Mortgage News Archive - July 2007
Rudd's $500m plan to lower home prices
KEVIN Rudd yesterday pledged $500 million to sponsor planning innovations which made houses less expensive. More
July 31, 2007
Fixed-rate mortgage 'better option'
FIXED or floating? Home-loan borrowers know there's usually a premium payable for the security of a fixed-rate mortgage but at the moment it's actually cheaper to go fixed. More
July 31, 2007
Rudd's $500m plan to lower home prices
KEVIN Rudd yesterday pledged $500 million to sponsor planning innovations which made houses less expensive. More
July 31, 2007
Home sales fall, affordability worsening
A FALL in monthly new home sales shows the housing affordability crisis is worsening, an industry group says. More
July 30, 2007
Million-dollar suburbs double in Melbourne
MELBOURNE now has 17 million-dollar suburbs, more than double the number at the start of the year. More
July 30, 2007
Struggling buyers 'pushed out'
HOME buyers in blue-ribbon inner and middle-ring city areas are being pushed to poor-cousin suburbs nearby as affordability continues to bite. More
July 27, 2007
Housing problem to get worse
HOUSING affordability will get worse before it gets any better, with interest rates more likely to rise over the next year or so, the federal opposition's housing summit was told today. More
July 26, 2007
Get ready for August rate hike
INTEREST rates could be on the way up again, presenting Prime Minister John Howard with fresh political problems as housing affordability takes a tumble. More
July 26, 2007
Wealthy elite 'taking over' cities
AUSTRALIA'S wealthy elite are taking over the inner suburbs of major cities, forcing lower-paid strugglers towards the suburban fringe, a civic body says. More
July 25, 2007
Property running hot
MELBOURNE and Canberra were the standout performers in a mixed bag of capital city housing results for the June quarter while unit prices are improving nationwide. More
July 25, 2007
McMansion lust 'fueling crisis'
LIBERAL backbencher Bruce Baird, chairman of a parliamentary inquiry into home lending practices, told The Australian yesterday he would investigate the phenomenon of people unwilling to live in suburbs in their price bracket. More
July 24, 2007
Beat rising interest rates
INTEREST rates are sitting at a six-year higher and could rise even more. If you're a borrower, there are some basic steps you can take to reduce interest costs. More
July 23, 2007
Homes bought now on rate fear
THE coming federal election is increasing pressure on house hunters to buy real estate before the polls and a potential rise in interest rates. More
July 23, 2007
Labor backs negative gearing
LABOR would not dump negative gearing as a way to make housing more affordable, Opposition housing spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said. More
July 23, 2007
Home affordability crisis to deepen
HOUSING supply will slow over the next 10 years because fewer people will be able to afford a home, putting a dent in demand and lowring affordability, a report has found. More
July 19, 2007
ALP eyes low-cost housing
LABOR is considering a plan to spend $750 million a year to encourage investors to build low-cost rental accommodation to deliver at least 100,000 houses within 10 years. More
July 19, 2007
Australians battle with home loan debt
AUSTRALIANS are using more and more of their income to make mortgage repayments, with more some borrowers using 60 per cent or more of their income on home loan debt, according to a survey of NEWS.com.au readers. More
July 18, 2007
First home buyers 'expect more'
FIRST home buyers expected greater quality of housing than in the past, Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile said today. More
July 16, 2007
House prices falling in key electoral battlegrounds
EXCLUSIVE research conducted for The Australian reveals home prices crashing in several key electorates and confirms the extent of the Howard Government's political problem on housing affordability. More
July 16, 2007
Costello to keep housing grant
TREASURER Peter Costello said today he would keep the first home owner's housing grant and said there were three components to the mortgage issue which helped explain why many Australians were feeling home loan pain. More
July 12, 2007
Homeowners 'gouged' by higher rates
MORTGAGE repayments have soared in New South Wales since 2001 thanks to eight interest rate rises under the Coalition Government, Federal Opposition treasury spokesman Wayne Swan said. More
July 12, 2007
Demand for home loans growing
OVER 66,000 Australians bit the bullet and took out a home loan in May, despite the rising cost of buying a property. More
July 10, 2007
Labor promises housing relief
FEDERAL Labor has promised to work with state and local government to cut red tape for home owners, reducing delays in the development application process, if it wins the upcoming federal election. More
July 10, 2007
Land release 'only tip of housing crisis'
HOUSING groups have warned land release is only part of the solution to the country's housing affordability crisis - an issue that could haunt the Federal Government in this year's election. More
July 9, 2007
Housing affordability strategy needed - Rudd
AUSTRALIA needs a national housing affordability strategy now to deal with an increasing home ownership and rental crisis, Labor leader Kevin Rudd says. More
July 9, 2007
Costello orders land audit for new housing
PETER Costello will "audit" all commonwealth-owned land to identify areas that should be released for new housing as he tries to blunt Labor's housing affordability campaign. More
July 9, 2007
Land audit to tackle housing affordability crisis
THE Federal Government will conduct an audit of commonwealth-owned land to identify areas that should be released for new housing. More
July 8, 2007
RBA leaves interest rates on hold
HOMEOWNERS have been spared another interest rate rise with the central bank leaving the cash rate on hold at 6.25 per cent, but analysts expect borrowing costs to keep on rising. More
July 4, 2007
Costello wants more housing land released
FEDERAL Treasurer Peter Costello said the Federal Government is encouraging the states to release more land to ease poor housing affordability. More
July 4, 2007
Melbourne rents grow fastest in a decade
THE population of Melbourne has grown by 50,000 in the past year, but there are just 61 extra properties available for rent. More
July 4, 2007
Home loan burden to grow
THE Federal Treasury has warned of further interest rate rises and growing mortgage pressure on middle Australia, in a pre-election challenge to the Howard Government. More
July 4, 2007
Homebuyers turn away from building amid rising costs
BUILDING approvals tumbled in May as the cost of building a new home turned buyers towards the established housing market, leading to fears the housing sector will hit "crisis point" within a year. More
July 3, 2007
Land shortage behind high prices - Howard
PRIME Minister John Howard acknowledges that the cost of housing has become a concern for people, but says it is up to the states to release more land for houses to be built on. More
July 3, 2007
Sydney regains most expensive title
THE housing market is heating up, with most capital cities experiencing healthy growth in prices this year, with Sydney regaining the title of the nation's most expensive city from Perth, where prices have finally cooled. More
July 3, 2007
Safe as houses for the time being
IF you look for imbalances in the Australian economy, the growth in household debt jumps out as an obvious concern. More
July 2, 2007
Labor savings plan for first-home buyers
FAMILIES would be able to divert some of their pre-tax earnings into special accounts to save for a home deposit in a similar fashion to top-up superannuation, under a plan being considered by Kevin Rudd. More
July 2, 2007