News Australia

  Australia’s housing sector has called on the reserve bank to deliver a 50 basis point interest rate cut after a survey showed new home sales have fallen to their lowest level in more than a decade. The Housing Industry Association (HIA), which represents the residential building industry, says new home sales dropped 9.4 per [...]

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has spared borrowers an interest rate rise, leaving the cash rate at 4.75 percent in a widely expected move. The Reserve Bank last increased the overnight cash rate in November 2010 to 4.75 percent from 4.5 percent and most economists still expect a rate rise this year. “We expect [...]

Now we know the starting price on carbon – $23 – a clearer picture is starting to form as to its impact on the property industry. Will it have a negative impact? That all depends on who you talk to. The Housing Industry Association – a body that represents builders and the makers and suppliers [...]

TWO of the nation’s biggest insurers expect to introduce full flood cover by early next year, substantially boosting the number of households that will have automatic protect from a full range of natural disasters. Coming after a backlash directed at the industry following last summer’s devastating floods across Queensland, Insurance Australia Group and Suncorp are [...]

House prices are predicted to fall over the next 12 months, as the outlook for residential real estate weakens, but falls will be smallest in New South Wales, a survey shows. The National Australia Bank residential property index, which predicts houses prices, rents and real-estate market conditions over the coming year, said national home prices [...]

NEW home construction is tipped to fall 17 per cent in Victoria this financial year but the HIA says its forecast is not all bad news. The Housing Industry Association says its not all doom and gloom with the state coming off record highs. HIA chief economist Harley Dale said the forecast for a 17 [...]

House prices have fallen almost three per cent so far in 2011 as potential home buyers choose to save their pennies rather than bid for real estate. The RP Data-Rismark Hedonic home value index shows a 2.7 per cent decline in Australia’s capital cities house prices through the first five months of 2011. In the [...]

Australian home owners are among the most indebted in the world, but most had no trouble meeting monthly repayments on their mortgage in the last year, new research shows. A survey of home owners and aspiring first-home buyers in eight countries by mortgage insurance provider Genworth has shown one in five Australian home owners spend [...]

Australia is suffering from a housing affordability crisis because of rising interest rates and uncertainty surrounding the Gillard government’s planned carbon tax, the opposition says. Australian Bureau of Statistics data released today showed the number of new homes approved in April fell by 1.3 per cent from the previous month, and now stand 11.5 per [...]