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Kiwis hoping to buy a first home in Australia have just scored gold! The popular Aussie low-deposit home buying scheme has been opened up to visa holders from across the Tasman. Here’s what you need to know. Sure, the Kiwis have the All Blacks, the glaciers and landscapes fit for a Hobbit. But Australia offers New Zealanders something that could deliver more of an adrenaline rush than bungy jumping in Queenstown. And that’s the chance to buy their first home in Australia with as little as a 5% deposit. The popular Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS) lets Aussie citizens and permanent residents buy their first home in Australia with just a 5% deposit. There’s a version for regional first-home buyers, too. Single parents can also use the scheme to buy a home with a 2% deposit. And Housing Australia has just confirmed to us that New Zealand Special Category Visa (SCV) holders are now considered ‘permanent residents’ for eligibility purposes for the HGS (more on the SCV below). ...
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Scared to apply for a home loan? You’re not alone. Fear of rejection has stopped one in five Aussies from applying for finance over the past year. We explain what’s driving this fear, and how you can boost your chances of getting approved. No one enjoys rejection. But despite this, there are plenty of times in life when we put ourselves in a position where rejection is a possibility. From applying for a new job to asking the love of your life to marry you, the risk of a knock back isn’t too far away. Yet we give it a go because the rewards of success outweigh the disappointment of being turned down. It’s the same when it comes to applying for a home loan. Sure, you could get a ‘no’ from a lender. But if you get the thumbs up, you’re on the way to buying a home! This is worth bearing in mind because a new survey by Finder shows that over the past year, one in five (19%) Australians have avoided applying for finance, including home loans, out of fear they’d be knocked b...
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As property prices hit record highs across a number of cities, it’s no surprise that new home loan balances are also nudging towards fresh peaks. Today we’ll reveal what the ‘average’ new home loan is in your state, and provide you with some handy tips to help bring down your balance sooner. High interest rates and a cost of living crunch haven’t stopped home values rising 8% nationally over the last 12 months. According to CoreLogic that’s added an extra $59,000 to the average Australian home’s value. It’s great news for home owners, but not so good for buyers, who may have to take out a bigger loan to fund a property purchase. On the plus side, not everyone is having to upsize their home loan. In some cities, new mortgage sizes are staying pretty still or becoming slightly smaller. What’s the average in your state? Across Australia the ‘average’ new mortgage is at a record high of $626,055 as of May 2024, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. That’s up fr...
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The new financial year has kicked off with a bang for first home buyers! A whopping 45,000 more places have opened up for them under the Home Guarantee Scheme, as well as 5,000 more spots for single parents. Here’s how it could help you buy a home sooner. Home ownership has long been the great Australian dream, but high property prices are making it tough to save a 20% deposit for many young families. That’s where the federal government’s Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS) comes in. It gives first home buyers a leg up into the property market even if they have just a 5% deposit, and it’s proving to be very popular. In fact, it’s helped more than 160,000 Australians buy or build their own home since the scheme launched four years ago. Places in the HGS are capped each year, but the good news is that an extra 50,000 spots have just been announced for the 2024-25 financial year. Not sure what the scheme is about? Let’s take a closer look at what’s involved by answering a few...
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Property prices are expected to keep climbing higher through to mid-2025 – though not everywhere, according to a new report. We reveal where prices are tipped to go up, and where prices are expected to fall. What a crazy financial year it’s been for property prices. Despite a cost of living crunch and high interest rates, home values Australia-wide have soared 8.3% over the past 12 months, according to CoreLogic. Will prices keep heading north? Or can we expect the market to cool at some stage? These are key questions for home buyers who may be weighing up whether now is the right time to buy. To get some answers, we turned to Domain’s latest forecast report, which sets out expected property price movements over the next 12 months. The big picture: prices set to keep rising According to Domain, several factors are set to push Australian home prices higher over the next year. On one hand, we’re seeing a tight supply of new homes being built, combined with lower than ...
