he number of home loans is down on the previous year in all but two of the states and territories, according to the latest State of the States report from CommSec.
The Northern Territory and New South Wales came in the weakest, both showing loan commitments 14.8% down as compared to last year.
The only two regions to show an increase were Tasmania, up 3.9%, and South Australia, up by 0.1%.
The survey also measured the quantity of home loans against the decade average in each state and territory.
With this parameter, the ACT topped the list with the number of commitments up 17% on the long-term average. Tasmania was not far behind, its home loans up by 16.4%.
Victoria and South Australia were both also up on the average, 5.0% and 1.1% respectively. 
The Northern Territory yielded the weakest result, home loan commitments 32.1% lower than the long-term average.  
Western Australia was down 24.5%, Queensland down 7.4%, and New South Wales down 4.9%.
According to the report, “Housing finance is not just a leading indicator for real estate activity and housing construction, but it is also a useful indicator of activity in the financial sector.”
While values have changed, the ranking remains the same from the previous quarter. 

Myth 1: Trail commissions are a fee for no service
Reality: The remuneration model is a deferred payment to the broker and a sharing of the loan’s risk and revenues. Historically, the upfront commission mortgage brokers receive from lenders were much higher than they are today, with no subsequent trail payments. To reduce their upfront costs, lenders adopted a lower upfront commission model with ongoing trail during the entire loan’s life
Trail commissions provide recognition and incentive for brokers so they can offer additional support and services to customers. This ensures customers of receiving the most appropriate product for their specific need. Removing trail will only further diminish competition in the home lending industry and increase the banks’ profit.
“If I have a million-dollar loan and a broker takes my interest rate down from 5% to 4%, he or she saves me $10,000 a year on an interest only loan, and if the broker gets $1,500 or 0.15% trail, I don’t care,” Peter Switzer articulated in the Switzer Report released last 5. February. 
Myth 2: Mortgage brokers act on behalf of lenders, not borrowers
Reality: Majority of mortgage brokers are small businesses who generally rely on references and word-of-mouth to survive. Quality of service and integrity are critical to brokers.
Since upfront and trail commission rates are largely similar across the home loan industry, brokers won’t benefit from acting on behalf of a lender instead of their customers. Volume-based payments, soft dollar benefits and other lender-provided incentives which can potentially influence brokers were prohibited in 31 December 2017.
More choice for consumers means greater pressure on interest rates. This results in positive outcome for all consumers, regardless whether they use a broker or go directly to a lender. According to Connective, 96% of Australians were satisfied with their brokers compared to only 67% who deal directly with lenders.     
Myth 3: Mortgage brokers are excessively remunerated for relatively simple work
Reality: Most people don’t see the time brokers dedicate in helping customers file a successful application on time, or in educating customers to make good decisions.
Apart from dealing rates, flexibility and convenience, brokers solve and manage the ever-increasing complexity of Australia’s home lending market. Their ongoing service is helping customers move through the complexity.
Brokers also assist customers with post-settlement matters, much of which don’t draw in additional revenue for the broker and, in certain circumstances, even result in a revenue deduction.  
Myth 4: Shrinking – or killing – the mortgage broking industry won’t kill competition in the home lending market
Reality: Choice, convenience and healthy competition top the benefits brokers provide borrowers based on commentaries that came out since the Royal Commission released its final recommendation. There were also predictions that the recommendation, if implemented, could significantly shrink and even diminish the mortgage broking industry; thus, adversely affecting competition. 

