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Australian Economy

More homes left empty as rental yields decline

Negative gearing was intended to create more affordable housing, but as house prices surge, causing rental yields to tumble, more evidence is mounting to the contrary. Research by UNSW’s City Futures Research Centre has found a higher concentration of vacant homes in the inner cities. When it investigated further, it

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Australian Economy

Squatters make WA home

Western Australia’s highest residential vacancy rate in decades has turned the state into a hot spot heaven for squatters. Squatters are finding home in some of the tens of thousand vacant properties sitting idle in WA. Some are changing the locks and threatening landlords. Others are conducting their own renovations

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Australian Economy

Australia’s big 4 banks “almost too big to get sick”

Australia’s banking regulator has expressed “perpetual concern” about the dominance of Australia’s big four banks in the lending market. Charles Littrell, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) supervision general manager told a Centre for International Finance and Regulation showcase event on Thursday, “In 1990, the four major banks had 40 per

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Australian Economy

OECD: Housing crash could be “dramatic and destabilising”

“Domestically, the unwinding of housing-market tensions to date may presage dramatic and destabilising developments, rather than herald a soft landing.” This is the latest warning from the OECD Economic Outlook and comes after the Reserve Bank of Australia stoked the hot coals last month, slashing the official cash rate by