Interest rate cuts on the table: RBA… First home buyers flock to investment properties… Foreign investors continue to flood Aussie housing market...
RBA suggests further rate cuts
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said the question of further interest-rate cuts remains “on the table,” while noting that the depreciation of the currency is having an expansionary effect on the economy, according to an article in Bloomberg.
In an address Wednesday, Stevens also said the “quite spectacular developments” in China’s equity market may end up having little impact on the economy of Australia’s biggest trading partner. The evolution of China’s property market and financial sector are likely to be more important, he said.
“A period of somewhat disappointing, even if hardly disastrous, economic growth outcomes, and inflation that has been well contained, has seen interest rates decline to very low levels,” Stevens said in Sydney. “The question of whether they might be reduced further remains, as I have said before, on the table.”
The RBA reduced borrowing costs twice this year to a record-low two per cent as it sought to accelerate a transition toward services and manufacturing as a decade-long mining boom winds down. But the easy policy is fueling a housing bubble in parts of Sydney and Melbourne and the central bank would prefer a weaker currency to boost the competitiveness of local industries.
First home buyers flock to investment properties
A growing number of first home buyers are choosing to purchase an investment property before they purchase an owner occupied dwelling, new data has revealed.
According to Mortgage Choice’s latest Investor Survey, 36.6 per cent of investors were first time buyers – significantly higher than the 21.1 per cent recorded this time last year.
Mortgage Choice chief executive officer John Flavell says the results weren’t surprising given that property prices continue to rise substantially across Australia’s capital cities.
“Australians increasingly want to live close to work and where the action is, which is why most people like to live as close to the capital city centres as possible. Of course, with prices rising across most capital cities, purchasing property near or close to the city is becoming increasingly difficult for buyers – especially first home buyers,” he said.
“As such, we are seeing an increasing number of first time buyers purchasing investment properties before an owner occupied property as this allows them to buy where they can afford and still live where they want to.”
Foreign investors continue to flood Aussie housing market
Tougher restrictions on foreign investment do not appear to be strong enough to halt foreigners from dipping their hands in the Australian housing markets, especially in Victoria.
The latest figures from the National Australia Bank (NAB) have revealed that Victoria, among other states in the nation, has heightened numbers of foreign property investments. These investors have increased their slice in the market to 8.6 per cent during the June quarter, up from 7.5 per cent in the three months to 30 March.
This latest survey is also the first time NAB has started to distinguish between foreign buyers in the apartment and housing markets. NAB found in its quarterly property survey, however, that foreign buyers of Australian houses are decreasing in the second quarter of this year. The demand for new property among foreigners fell to 12.8 per cent from 15.6 per cent in Q1 across Australia.
In Melbourne alone, more than 28 per cent of all new apartments were bought by foreigners, while New South Wales saw 16.5 per cent sales from foreign investors.
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said the question of further interest-rate cuts remains “on the table,” while noting that the depreciation of the currency is having an expansionary effect on the economy, according to an article in Bloomberg.
In an address Wednesday, Stevens also said the “quite spectacular developments” in China’s equity market may end up having little impact on the economy of Australia’s biggest trading partner. The evolution of China’s property market and financial sector are likely to be more important, he said.
“A period of somewhat disappointing, even if hardly disastrous, economic growth outcomes, and inflation that has been well contained, has seen interest rates decline to very low levels,” Stevens said in Sydney. “The question of whether they might be reduced further remains, as I have said before, on the table.”
The RBA reduced borrowing costs twice this year to a record-low two per cent as it sought to accelerate a transition toward services and manufacturing as a decade-long mining boom winds down. But the easy policy is fueling a housing bubble in parts of Sydney and Melbourne and the central bank would prefer a weaker currency to boost the competitiveness of local industries.
First home buyers flock to investment properties
A growing number of first home buyers are choosing to purchase an investment property before they purchase an owner occupied dwelling, new data has revealed.
According to Mortgage Choice’s latest Investor Survey, 36.6 per cent of investors were first time buyers – significantly higher than the 21.1 per cent recorded this time last year.
Mortgage Choice chief executive officer John Flavell says the results weren’t surprising given that property prices continue to rise substantially across Australia’s capital cities.
“Australians increasingly want to live close to work and where the action is, which is why most people like to live as close to the capital city centres as possible. Of course, with prices rising across most capital cities, purchasing property near or close to the city is becoming increasingly difficult for buyers – especially first home buyers,” he said.
“As such, we are seeing an increasing number of first time buyers purchasing investment properties before an owner occupied property as this allows them to buy where they can afford and still live where they want to.”
Foreign investors continue to flood Aussie housing market
Tougher restrictions on foreign investment do not appear to be strong enough to halt foreigners from dipping their hands in the Australian housing markets, especially in Victoria.
The latest figures from the National Australia Bank (NAB) have revealed that Victoria, among other states in the nation, has heightened numbers of foreign property investments. These investors have increased their slice in the market to 8.6 per cent during the June quarter, up from 7.5 per cent in the three months to 30 March.
This latest survey is also the first time NAB has started to distinguish between foreign buyers in the apartment and housing markets. NAB found in its quarterly property survey, however, that foreign buyers of Australian houses are decreasing in the second quarter of this year. The demand for new property among foreigners fell to 12.8 per cent from 15.6 per cent in Q1 across Australia.
In Melbourne alone, more than 28 per cent of all new apartments were bought by foreigners, while New South Wales saw 16.5 per cent sales from foreign investors.
