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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

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Australian Economy

Banks tighten screws on foreign buyers

All four of Australia’s big banks have tightened lending for foreign buyers over the past months, some blaming increased regulatory requirements. Under the Basel III banking reforms, banks will face higher capital requirements on loans reliant on foreign income. Highly elevated house prices and paltry rents in Australia means rental

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Australian Economy

More sizable deposits required as property bubble reaches tipping point

Borrowers are having to pay larger housing deposits in 2016 as lenders re-evaluate their risk appetite, according to Genworth. Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited is Australia’s largest provider of Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). LMI protects the lender when borrowers default on their home loans. According to the Chief Executive Officer,

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Australian Economy

Australia joins club deflation, cuts cash rate.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has today acknowledged the Australian economy is slowing more rapidly than forecast, deciding to slash the official cash rate by 25 basis points to a record low of just 1.75 per cent. It follows ugly stats out last week from the Australian Bureau of

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Australian Economy

ABC Four Corners: Home Truths

The ABC’s Four Corners has aired an excellent story tonight showing how tax distortions such as negative gearing has created one of the world’s largest housing bubbles: Watch the 45 minute segment here.

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Australian Economy

“No one wants to move to Australia” : Tech Giant

In his victory speech, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Australia of the future has to be a nation that is agile, innovative and creative. But founder of Australia’s largest tech company, Mike Cannon-Brookes, claims Australia is too expensive. Mike Cannon-Brookes, a founder of Nasdaq listed software company Atlassian, headquartered

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Australian Economy

BIS Negative Gearing Blunder Embarrasses Government

A flawed report claiming Labor’s plan to quarantine negative gearing to new homes would result in rents surging by up to ten percent, and new home builds falling 7,200 annually, has embarrassingly backed fired for the government. The BIS Shrapnel report, riddled with significant errors such as Australia’s GDP being

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Australian Economy

Sydney housing market issued “sell” rating.

Performance Property Advisory believes Sydney property prices have “reached a classic peak” and have issued a “sell” rating according to the Australian Financial Review (‘Sydney and Melbourne property ‘set for price correction.’) The group provides market research and analysis for medium to high income professionals. According to the Domain, Sydney

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Australian Economy

Turnbull scare campaign: House prices to be ‘smashed’ under Labor’s negative gearing policy

He promised informed economic debate. But today, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s credibility in delivering much needed economic debate evaporated, as he launched a massive scare campaign claiming Labor’s negative gearing policy would result in house prices being “smashed”. After some debate over the past month, Turnbull has backed away from

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Australian Economy

Perth property correction to continue into 2016

2016 is set to bring more pain for Perth property punters as prices continue to fall on the back of diving commodity and energy prices, rising unemployment, stagnant wage growth, surging vacancy rates and plunging rents. With more mines destined for care and maintenance resulting in more job losses and

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Australian Economy

Tax Office to probe 32 years of property records

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is preparing to embark on an unprecedented data matching program, today asking state authorities for extensive records relating to real property from the period of 20th September 1985 to 30 June 2017. In a notice published today in the Government Gazette, the ATO indicates “The

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Australian Economy

RBA chills out as expected

Melbourne and Sydney has witnessed substantial property price falls in November as auction clearance rates took a tumble. According to CoreLogic RP Data, Melbourne property prices fell a sizeable 3.5 per cent in November, followed by Sydney notching up a 1.4 per cent decline for the month. Australia’s two largest

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Australian Economy

Housing bust bigger threat than China

Fresh data released today from the China Customs Bureau show imports to China declined 17.7 per cent in the year to September. Exports feared better, falling 1.1 per cent for the same period leading to predictions, GDP numbers to be released next week will be the weakest quarterly growth rate