Laze Spasevski, Author at Australian Loans Group

Tax Deadline Nears

Posted on 10/11/202325/10/2023 by Laze Spasevski

As the tax deadline nears, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has reminded taxpayers to lodge their taxes. You may lodge through myGov or engage with a registered tax agent by the October 31 deadline to avoid late lodgment penalties. If you have simple tax affairs, you can lodge online, often in under 30 minutes, through the myGov portal. Most of the information you need will already be p...
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How Government Is Helping First Home Buyers

Posted on 07/11/202325/10/2023 by Laze Spasevski

A new report from Housing Australia (previously NHFIC), demonstrates how the Government is helping first-home buyers. The report revealed that about one in three of all first-home buyers in the 2022-23 financial year used the federal government’s Housing Guarantee Scheme (HGS). Here’s what the typical participants looked like: First Home Guarantee: the median participant was in the ...
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Interest Rates Have Evolved

Posted on 03/11/202324/10/2023 by Laze Spasevski

Interest rates have evolved over the past 18 months according to the latest Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) data. It certainly has shown the impact the RBA's cash rate rises have had on the mortgage market. The key is to compare average interest rates for all outstanding loans in April 2022 – the month before the first rate rise – and August 2023 – the most recent month for which we have da...
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Refinancing Topped $20bn

Posted on 31/10/202324/10/2023 by Laze Spasevski

Refinancing activity has topped $20bn in August as revealed by the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). It is 3.9% lower than the month before but 12.4% higher than the year before. One major contributing factor to the rise of refinancing activity is due to lots of people coming off fixed rates right now. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that an enormous amount of refinancing i...
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Rental Shortage Set To Linger

Posted on 29/09/202326/09/2023 by Laze Spasevski

The rental shortage is set to linger as the national vacancy rate in July dropped to 1.3%. It is forecasted by SQM Research that this is unlikely to change anytime soon. The rental shortage is likely due to 2 major factors: A rapid increase in population. Fewer new homes are completed in 2023 compared to 2022. SQM managing director Louis Christopher said. “Australia currently has...
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Rates are Lower Than Expected

Posted on 26/09/202326/09/2023 by Laze Spasevski

Despite the interest rate rises that have occurred since last year, rates are lower than expected. The number one contributing factor to this is the “strong competition between lenders”, according to the Reserve Bank. Between May 2022 and June 2023, the cash rate increased by 4.00 percentage points. But during that same period, the average interest rate for outstanding variable-rate loans in...
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Refinancing Remained at Record Highs

Posted on 22/09/202320/09/2023 by Laze Spasevski

“Refinancing activity has remained at record highs in recent months, as borrowers continued to switch lenders amid interest rate rises,” according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Owner-occupiers and investors refinanced a combined $20.2 billion of loans with external lenders in June, the ABS reported. While that was 3.1% lower than the month before, it was 12.6% higher than...
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Property Listings Rise

Posted on 06/08/2023 by Laze Spasevski

In good news for buyers, there's been an increase in the number of properties listed for sale, as well as an increase in the total number of properties on the market. SQM Research has reported that the number of new listings (i.e. those less than 30 days' old) in June was 1.6% higher than the month before. At the same time, the number of for-sale properties – which includes both new list...
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ATO Resolution in Resolving Disputes

Posted on 06/07/202305/07/2023 by Laze Spasevski

A senior official from the ATO has told businesses that there are multiple resolution procedures in resolving tax-related disputes. She further said that formal disputes and litigation are not the only ways they can resolve arguments with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). ATO second commissioner Kirsten Fish delivered a speech earlier this month. She said that there were multiple review...
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Unemployment stayed at 3.5%

Posted on 26/05/202325/05/2023 by Laze Spasevski

Australia’s unemployment rate has stayed at 3.5% in March. It now had a ‘3’ in front of it for 13 consecutive months. Since February 2022, unemployment has ranged between 3.4% and 3.9%. In March 2023, it held steady at 3.5% for the second consecutive month, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In line with the increase in employment, female participation rates surged to a re...
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