Cutting through the noise – In the news

Property & Finance

How to resume home loan repayments if you’ve frozen your mortgage 

Banks have deferred the mortgage repayments of well over 400,000 borrowers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, equating to one in 14 of all home loans, according to the Australian Banking Association. And while these deferrals were providing genuine relief for many families, Property Planning Australia managing director David Johnston believed up to 80 per cent of deferrals were not financially necessary… 

Buyers are surprisingly responsive to a rise in listings over May

A 0.3% decline in March GDP confirmed a technical recession is underway in Australia, total wages paid fell 5.4% between mid-March and early May, and Australian dwelling market values saw the first month-on-month decline since June 2019. But one surprising sign of stabilising emerged in May. Home sales have risen, with home owners testing the market, and new listings are rising.  In fact, buyer demand is outweighing the volume of new listings…. 

History shows why we can have housing market confidence 

Forecasts of huge falls in property values can be scary for homeowners, but should people fret about predictions from the big four banks? Research from Property Investment Professionals of Australia chairman Peter Koulizos shows that property prices tend to return and increase in a big way following an economic downturn… 

HomeBuilder scheme: Backlash over who will and won’t receive money 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is spruiking the scheme as a way to “keep the dream” of home ownership alive for citizens as well as salvaging tradie jobs and giving the “important” construction industry a helping hand. It also has the backing of many industry groups, with Property Investment Professionals of Australia chairman Peter Koulizos welcomed the Federal Government’s HomeBuilder scheme, claiming it will help individuals and the industry as a whole… 

Economy

Ardern to lift all coronavirus restrictions in NZ 

New Zealand has eliminated transmission of the novel coronavirus and will lift all containment measures except for border curbs, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday, making the South Pacific nation one of the first countries to do so. The government will drop social distancing restrictions from midnight on Monday as it moves to a level one national alert, Ardern said… 

Pressure builds for Australia to reopen 

New Zealand’s immediate end to coronavirus restrictions and moves by tens of thousands of Australians to join Indigenous rights protests have ramped up pressure on the states to ease Australia’s lockdown rules and restart domestic travel. The federal government will consider advice for so-called “quarantine bridges”, a plan being designed to allow skilled migrants to fly despite international travel movements being expected to remain locked down until at least next year… 

Deficit is not a dirty word: It’s time for bold fiscal policy 

With the RBA now a spectator, fiscal policy will need to enter a new era and Australia will need to get more comfortable with government debt if its hopes to avoid a lost decade. The last decade has seen monetary policy moving lower and lower, yet inflation and GDP have been largely subdued. Whispers that monetary policy was becoming less and less effective were ignored; rather, constant hope that everything would “mean revert” in the economy prevailed…