They’re back!
The report shows that first home buyers have been strongly returning to the market, with lending to that segment reaching the highest level since 2010. The surge is expected to continue for another 12 months at least.
In 2017, lending to first home buyers increased by 74% in Sydney, and nearly 30% across the rest of the country.
“We haven’t seen the first home buyer market this strong since the government’s 2008 stimulus plan following the Global Financial Crisis, which saw $1.5bn allocated to first home buyers,”. Affordability and first home buyer incentives from some state governments have contributed to the volume increase of first home buyers.   “A mortgage is, undoubtedly for most people, the largest financial commitment that they’re ever going to make in their life. That’s particularly pertinent for the first home buyer segment of the market,”. “Our business as brokers is all about helping people get into a home. But we’re also conscious that it’s just as important that once they’re in there, they can actually stay there.” Need to secure a great low interest Home Loan? Call Cairns Mortgage Brokers on 07 40579746

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Short-term rental properties like Airbnb have flourished in recent years, yet lenders still struggle to accept them as a valid income stream for borrowers.
Cairns Mortgage Brokers director Roger Ward feels that lenders think such properties are merely “a casual-type income, when in reality they’re used in different ways in the short-term rental community”.
Ward told MPA there’s a large portion of the Airbnb income stream that comes from full-time short-term rental opportunities, with years of figures to look back at.
“This group has a minimum of two years of fully documented rental income, which in my books should be considered because the property looks more like a commercial property,” Ward said. “Banks just don’t seem to recognise this as a serious business. I have a client who generates over $300,000 per annum from four properties.” 
Ward recognises the great returns brokers can get from Airbnb properties. But he reminds them that, as in any sales environment, the client’s needs should be considered first. Brokers can suggest their clients invest in tourism areas, where Airbnb properties seem to particularly thrive — especially areas located near transport systems with a high standard of accommodation. Many online forums can help clients market the property, Ward added. 
From a lending point of view, brokers need “to make the lending stack up on a permanent rental basis”. Ward tells brokers to brief borrowers who are looking to leverage their fantastic returns that banks will not assess all their income; at best, the assessment will be restricted to a 6% return on the asset value.
He also advises brokers to source banks that will best utilise a client’s income to achieve his or her goals. For him, banks that disregard such income do so at their own peril, and those with policies that recognise the billion-dollar industry will benefit from it. However, if a borrower has a two-year income history, the bank should take either the full net income or the discounted net income, which can be 80% of its value. 
Ward has been educating lenders via their BDMs about the strong income that comes from clients with Airbnb properties. He said that while everybody knows how slow credit policy moves, “banks are missing out on high quality borrowers with investment propertiesconsistently returning 10-15% per annum”.
“History is full of missed opportunities, and simply put, the Airbnb genie is out of the bottle and isn’t going anywhere,” Ward said. “The first lender that treats this income seriously will have the entire broking network at its door.”

A recent spike in funding costs is happening at the worst time for Australia’s big banks, as intense public scrutiny crimps their ability to pass on increases to customers.
The banks are fighting to defend their reputations in the face of an inquiry into misconduct and mistreatment of customers. Two weeks into hearings in front of a Royal Commission, allegations have included claims some bank staff took cash bribes to facilitate mortgages based on fake documentation, while others sold unnecessary insurance policies.
At the same time, the big four lenders – Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, and National Australia Bank – face a jump in their short-term financing costs both at home and offshore. The Libor-OIS differential, a key indicator of US dollar borrowing costs, has more than doubled since the end of January, and domestic three-month bank bill rates have also surged.

