Mortgage News

SMH has reported this morning that a few financial lenders who have been previously been involved in court actions have applied for National Credit Licences to keep operating after July 1st 2010. New ASIC legislation comes into immediate effect to further protect consumers concerning Personal Loans, Residential Mortgages, Credit Cards and Store Cards.

Simon Reibelt from Oasis Home Loans Northern Beaches said the new legislation makes all consumer credit uniform across all states. This shall benefit Lenders with more standard laws, brokers with clear lending and responsibility practises and guidelines, with consumers receiving greater protection overall.

The National Consumer Credit Protection Laws shall become in force come the 1st of July 2010 reported SMH. It has taken years of negotiation between the State and Federal Governments to coordinate the new legislation, designed to protect borrowers from any predatory type Lending from financial institutions.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will now be in charge of enforcing the laws rather than State based agencies. It is hoped that a coordinated governing effort will streamline Lending laws and enable both Borrowers protection and Lenders less red tape to jump through.

Simon Reibelt from Oasis Home Loans Northern Beaches said the new laws have been long awaited and shall benefit both parties significantly helping Borrowers being further protected and Lenders standard laws to offer credit by.

Article Courtesy of SMH Business. Written by CLANCY YEATES. June 28, 2010.

THE big banks are engaged in a race to cut long-dated fixed mortgage rates, as competition heats up for customers seeking more certainty over their repayments.

Among the big four, Westpac now offers the lowest three-year fixed rate of 7.39 per cent, followed by CommBank (7.44 per cent), NAB (7.49 per cent) and ANZ (7.56 per cent).

Fixed-rate mortgages are priced off bank bill swap rates, which measure market expectations of moves in official interest rates. These bets on rate increases from central banks have eased sharply in recent months after Europe’s sovereign debt crisis sparked fears of a double dip recession.

Simon Reibelt from Oasis Home Loans Northern Beaches.

SMH has reported on the NSW Governments new initiative to cut Stamp Duty Taxes on seniors who wish to downgrade their properties to off the plan purchases. But the report looks at whether the scheme will really free up larger housing stocks needed for the rapidly expanding population and pressures facing families. The scheme will cause about $140 Million in lost revenue for the Government at a time when Stamp Duties are project to increase almost $1 Billion dollars over two years.

Simon Reibelt from Oasis Home Loans Northern Beaches said the scheme had potential, though we could see projections not hitting targets as their are unseen risks from Off the Plan Purchases.

Interest rates on a number of fixed-rate home loans are currently lower than the variable rates of about 7.4 per cent that are being offered by many lenders.

With the prospect that interest rates will go higher over the next 18 months, the question of whether to fix all or some of the borrowing should be accorded serious consideration.

With signs of mortgage stress growing, borrowers need to make sure they are taking every opportunity to manage their debt burden efficiently.

Article Courtesy of SMH & Domain. JOHN KAVANAGH. June 23, 2010

Simon Reibelt from Oasis Home Loans Northern Beaches.

The wider economic market, including local commodities along with international supply and demand will continue to dictate how the RBA sets Interest Rates reports SMH. The wider macro-economic environment will always be a force that places inflationary pressures upon our property and employment markets, thus the RBA will respond accordingly be raising rates too cool off any excess stimulus.

Simon Reibelt from Oasis Home Loans Northern Beaches said that as the Australian economy steadied and progressed out of the shadow of the GFC, borrowers should expect raises until they were back to historic balances.

Article Courtesy of Domain & SMH. DAVID POTTS. June 21, 2010 – 11:27AM

House prices have gone into hibernation, which is fair enough since it’s getting cold out there. Really, they must be exhausted after running up 20 per cent gains in some areas in a year when most of the world was going backwards. In fact, rather than just hibernating for a while with no growth, maybe they’re about to fall out of bed altogether.

And there’s always somebody passing through who can’t believe our property market is so strong, concluding therefore it shouldn’t be. Most recent was the US fund manager GMO’s Jeremy Grantham, who sniffs out asset bubbles the way others chase tornadoes.

He says our house prices are at least 40 per cent overvalued because they are almost 7.5 times family income, which is twice the supposed norm.

Simon Reibelt from Oasis Home Loans Northern Beaches.

SMH has reported this morning that Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond stated that he considers Sydney’s property prices not to be sustainable, though we are not going to be looking at any type of market bubble bursting leading to a crash.

‘Interest rates are biting, but market conditions are pretty healthy and we won’t see prices fall away” he said yesterday.

Simon Reibelt from Oasis Home Loans Northern Beaches mentioned that the RBA has pulled the surging market in with rising rates, though the inflation of property prices seem to have no hold with demand ever present no matter what.

The RBA’s Deputy Governor has stated the Australia’s Property Prices are reasonable in relation to household incomes reported SMH. In an effort to downplay the increasing pressure of rising house prices, the RBA has reflected upon looking at an overall perspective that Australia is no worse off than anyother developed nation. Only pockets of stress were being felt in the major capital cities.

Simon Reibelt from Oasis Home Loans Northern Beaches