If you, like so many of us at this time of year, have found yourself staring at your bank statement convinced you’ve become a victim of fraud, only to realise the extra $0 on your expenditure is the cumulative total of endless post-COVID-lockdown-holiday-season- cheer…then read on maybe there’s one or two things I can help you with.
The January financial ‘hangover’, whilst a little more pronounced for some in 2021, with record high retail spending reported from the Christmas period, it wasn’t without a renewed sense of optimism and we’re continuing to see this in finance reports rolling out as we start the new year. A new survey from from Lendi, as reported by Australian Broker, has revealed many Australians are entering 2021 with optimism around their ability to achieve their financial goals, with nearly half (47%) fostering plans to consolidate or reduce their debt in the coming year.
It's a timely piece of market feedback echoed in a report by Philip Chillemi of Stone Real Estate drawing on reasons why the Queensland Property market is well placed for the year ahead. Whilst he cautions proactive planning in a particularly volatile climate- a lesson learned as a result of COVID, we’ve equally begun to see consistent demand in all the right areas. For instance, rental properties recently saw the largest increase in rental rates in 10 years, up 0.6% in December, a statistic that bodes well for our investor clients. It’s interesting to note, a report by Core Logic, indicates that there’s been an uplift in demand for the acquisition of houses over more densely populated dwellings and with that a surge in demand for property in the regional areas. This movement is underpinned by increased work opportunities in these locations.
We’re being cautioned by finance experts on the lifting of JobKeeper and the effect that this will have on the market but interest from the mortgage world indicates there’s plenty of potential buyer’s/ sellers holding back their moves to see the market reaction. Over the weekend, Sydney & Melbourne recorded a record number of auctions, a sign of ongoing interest in the property market. Key factors for this, as reported by Nick Lenaghan of the Financial Review is buyers catching up on lost time, ultra-low borrowing costs and a report last week that the unemployment rate is falling more quickly than expected.
The market reports coincide well with one of our most proactive periods of the year at Astute East Brisbane, where we undertake a refinance analysis for each of our clients.
If you’re a client of mine, right now we’re preparing an assessment of your existing loans to ensure the one you signed up to over 12-18 months ago is still working in your favour.
With so much movement around policies and offers that took place across the banking landscape over the course of the last 12 months, we’re finding some good wins for our clients. It still surprises me that this is an area of service that many of our incoming clients are not familiar with in Mortgage Broking.
It’s one that I’ve seen save my client’s tens of thousands of dollars and in my opinion is a must for anyone with a mortgage broker to have this looked at at least once annually.
Refinance options for a mortgage holder during Covid times, understandably take on a new level of importance. With record low interest rates at the moment and the lifting of some banking restrictions, it’s becoming a mortgage holder’s market. I’m buoyed by comments from David Hyman, CEO of Lendi who says in his article with Australian Broker, “Low interest rates have certainly helped ease the pressure for many Australian households and in 2021 we will see more Australians consolidating their debts to pay them off faster”
"Refinance activity will continue to be strong but as Australians take their plans to renovate, move, buy or sell off the back burner, we should see a lot of fresh activity in the home loan market this year.”
So, if you’re interested in knowing more about Refinance, please feel free to reach out. It might just be that there’s a little more to your loan options but it’s also important to know where to look and that’s where my team can help. We can’t unfortunately erase that bank statement but there could be a way around things financially, made all the clearer to understand following the cracking great time that’s been had.
So, reach out when you need. Happy to take your call anytime for a little extra information and guidance to assist with your future planning and if you’re an existing client you can rest assured we’ll be in touch soon if we uncover any opportunities for you.
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