Haven Summer Edition - Kiwi Home Loans Newsletter
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Money for nothing and the cheques for free
Article from The Australian
Journalist: Christopher Joye
February 3, 2009
Few understand the fundamental contradiction that our highly profitable private banking system is being underwritten by vast taxpayer subsidies.
Yet while the Government is insuring the banks’ key risks, the public benefits are difficult to delineate. In fact, Australia’s banking system is no longer private at all: it is an asymmetrical public-private partnership under which taxpayers bear much of the economic downside risk, leaving most of the upside to the banks’ shareholders and management.
The myth of mortgage stress
The buzz-term in real estate commentary recently seems to be “mortgage stress”. Hardly a week goes by when yet another report alerts readers to the alarming news that even more people are now apparently subject to mortgage stress.
But what does this term mean and how accurate is it at explaining the current situation of homebuyers?
The term ‘mortgage stress’ become popular during last year’s federal election and should be seen in that context. It refers to those households, whether they are singles, couples or families paying more than 30 percent of income on a mortgage.
Foolish to worship in real estate’s temple of doom
The Australian
3 December 2008
Article by Christopher Joye
THE economics of Australia’s $3.3 trillion housing market are widely misunderstood, with sensationalist claims that a housing bubble caused the global credit crisis and that Australian house prices will fall by 30 per cent to 50 per cent.
IIn fact, the latest RP Data-Rismark Index results show that Australian house prices declined by just 0.8 per cent in the 12 months to October this year, and increased during the most recent three months.
The primary cause of the global credit crisis was a prolonged period of relaxed lending standards across asset markets, which led to excessively high levels of debt. This was further propelled by the US Federal Reserve’s maintenance of unreasonably low interest rates in response to the 2001 tech wreck.
Concerned about your Superannuation…..
Are you concerned about the value of your Superannuation and where it is heading given the amount of media exposure and stock market fluctuations over the past few months?
Have you considered spreading the risk and diversifying your Superannuation into direct property?
Over 2,500 people every month are taking control of their Super by moving out of Managed Super funds, and doing just that - investing directly into property using their own Super fund.