

Posted on by Laze Spasevski
The wages of the average Australian worker increased 0.8% in the March quarter. This takes annual wages growth to 4.1%, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The industries with the biggest annual increases in wages were: Health care & social assistance: 5.3% Electricity, gas, water & waste services: 4.4% Retail trade: 4.4% Transport, postal & warehousi...
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Homebuilding Costs Increased by 40%

Posted on by Laze Spasevski
  Homebuilding costs have increased by nearly 40% since late 2019, according to a speech by Reserve Bank assistant governor Sarah Hunter. Meanwhile, general inflation (referred to as headline CPI in the graph) has been less than 20%. So why have residential construction costs grown twice as fast? Ms Hunter said one reason is that building materials and labour have “risen sharply” si...
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