When you write about bricks and mortar, it inevitably attracts a lot of hyperbolic attention: you tend to be typecast as a preternatural ‘‘bull’’ or ‘‘bear’’. To be clear, I am neither: my task is to try to accurately anticipate what will unfold.
Safety margin Understand how much of your income should be going towards your home loan without pushing you over the edge, writes Duncan Hughes.
The International Monetary Fund has called on Australia to address the rising financial stability risks posed by surging house prices, which are expected to increase by up to 20 per cent this year.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has warned it may be necessary to clamp down on household debt to income levels as growing debt driven by booming property prices could increase the risk of financial instability.
House prices will increase 18 per cent across the country in 2021, according to Westpac, including 22 per cent in Sydney despite the long lockdown.
After dazzling investors with their ability to largely withstand the economic upheaval caused by the pandemic, and after benefiting from writing back billions in provisions they squirrelled away to cover soured loans.
The prudential regulator wants banks to be prepared for zero and negative interest rates, and has called on them to take all ‘‘reasonable steps’’ to ensure their technology systems.
The pressure to cool the booming housing market has intensified as the growth in lending to buy a home almost doubled over the past year, and investor loans accelerated by more than 30 per cent in the past three months.