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Put the party pies on ice and postpone those rate-cut celebrations for a while yet. The much-touted rate cuts we’ve been waiting for may not arrive until 2025. Here’s why rates could be staying higher for longer, and how to take action yourself. June saw the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) keep the cash rate on ice – yet again. Rates haven’t budged since November last year, and with the RBA not due to make another rate call until August, interest rates will remain in a holding pattern for at least two more months. For home owners struggling to manage their home loan at current interest rates, it begs the question: ‘what happened to all the talk about rate cuts in 2024?’ Here’s what’s happening. One reason why rates aren’t moving Just a few months ago, some of our biggest banks were predicting interest rates would start to slide sooner rather than later. The Commonwealth Bank and Westpac, for instance, expected rate cuts as early as September. That’s now looking incr...
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Fresh air, no bumper-to-bumper traffic and more affordable home prices. There’s plenty of appeal in regional living, including a chance to potentially reduce your home loan. The classic tune ‘Home among the gum trees’ is fast becoming a lifestyle anthem for a growing number of Aussies. A surging number of city-slickers are heading to the bush or bay, new Commonwealth Bank research shows. In fact, metro to regional relocations are now 20% higher than pre-Covid. It goes to show that regional towns and cities have a lot going for them. So what’s the appeal? Along with a laidback lifestyle and the chance to see Skippy on your way to work, rather than countless sets of traffic lights, a key drawcard of regional living is more affordable housing. Where are people moving? The Sunshine Coast in South East Queensland is currently the nation’s most popular destination for Australian movers, securing a 16% share of net internal migration over the past 12 months. Other popul...
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You might have seen a headline or two about a particular big bank being at war with brokers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our mission is – and always will be – putting you first. That’s why three in every four borrowers now come to us for help. Borrowers are more spoilt for choice than ever before when it comes to home loans. But who has time to sort through over 100 lenders in the market to pick out a loan that’s suited to your needs? Your mortgage broker does. But for the big end of town, increased competition can mean lower profit margins (and unhappy shareholders!). That doesn’t mean brokers are at war with any particular bank though, as a few articles stated in the Australian Financial Review over recent weeks (here’s a great non-paywalled response). As Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) CEO Anja Pannek succinctly put it: “Positioning banks as competing with brokers is like saying Hilton hotels is competing with travel agents, instea...
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Nan and Pop have always been good for birthday money, but one-in-10 grandparents are taking their generosity to the next level: helping their grandkids buy a first home. Most of us have special memories of pocketing a few treats from Granny and Gramps. But it turns out those small gestures of affection we knew as kids are morphing into something far more valuable than a few sneaky lollies before dinner or a surprise Lego set. Research by Compare the Market shows almost three-quarters of Aussie grandparents are giving their families a financial helping hand. Around 13% are lending money, 9% are chipping in with household bills, and one-in-10 are helping their grandkids buy a first home. It goes to show that we’re never too old for grandparents’ treats. But if your Gramps and Granny are keen to help you get started in the property market, it’s important to have some open conversations first. How grandparents can help It’s not unusual for first home buyers to need supp...
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Not sure if you’ll get the thumbs up for a home loan? But you really, really like that house that just popped up? Making an offer ‘subject to finance’ could be the right move. Here’s how it works. Picture this. You’ve seen a home you’re crazy about, and you don’t want to miss out to another buyer. So, you sign on the dotted line and hand over your deposit. Things are getting real now. But what if they’re not? What if you struggle to land a home loan? It’s a scenario every home buyer dreads. If you have to back out of the contract because you can’t get loan approval, you could lose your deposit. One possible solution, however, is to make your offer ‘subject to finance’. Why make an offer subject to finance? In practical terms, making an offer subject to finance means an extra clause is added to the sale contract. Essentially, it can allow the buyer to walk away from a sale with their deposit intact if mortgage finance can’t be arranged within a set timeframe. Unde...
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