Average Property Prices in Australia Fall

Hi All,

Thought i havent been here for a while and point out a new opportunity. The credit crunch and global meltdown has presented a very unique opportunity;

Australian Property.

The pound to australian dollar exchange rate has risen by more than 27% and you can now buy australian dollars at 2.6500+.This means an average priced australian property would have cost $300,000 australian dollars in July this year would have cost in;

US Dollars - $288,000.00
Euros - E191,000.00
Pounds - £150,000.00

Today the costUS Dollars - $195,000.00 saving 93k us dollars
Euro - E144,000.00 saving 46k euros
Pounds - £113,000.00 saving 37k pounds.

this could be a brilliant opportunity for the australian property market and especially since you can still get a decent range of australian mortgages. Also the fact that rental prices are soaring in sydney to a rental property shortages make the opportunity all the more tempting.so if you need to have a look start at Real Estate, Property, Land and Homes for Sale, lease and rent - realestate.com.au

Buy for now

call if you need to buy australian dollars

Australian Interest Rates look like falling

Hi All,

Good news for those of you that have a Australian Mortgage or need to buy Pounds to Australian Dollars. The Reserve Bank of Australia has said that it would not wait for inflation to slow before lowering interest rates, sending the Aus Dollar close to seven-month lows.

RBA officials said they were confident annual core inflation, which was at a 17-year high of 4.4%, could be brought back to its 2%-3% target range as households cut back on spending in the face of high mortgage costs and fuel prices. "We cannot wait to see a fall in inflation before we start cutting rates because by then it would be too late," RBA deputy governor Ric Battellino told lawmakers.

So the Americans and the Australian's have decided that inflation isnt the problem - growth and the threat of a recession is - will the Europeans and the British follow suit.

For Best Australian Dollar Exchange Rates contact IMS Foreign Exchange

Australian House Prices Continue to Fall

Australian Capital city house prices have declined by the sharpest rate in more than three years, inflicting further pain on home owners faced with 12-year high interest rates.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics house price index - which calculates the average for the country's eight capitals - fell 0.3 per cent in the June quarter.

This left the annual rate at its slowest pace in two years at 8.2 per cent, compared with 13.2 per cent growth in year to March.

Economists had expected a fall of 1.0 per cent for the June quarter.

The report adds to a slew of other data showing the economy is slowing sharply, raising speculation the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will cut interest rates before the end of the year.

The RBA holds its monthly board meeting tomorrow, but economists expect it to keep its key cash rate unchanged for a fifth straight month.

Perth suffered the biggest drop in house prices, falling 2.4 per cent in the June quarter, and are now dropping at an annual rate of 0.9 per cent. Hobart reported a 2.0 per cent decline and Canberra 1.4 per cent fall. Darwin saw the biggest increase with a rise of 1.9 per cent, while the country's largest housing market - Sydney - rose 0.3 per cent.

Full Story visit News.com.au

For the Best Exchange Rate visit IMS Foreign Exchange

Pounds to Australian Dollars currently 2.1100

NATIONAL Australia Bank increases home loan interest rates

NAB increases home loan interest rates

NATIONAL Australia Bank has become the latest bank to turn the screws on homeowners, hiking its standard variable rate by 15 basis points to 9.61 per cent.

The new rate, which takes effect from tomorrow, will add just over $7 to the weekly repayments on a $300,000 mortgage taken out over 30 years.

NAB is playing catch-up to other major lenders who have already pushed through rate hikes.

On Friday the Commonwealth Bank of Australia lifted its rates by 14 basis points, pushing up its standard variable rate home loan to 9.58 per cent per annum and its basic variable rate to 9.07 per cent.

ANZ also pushed through a sneaky 15 basis point rate rise late on Friday afternoon, after the share market closed. ANZ’s new standard variable rate of 9.62 per cent came into effect today.

St George Bank was the first major lender to move in this latest bout of rate hikes, raising its standard variable rate by 20 basis point to 9.67 per cent on July 4.

Meanwhile, AMP Bank also said it would increase its standard variable home loan interest rate for existing customers by 0.20 per cent, to 9.67 per cent. The standard variable rate for new customers will increase by 0.11 per cent to 9.67 per cent per annum. The changes take effect this week.

The banks have once again moved independently of the Reserve Bank of Australia, which opted to keep official rates steady at a 12-year high of 7.25 per cent when it met on July 2.

The banks have all cited higher borrowing costs as the main reason for raising rates. Banks are finding it more expensive to source money for borrowers.The sub-prime crisis - which was sparked when US lenders lost billions of dollars on bad loans - means banks have pay more for the money they borrow to lend to consumers.

For the Best Australian Dollar Exchange Rates and Australian Mortgages contact IMS Foreign Exchange

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) said earlier today its 2008 earnings per share were likely to fall between 20% and 25% on the previous year due to a rise in credit impairment costs. The bank, Australia's third largest mortgage lender, said it was likely to make provisions in the second half of around 1.2 billion Australian Dollars ($1.1 bln) as a result of the ongoing deterioration in credit markets.

If you need an Australian Mortgage? IMS FX can help contact us at info@imsfx.co.uk

Pounds to Australian Dollars best rate 2.0755

Australian Home sales jump in June

Home sales jump in June

Australian Home Sales posted strong growth in June but activity in the first half of 2008 was still weak as borrowers battled high interest rates, new data shows.

