Mortgage calculator
The Reserve Bank last week indicated it has adopted an “explicit neutral bias” on borrowing costs as a way of signalling its intention to keep official interest rates low in coming months – partly because it needs to continue putting downward pressure on the Australian dollar, which has edged back above US90¢ on Tuesday.
The ReserveBank has so far shrugged off warnings of a potential house price bubble, with home loan calculator officials taking heart from the recent surge in building approvals as a way of keeping a lid on price growth once additional supply hits the market.
Tuesday’s ABS data showed the value of loans to investors rose 2.9per cent in December, and was 40.7per cent higher than a year earlier. All housing lending jumped 27per cent in 2013, while loans to owner-occupiers gained 14.5per cent.
Record investment property purchases come despite soft yields – 3per cent in Melbourne and 4per cent in Sydney, said RP Data research mortgage repayment calculator director Tim Lawless. “Clearly, investors are buying in Sydney and Melbourne purely for the capital gains,” he said.
Aspirations
I am looking for my next big adventure. There are still many places I want to visit and even more to which I want to return. The camera is charged up and my backpack is packed; drop me a line if you know where I should go next.