Cairns has been chosen as regional Australia’s hottest property investment destination for 2018.
Simon Pressley of Propertyology said investing in the Tropical North was a “no brainer”, citing our affordable housing market, tropical attractions and lifestyle as key factors in the city’s top ranking.
While the “affordability driver” is the top reason for the number one ranking, Pressley told Sky News Real Estate that our clean environment, food experiences, beautiful beaches, agriculture and major projects were also important drawcards.
PERSONAL ENDORSEMENT
Mr Pressley has already personally endorsed the regional city with his own investment property in Cairns, pointing out that you would be “flat-out getting a pantry in Sydney or a carport in Melbourne” for the median purchase price of a three-bedroom house in Cairns.
He also said you can expect a “big bang for your buck” in Cairns with 600-800 sq. m blocks, low maintenance homes with pools, and, with tight vacancy rates – a 5% yield on your investment.
Pressley says the trend of more people leaving capital cities is expected to continue, with 20,000-plus currently leaving Sydney each year for tree and sea changes.
EXPANDING INFRASTRUCTURE
He says the outlook for Cairns is strong, citing the city’s proximity on the map as the ideal gateway to Asia, the fifth largest international airport in Australia, and major tourism and business infrastructure.
An over-reliance on tourism is in the past Pressley points out, with the estimated $700 million worth of investment by Crystalbrook Collection, the expansion of two major universities, the port and naval hub and the Cairns Convention Centre upgrade, together with regional agriculture.
An added attraction is Cairns’ employment rates, growing at 11.2%, more than three times the national average of 3.7%.
Reflecting on the current state of the market, Rick Carr of Herron Todd White Cairns notes in CairnsWatch November 2017 that price movements for individual properties have been mixed and prices overall are relatively static.
But Mr Carr’s research found the median vendor discount – the difference between the asking price first advertised on a property and its ultimate selling price – has reduced for units and houses alike.
“The latest trend median prices, for properties sold in the month of October 2017, came in at $405,000 for a house, $205,000 for a unit, and $212,000 for a block of land,” Mr Carr wrote in the latest Cairns Watch report.
“Despite relatively flat market conditions in terms of volumes and prices, other market metrics have shown some improvement in the latest quarter.
“The median time taken for listed properties to reach a sale has decreased from 59 days for houses sold in the 12 months to May 2017, to 56 days for houses sold in the 12 months to August 2017.
“The median time taken to sell a unit remained unchanged at 74 days over the same period. Article from Tropic Now

The Government is going to make it easier for authorised deposit-taking institutions to call themselves banks, in the hope it will reduce the cost of loans.

Currently only ADIs with more than $50m in capital can call themselves a bank but Treasurer Scott Morrison says this prohibition will soon be removed. 

“There are approximately 58 ADIs in Australia that will then be entitled to call themselves a bank, boosting their market appeal and their ability to secure cheaper funds,” Morrison noted. “The benefits to the customer are simple - cheaper loans.”

Morrison pointed to the UK, where easing usage of the word bank in 2013 encouraged the growth of new ‘digital banks’ such as Monzo and Starling. According to Morrison “it led to a flood of new online lenders into the market, forcing the major banks to slash their interest rates and product pricing.”.

Investor housing loans struggle to grow as APRA’s crackdown on higher risk lending continues. The latest figures released by APRA and RBAseparately yesterday show investor loans hardly grew in January.
APRA’s monthly banking data shows that investor loans increased weakly by 0.04% to $553.3bn in January from December, while owner-occupied loans went up 0.6% to $1.05tn.
RBA’s figures show slightly stronger growth – with investor lending going up by 0.2% over the previous month and by 3.2% from a year ago, both in seasonally adjusted terms. Owner-occupied lending rose by 0.6% in January and was up by 8% over the previous year.
Total housing loans stood at $1.6tn in January, up by $6.2bn from the previous month, according to APRA’s statistics. In RBA’s data, housing loans grew 0.5% in January after a gain of 0.4% the previous month, but annual growth eased from 6.4% in January 2017 to 6.2% last month.
Slower growth in mortgage lending does not come as a surprise amid tougher lending practices and lower investor demand. Besides added restrictions on lending, borrowers also face stricter loan serviceability criteria and approval process, limiting their access to mortgage products.
Zooming in on APRA’s January figures for major banks, Westpac’s investment loans went up 0.3% or by $473m from December to reach $151bn in January. It is the only major bank that saw an uptick in investor housing loans and remains the biggest player in this type of lending.
Second largest player CBA recorded the most month-on-month decline in investor housing loans in terms of value by $125m, while NAB posted the least decrease at $4m.
For owner-occupied loans, all four recorded increases over the previous month, but their growth rates seem to have moderated. ANZ made the biggest growth at 0.6% to $174bn.