housing affordability

Interest rates may be at their lowest since the 1950s, but high property prices make climbing onto the first rung of the property ladder no easy feat. The good news is that help is at hand. The home loan industry, with state and federal governments ... More

The champagne flowed freely on The Block finale on Sunday night. Winners Tess and Luke watched the hammer fall a whopping $630,000 over reserve. Even last-place finishers Mitch and Mark enjoyed a windfall of $384,000. While hysteria surrounding the ... More

First home buyers will be able to get into a house with as little as 5% deposit through the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme - provided the value of the property falls under the property price caps announced this week by the Morrison government. The caps ... More

Damon Angus, 45, is a senior counsel at Allens, a law firm in Sydney, where he specialises in corporate finance and financial innovation. Following the birth of their first child, Damon and his wife decided to save for a new house. We spoke to him about ... More

Can't afford to buy in the area where you live? There is a way to enjoy the lifestyle of your favourite suburb and still get a foothold in the property market. Rentvesting - owning an investment property while renting where you live - is gaining ... More

Owning a home has long been hailed as the great Australian dream. But with property prices rising again, millions of renters are concerned that home ownership will remain just that - a dream. Recent survey data from Finder shows that a third (34%) of ... More

If you own your home and have paid it off by the time you retire, you can live for 'free' - no more mortgage repayments - whereas if you rent when you retire, your rent keeps going on and on. But Australians are finding it harder to pay off ... More

The RBA has slashed interest rates in the first cash rate move in almost three years. The move by the RBA to cut rates to 1.25% was widely expected, and no doubt the focus will now turn to mortgage rates; how low will they go? Mortgage rates for owner ... More

Among all the budget and election noise in April, federal parliament passed new laws that aim to improve superannuation member outcomes, including implementation of two recommendations from the banking royal commission. One of the most important was ... More

Federal Parliament has passed an important change to the First Home Super Saver Scheme to further help first home buyers. The new legislation means individuals can enter a contract to buy or build their first home at an earlier time and still have access ... More