Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Which Banks Passed the June 0.25% cut?

We'll post here when any banks announce their interest rates intentions following the announcement by the RBA that they have cut the cash rate by 0.25 percent.
  • Tuesday: Bank of Queensland has dropped their rates by 20 basis points. Their announcement came out 25 minuts after the RBA announcement was made and therefore get the honorary first-mover award.
  • Wednesday: UniCredit has dropped their rates by the full 25 basis points taking their variable rate to a low 5.85%.
  • Friday: ANZ has just become the first of the big four banks to announce a rate cut, passing the whole 25 basis point cut on to their customers. 
  • Later on Friday: Westpac has announced a 20 basis point drop in their variable rate. And just as everyone was heading home on the east coast, the Commonwealth Bank also announced that it will drop their standard variable rate by 21 basis points. The National Australia Bank around 6pm EST announced that it too would drop rates by 21 basis points. UBank, which is a part of NAB now has a standard variable rate of 5.82% and for those with the loyalty discount, the rate is 5.62%.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

0.25% Interest Rate Cut by RBA


At its meeting today, the Board decided to lower the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.50 per cent, effective 6 June 2012.
Growth in the world economy picked up in the early months of 2012, having slowed in the second half of 2011. But more recent indicators suggest further weakening in Europe and some further moderation in growth in China. Conditions in other parts of Asia have largely recovered from the effects of last year's natural disasters, but the ongoing trend is unclear and could be dampened by slower Chinese growth. The United States continues to grow at a moderate pace. Commodity prices have declined lately, though they are mostly still high. Australia's terms of trade similarly peaked about six months ago, though they remain historically high.
Financial market sentiment has deteriorated over the past month. The Board has noted previously that Europe would remain a potential source of adverse shocks. Europe's economic and financial prospects have again been clouded by weakening growth, heightened political uncertainty and concerns about fiscal sustainability and the strength of some banks. Capital markets remain open to corporations and well-rated banks, but spreads have increased. Long-term interest rates faced by highly rated sovereigns, including Australia, have fallen to exceptionally low levels. Share markets have declined.
In Australia, available indicators suggest modest growth continued in the first part of 2012, with significant variation across sectors. Overall labour market conditions firmed a little, notwithstanding job shedding in some industries, and the rate of unemployment remains low. Nonetheless, both households and businesses continue to exhibit a degree of precautionary behaviour, which may continue in the near term.
There have been no new data for inflation since the previous meeting. Over the coming one to two years, and abstracting from the effects of the carbon price, inflation is expected to be in the 2–3 per cent range. In the near term, it is likely to be in the lower part of that range, though maintaining low inflation over the longer term will require growth in domestic costs to slow as the effects of the earlier high exchange rate wane.
As a result of earlier changes to monetary policy, interest rates for borrowers have declined to be a little below their medium-term averages. Business credit has increased more strongly in recent months, though credit growth remains modest overall. Housing prices had shown some signs of stabilising around the turn of the year, but have recently declined again. Generally, the housing market remains subdued. The exchange rate has declined over recent weeks, reflecting lower commodity prices, heightened risk aversion and expectations of lower interest rates.
At today's meeting, the Board judged that, with modest domestic growth and a weaker and more uncertain international environment, the outlook for inflation afforded scope for a more accommodative stance of monetary policy.

Monday, June 4, 2012

SCAM: Owners House Almost Sold without Knowing



There have been stories lately where people's houses have been fraudulently sold by scammers to a third party without the real estate agent realising. More recently, an Applecross real estate agent thwarted an attempt by scammers to sell an owner's house. The real estate agent was contacted by a supposed owner of an investment home to sell a house in Applecross. The agent contacted the owner and found out that it was a scam.

In another case in Belmont, the owner's computer was hacked via a trojan horse (software sent to the owner which, when executed, enabled the hacker to gain access to the computer). They used details of the investment property found on the computer to request rent money be sent to an overseas account.

Recently, the industry has embraced changes that require a more strict approach to identity verification to make it harder for these scammers to succeed in these scams but it seems that it still CAN happen to you.

Friday, June 1, 2012

May sees continued drop in Perth house prices

Another month goes by and another set of figures are released. RP Data-Rismark announcing that Perth continues to be the one of the worst performing capital cities in Australia with a 1.7% drop in median house prices in May to $460,000.

However, there is definitely an increase in sales activity with sales increasing 24% during the last two months and the number of properties for sale dropping to 13,000 which is near the ideal 12,000 properties according to REIWA. Are you looking for a home in Perth?

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