REAL ESTATE

Australian capital city home values have falled by 2.7% during the 2011 calendar year, according to the latest research from RP Data.

Macquarie has expanded its previously financial planning-focused Macquarie Practice Consulting into the mortgage broking market.

Australia's small, non-bank lenders have begun applying small increases in its upfront home loan fees and discharge fees in response to the loan exit fee ban.

ASIC has stepped up its intensity with an infringement notice issued to a Sydney broker.

Mortgage Ezy has announced the release of a self-managed super fund loan. The mortgage manager has stated its SMSF loan product will be available to brokers "within days," and will carry a rate below 8%.

$65,600. a few years ago that would have bought you a property where I live. Now, that is the average price of a property in Monaco, per square meter. The figure comes from the latest release of Knight Frank's global index of luxury property prices. According to the index London is the second most expensive at $56,300, but this is hardly surprising given the advent of One Hyde Park, a block of flats with none priced under a million pounds.

Australia's annual population growth rate slowed to 1.5% in 2010, down from the 2008 high of 2.2%.

BIS Shrapnel has disputed the idea of a property market crash, and has forecast that house price growth will begin to accelerate within the next two years.

The organisation of small non-bank lenders in Australia will continue the battle to extend competitive mortgage fees as against the big banks in spite the leveling of exit fees, the industry-led Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) said.

The Credit Ombudsman has encouraged lenders and credit providers to improve their internal dispute resolution schemes to avoid the "reputational implications" of having a complaint taken to an EDR.

Property developer Stockland is continuing with its reweighting of its assets, selling some non-housing investments and moving deeper into residential and retail.

FBAA president Peter White has weighed into the debate surrounding educational requirements for mortgage brokers, saying industry associations should not require higher educational standards than those dictated by ASIC.

QED Risk Services has repackaged its existing broker compliance offering as an online service, that will see brokers generate their own compliance reports by answering questions via the web.

Household financial conditions have fallen to their lowest level in more than a decade, according to the Melbourne Institute.

A Senate decision on the future of the exit fee ban was postponed yesterday, after hopes from industry that it would be overturned.

Australians are ready to opt for housing types outside the traditional "detached home on a large block" stereotype, according to the Grattan Institute, but the housing market is not supplying dwellings to meet their needs.

New research suggests the great Australian dream of owning a large, detached house no longer exists.

Consumer sentiment has fallen to its lowest level in two years, and consumers are losing faith in real estate as a wise investment according to a new study.

Are you Australia’s best mortgage broker? Does your brokerage pride itself on providing excellent customer service?

New housing starts are up for the March quarter, but have still fallen below last year's figures.

Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens has reiterated that further interest rate hikes may be on the horizon.

A tight commercial market and a lack of affordability for premium office space has driven small businesses and micro businesses out of the CBD in at least three cities.

The Coalition will attempt to overturn the government's ban on exit fees in the Senate through a vote in the Senate.

The RBA has decided to keep the official cash rate at 4.75% for the sixth month in a row.

The average weekly rent in Australia is $450; over a year that’s $23,400. But a good tenant goes beyond what they’re paying in rent. You also want someone that will take care of the property, respect the neighbours and rent long-term. Even though the national vacancy rate is a relatively tight 2.2% - good tenants can be hard to come by.

Property investors seizing opportunities in the current buyers' market has contributed to an 18.8% increase in mortgage sales during May.

Interest rate hikes are increasingly likely to send Australian homeowners into default, Fitch Ratings has claimed.

Ongoing discount interest rate home loans have become the top choice for majority or about 33 percent of new borrowers, according to May 2011 data from Australia’s largest independently owned mortgage broker, Mortgage Choice.

Property developer Stockland confirmed today in a filing with the Australian Stock Exchange that it is in discussions with a potential buyer for assets representing about 20% if its industrial portfolio. This comes as Stockland also announced that it has secured 339 hectares of residential land in south west Sydney.