A new penalty regime targeting foreign investors has seen 500 overseas property buyers issued with penalty notices and told to pay the Australian Taxation Office $2.7m in fines. The majority of breaches occurred in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. In December 2015 the federal government introduced a range of new penalties for foreign investors, including new civil penalties supporting divestment orders, fines for third parties who knowingly assisted foreign investors to break...
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THE real estate industry is bracing for the next move of a familiar disrupter, threatening to give the highly regulated field an unwelcome shake-up. Leasing agents and those who manage rental properties are sharpening their sales pitches to owners and tenants alike as they prepare for Airbnb to disrupt the long-term rental market. [More] [See also ‘Significant legal issues’ posed by rental platforms]
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The corporate watchdog has joined the banking regulator in cracking down on interest-only home loans, announcing targeted surveillance of lenders and mortgage brokers inappropriately spruiking the loans. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) also said eight lenders, including Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and ANZ, will be forced to provide remediation, including possible refunds, to consumers who suffered financial difficulty as a result of shortcomings in past lending practices. [More]
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The Reserve Bank has left interest rates on hold at a record low 1.5 per cent for the eighth month in a row, as it remains torn between a surging housing market and sputtering economy. The decision came as no surprise, with all 50 economists surveyed by Reuters ahead of the RBA board meeting expecting a steady cash rate. The key challenge for the RBA is surging home prices across Australia’s major south-eastern centres at...
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HUNDREDS of investment properties across Queensland could be meth time bombs with experts warning clean up costs could run into the thousands. Australia’s meth use has tripled in the past five years, and according to one industry testing group that means the number of clandestine drug labs would also be on the rise. Bryan Goodall, the national sales manager for Octief, environmental and occupational hygienists, which test properties for chemical residue from methamphetamines, said it...
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You know the remarkably high price of homes is now a top issue for our politicians, state and federal. But you may need reminding that house prices are an intergenerational issue. As a general rule, the younger generation buys its homes from an older generation, which means rising house prices constitute a transfer of wealth from younger to older generations. Unfortunately, this conflict of interests between the generations makes it unlikely the measures in the...
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More borrowers are falling behind for the first time on their mortgage repayments, credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s says. The proportion of owner-occupier home loans in arrears increased to 1.29 per cent in January, from 1.15 per cent in December, the agency says. Crackdown on investor loans Treasurer Scott Morrison believes it’s the willingness to loan money to investors coupled with watered down regulations that is negatively impacting household debt and housing prices. (Vision...
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Are you thinking about buying an investment property? If the answer’s yes, listen up. While buying an investment property is a great first step to take in future-proofing your wealth, it’s important to know exactly how much the endeavour will set you back before you get too carried away. As with any property purchase, you’ll have to spend more than just the cost of the dwelling in order to secure the premises. Some of the...
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One definition of the term “structure” is “something built or constructed, as a building, bridge or dam”. Ironic, then, that as property investors we use the term “structure” to define how we arrange our property investment portfolios. Like a building, our investment portfolios need to have a good structure… otherwise they’ll topple down on our heads! The structure we establish will depend upon a variety of things: our personal situations; our goals; our financial and...
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Australia’s big four banks have quietly destroyed all paper land titles they hold for 1.6 million Victorian mortgagees, forcing property owners to use a bank-owned electronic transaction system. Any future sales of properties whose titles are held by the bank will need to be transacted, at least in part, electronically. The mass destruction of paper titles and their replacement with electronic certificates has been questioned by property lawyers who fear it will compromise security and effectively...
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