A Housing Industry Association (HIA) survey of the nation's 100 biggest builders and developers found that house and unit sales rose by 4 per cent last month. Detached house sales increased by 2.6 per cent while volatile multi-unit sales jumped 15.5 per cent in June. But home sales rose by just 0.4 per cent in the first half of 2008.HIA chief economist Harley Dale said momentum had fallen during 2008.

"The soft result for new home sales will actually prove to be a slightly better outcome than evident for building approvals or new home lending figures, both of which will show a fall over the first half of 2008," he said."

Australia is seeing strong demand for housing fuelled by record year on year immigration.

"Clearly production of new housing needs to at least capture this demand."

In June, New South Wales posted the strongest Australian Home Sales Growth of 20.2 per cent, outpacing the resources-driven Western Australia's increase of 16 per cent.The story was different in Queensland where sales fell 9.8 per cent and Victoria, which suffered a 3.7 per cent decline.

Remember to get the best Pound to Australian Dollars rates contact http://www.imsfx.co.uk/

Lehman recommends selling the Australian Dollar!

Bloomberg reports the Lehman Brothers recommends selling the Australian Dollar against the Japanese Yen since Australia may be seeing interest rate cuts next, which will narrow the current 5.6% spread in favor of the Australian Dollar. Besides, commodity prices could fall. Poppycock! We seldom see such nonsense in print. For one thing, the Credit Suisse interest rate swap version of interest rate forecasts indicates the RBA may cut rates by as much as 11 points in the next 12 months. This is up from 2 points on Monday, but still—11 points? The benchmark rate in Australia is 7.5% and the equivalent rate in Japan is 0.5%. There is no case for a significant rise in the yen against the Australian Dollar on this basis, even if Japan were to hike by 25 bp, which we say doesn’t come until next March, if then. And falling commodity prices?

Okay, very likely a correction in Australian export goods but certainly not a reversal.

Reag more at Rockefeller Treasury

RBA July minutes - Australian Dollars

RBA July minutes: borrowing costs at a 12-year high is restraining the economy and will slow inflation, suggesting interest rates will be left unchanged this year. Evidence is tightening is working to restrain demand, credit expansion has weakened significantly, some tentative signs of easing in the labour market. The rise in Australia's terms of trade that is currently occurring will work in the opposite direction. It will add substantially to national income and ability to spend, even with the slowing in global growth to below-trend pace that the Australian Banks is assuming. At the same time, rising prices of oil and a range of other commodities are adding to global inflationary risks.

If you need an Australian Mortgage please contact us at info@realestatelending.com.au

Pounds to Australian Dollars last at 2.0465

Australian Mortgage News from Xinc

Here is a peice that i received from Xinc which we have some dealings with

Reserve Bank of Australia sounding more optimistic

By Jennifer Nielsen, CEO Xinc (Australias Largest Mortgage Broker)

At its meeting on 1st July, the Reserve Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 7.25 per cent. Probably the most important outcome of the meeting was not what was said, but rather how it was said. For the first time this year it seems that the RBA is more convinced we have not only reigned in our spending, but are in fact subdued, “Inflation is likely to remain relatively high in the short term, and the CPI will be further boosted in coming quarters by the recent rises in global oil prices.

Looking further ahead, inflation in both CPI and underlying terms should decline over time, provided demand continues to evolve as expected. On balance, while the inflation outlook remains concerning, the Board’s assessment continues to be that demand growth will be moderate this year.” So, this month’s bet is rates on hold for the foreseeable future. I wouldn’t be betting on a reduction any time soon though.

if you need an Australian Mortgage please contact us at info@realestatelending.com.au

HOME loan repayments and rent in Australia are hurting much more than high petrol prices

HOME loan repayments and rent in Australia are hurting much more than high petrol prices, data from Australia's largest privately owned debt collection agency shows.

Unleaded fuel prices were approaching $1.70 in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra yesterday even before crude oil prices reached a record 145 US Dollars a barrel.

Yet less than 2 per cent of consumers nominated high petrol prices as their primary reason for failing to pay an overdue bill, an email survey of Prushka's 80 debt collectors taken in June found.

Mortgage repayments were the number one reason why 19 per cent of borrowers broke a default arrangement, entered into when a bill was 60 days overdue.

Australian Bank St George hikes Home Loan Rates by and extra 20 points

ST George Bank has lifted its standard variable Home Loan Rate by 20 basis points to 9.67 per cent, independently of the central bank. Australia's fifth largest bank attributed the rise to the continuing high cost of funds it sources for itself.

St George chief financial officer Michael Cameron said all the banks had been absorbing a significant increase in funding costs.

The price of money has risen due to the impact of the US sub-prime lending crisis on global liquidity and wholesale funding markets since August last year. "While we have already completed our wholesale funding requirements for this financial year, the spread between cash rates and 90 day rates in particular remains significantly higher for the industry than a year ago," he said.

St George group executive retail bank Les Matheson said that even after today's rate hike, the lender would not be "fully recovering all of our increased funding costs for this financial year". "St George maintains its commitment that if funding costs were to reduce for a sustained period of time, we would then look to adjust our rates."

The Reserve Bank left official interest rates unchanged at a 12-year high of 7.25 per cent this week.

It had raised rates in February and March, prompting moves by the major banks to match those increases, while adding more hikes of their own. The ANZ's standard variable rate is 9.47 per cent, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's rate is 9.44 per cent, Westpac's rate is 9.47 per cent and the National Australia Bank's is 9.46 per cent.

St George has also increased a range of special deposit rates by an average of 50 basis points.