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Rise In Construction Costs Slowing Down

Rise In Construction Costs Slowing Down
Construction costs continue to rise sharply, but the worst is behind us as it appears to be slowing down. Residential construction costs rose 11.9% during 2022, after climbing 7.3% in 2021, according to CoreLogic’s Cordell Construction Cost Index (CCCI). The 2022 result was the largest annual increase on record, apart from the period impacted by the introduction of the GST. However, t...
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SMEs Optimistic About the Future

SMEs are cautiously optimistic about the future, according to the Australian Banking Association's Small and Medium Enterprises Lending Report. The report, which surveyed businesses throughout the country, found an increase in the average value of loans in the year to July: Small business loans rose from $2.9 million to $3.4 million Medium business loans rose from $12.7 million to $...
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Majority of Homebuyers Using Mortgage Brokers

Majority of Homebuyers Using Mortgage Brokers
An ever-growing majority of homebuyers are taking out home loans using mortgage brokers, rather than going direct-to-lender. Between July and September 2022, mortgage brokers facilitated 71.7% of all new residential home loans. This is a record share according to the research group Comparator. That compared to 66.9% the year before and 60.1% the year before that. Anja Pannek, the ...
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Borrowers Favour Lower-Rate Variable Loans

Borrowers favour the lower-rate variable loans right now. According to the  October 22 data from Australian Bureau of Statistics, only 4% of borrowers fixed their loans (both new loans and refinances). Very few borrowers are currently fixing their home loans – unlike a year earlier when about half of borrowers were doing so. By contrast, 44% of borrowers fixed in October 2021 and 46% in ...
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Borrowers Are Refinancing Their Home Loans

Borrowers Are Refinancing Their Home Loans
Enormous numbers of borrowers are refinancing their home loans according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australians refinanced $17.8 billion of mortgages in October. This is not far off the record $18.6 billion of refinancing that occurred in August. It just shows that the past six months have been the six biggest months in refinancing history. Owner-occupie...
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ATO Intends to Collect Tax Debts

The ATO (Australian Taxation Office) has put small businesses on notice that it intends to collect unpaid tax debts and crack down on tax evasion. ATO second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn said small businesses were responsible for 65% of the $37 billion in collectible (i.e. not disputed) debt. Mr Hirschhorn said that while the ATO took a relatively relaxed attitude to debt collection during...
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Interest Rates Update

  While variable interest rates are continuing to rise, with another 0.50% increase earlier this week, some lenders are actually cutting their fixed rates. Lenders started increasing their variable rates in May, once the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) began increasing its cash rate. However, lenders increased their fixed rates much earlier, in anticipation of future rate hikes and ...
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Homebuilding Activity At Record Highs, But Future Volume Will Be Much Lower

Homebuilding activity is at a record high, but this trend has definitely reversed. A record 143,037 new house builds were started in the year to March, according to the most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. However, when observing the trnd of completed houses vs commenced houses, we can see that they are heading in opposite directions. This suggests that while existing buil...
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Australia’s Economy Gets Big Tick

Australia's economy is officially one of the strongest in the world. That’s after Moody’s affirmed Australia’s AAA credit rating, making Australia one of only nine countries in the world to have a AAA credit rating with the three major ratings agencies. "Australia's economy continues to demonstrate resilience, underpinned by its scale, diversity and high incomes, as well as its highly fl...
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