How noise actually affects the value of your house
How noise can affect your home's value, a simple way for small businesses to avoid unwanted ATO attention, and why it's time to raid the kids' Pokémon collection. Here are five things you may have missed this week.
Silence is bliss - and good for property values
Real estate agents often spruik 'close to transport' as a selling point of homes, but it doesn't always lead to higher property values.
Noise pollution has been shown to be harmful to our health. Turns out it's not great for property values either.
A new study by PropTrack and Ambient shows how noise affects property prices.
The study, which looked chiefly at the Melbourne market, found property values dropped 6% for every 10 decibel increase in road noise.
Values fell 4% for every 10 decibel increase in rail noise - despite the convenience of living near a train line.
Not surprisingly, aircraft noise can really punch a hole in property values, which can drop by up to 9% for every 10 decibel hike in plane noise.
Given that properties outside flight paths can experience noise levels 20 decibels lower than those in the flight path, the difference in property prices can be significant.
For context, decibels increase incrementally. An increase of 10 decibels means that a sound is 10 times louder.
How to keep your small business out of the tax man's spotlight
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has just released its latest small business benchmarks for 100 industries.
The ATO claims these benchmarks act as a health check, allowing small business owners to compare their performance including average expenses against others in the same industry.
But from the ATO's perspective they play a very different role.
ATO Assistant Commissioner Tony Goding, says small businesses who fall outside the benchmarks, for example, claiming super-sized expenses or reporting revenue well below similar enterprises, are more likely to "trigger a closer examination".
Conversely, he admits, "Businesses that remain within industry benchmarks are generally less likely to attract the ATO's attention."
It makes the numbers worth a look if you run a small business. An ATO tax audit can be extremely disruptive.
The benchmarks are accessible on the ATO website and via the ATO app business performance check tool.
Pikachu... I choose you for high returns
Thinking of cleaning out the kids' bedrooms before the Easter holidays?
Stop right there.
The 2025 Knight Frank Wealth Report says an increasing number of investors looking for high returns are turning to Pokémon card-collecting.
If, by some miracle, you missed out on the whole Pokémon craze, the cards depict various fictional Japanese monsters.
According to Knight Frank, good card pickers can pocket returns of up to 50% annually.
One rare Pikachu card recently sold for an eye-watering €148,000 ($254,000).
The record price is $US5.3 million ($8.4 million) paid for a "Pikachu Illustrator" card.
Maybe the kids are onto something when they say "gotta catch 'em all!"
As with other collectibles, fakes are rife, so care is needed building a collection.
Cards sporting a few sticky lunchbox leftovers may also be a bit suspect in terms of investment value.
NSW renters get a break
It's been a big week for 2.3 million NSW residents who rent their home.
The NSW state government has announced it will ban 'no-grounds' evictions and make it easier to keep a pet, with reforms set to come into effect on May 19, 2025.
Renters will also have access to fee-free options to pay their rent, preventing extra fees that can add to rental costs.
In addition, the state government handed back almost $50,000 to renters who had been asked to pay for their own background checks.
It may not sound like much but rental applicants had been charged $19.95 each to pay for a search of public databases - a practice outlawed in NSW since October 2024.
NSW Fair Trading is asking for any rental applicants who have been charged for a background check to lodge a complaint with NSW Fair Trading.
'Lock n block' - ANZ launches new account protection
It can be a gut-wrenching moment when you think your bank account or credit card may have been hacked.
ANZ has come up with a real-time solution.
In an Australian first, ANZ will launch Digital Padlock, a new feature that gives ANZ customers the ability to instantly 'lock down' access to their accounts if they suspect they are being targeted by cybercriminals.
Available from mid-2025 in ANZ App, ANZ Plus and Internet Banking, ANZ Digital Padlock will let account holders immediately disable digital access and stop unauthorised activity on their accounts.
The tool will also block credit and debit cards and notify ANZ's fraud monitoring system of any suspicious activity.
ANZ's group executive for Australian retail, Maile Carnegie says, "Cybercriminals are constantly finding new ways to target Australians. The more tools customers have at their fingertips to protect their money, the better."
Carnegie adds, "ANZ Digital Padlock takes just a few clicks so it will give our customers direct, real-time control over the security of their own accounts. It will provide some extra peace of mind for customers, knowing that they can act quickly if they think they are at risk of being compromised."
ANZ Digital Padlock will not affect future-dated payments such as loan repayments.
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