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Australian Housing

Investor mortgage rates rise on confirmation of housing bubble

Nine banks have today hiked interest rates, out-of-cycle, on regulators confirmation of a housing bubble. On Monday, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) chairman Greg Medcraft remarked “I’ve been saying for a while I thought it was a bubble, other people are catching up now,” The latest Australian Bureau

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Australian Housing

Who will purchase all the apartment defaults?

Australia is facing an unprecedented apartment oversupply as an estimated 230,000 new apartments flood the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane markets over the next 24 months. The surge in new apartment building was in an attempt to satisfy the insatiable demand from the foreign Chinese property investor. Under an Australian law

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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

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 Housing

Foreign Chinese priced out of Sydney property boom

Foreign Chinese buyers may now be priced out of the booming Sydney and Melbourne property markets according to Real Estate agency PRD Nationwide. In recent weeks, market players have noticed a gradual pull out of Chinese buyers and are racking their brains to understand why. The worrying pull out for

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Australian Housing

Commonwealth Bank second to hike rates

As expected, the Commonwealth Bank is today the second bank to hike interest rates out of cycle, notching rates up 15 basis points. ANZ and NAB are expected to follow. As did Westpac, the CBA blamed the rates decision on increased capital and regulatory requirements. (‘Banking regulator announces tighter capital

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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

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Sydney Housing Bubble

NAB restricts lending in 34 Sydney bubble suburbs

NAB has started to restrict lending to portions of the Sydney property bubble that are exhibiting characteristics that may indicate future deterioration in credit risk. It has decided to cap the maximum loan to value ratio (LVR) in these higher risk suburbs (shown below) to 80 per cent. 2000 Sydney