News Australia

Home loans by value fell in October and remained flat over the year, suggesting the housing sector remains stagnant. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Monday that total housing finance by value fell 2.5 per cent in October, seasonally adjusted, to $20.458 billion. The ABS data also showed that the value of home [...]

The Reserve Bank of Australia board has cut the official interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 per cent, giving mortgage holders and borrowers a pre-Christmas reprieve. The RBA announced the rate cut at 2.30pm AEDT today following the board’s final meeting for the year. It’s the second interest rate cut in as many [...]

Economists are divided on whether borrowers will get a second interest rate cut in as many months on Tuesday. Seven of the 14 economists surveyed by AAP say the RBA will cut the cash rate to 4.25 per cent from 4.5 per cent on December 6. On Melbourne Cup day, the Reserve Bank of Australia [...]

Australian stocks have opened more than one per cent lower as skittish local investors took their cues from a horrid night on offshore markets. At 1027 AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 58 points, or 1.39 per cent, at 4,105 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index had fallen 57.2 points, or 1.35 per [...]

Last week we talked about being green on the cheap, and this week we thought we would focus on the work place.  Here are 5 ways to give your office a green tinge – and some might even save the boss some money.  Here goes: 1. Bring your lunch Pack your lunch in reusable containers. [...]

We’re on a roll with environmentally-friendly work tips and here are five more great ideas if you have the ear of the boss. 1. Cleaning Products Whether you’re using an independent cleaning person or the building management has staff in place, now is the time to switch cleaning products to greener versions to drastically reduce [...]

Australia’s biggest home lenders cut mortgage rates soon after the central bank reduced the cash rate for the first time since April 2009. Westpac took just 15 minutes to pass on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) 0.25 percentage point rate cut in full on Tuesday. It will lower its standard variable home loan rate [...]

Homeowners have been granted a long awaited reprieve, with the Reserve Bank opting to drop interest rates by 25 basis points. The cut continues what is becoming a tradition, with the Reserve Bank changing the cash rate on Melbourne Cup Day for the sixth year in a row. It is also the first time in [...]

We think Public relations practitioners who are students of Crisis PR should take a turn in the simulator and analyse in detail how QANTAS has acted and should act from now on. QANTAS, in our opinion, has one of the best track records for Crisis PR management, anywhere (A380 engine failure in November 2010; grounding [...]

Fixed term mortgages hit 3.5 year high in October Basic variable rates were the most popular with new home loan borrowers only 11 months ago, but today they have been far surpassed by ongoing discount rates and fixed rates, according to loan approval data from Mortgage Choice, Australia’s largest independently-owned mortgage broker. At that time, [...]