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The recent communications around the best interest duty bill, currently being tabled in Parliament, have thrown the mortgage broking world into a tizz. One aggregator though has taken this as an opportunity to do better. Australian Finance Group (AFG) has introduced a new consumer-friendly communication tool to their processes. This simple one-page document is meant to be easily consumed, clearly explaining why the selected product is appropriate for the customer. This is then signed off by both broker and consumer recognizing those reasons.   

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Commonwealth Bank’s Michael Blyther believes so. Saying that “monetary policy stimulus is clearly working for the housing market”. CBA’s Household Spending Intentions (HSI) data release has outlined that home buying intention is continuing at a positive rate. The overall report presented has outlined that we may very well have hit the beginning of a ‘gentle upturn’. The report has backed the Reserve Bank of Australia’s view that the market may have finally slowed and is ready to turn around in a positive direction. The data recorded has jumped back up to the 2017 high that existed before the decline through 2018. It is expected that these levels of intention can be reported as growing even further with the additional rate cut periods, as the current report shows data up until the end of October 2019.  

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West Australia’s commercial property market, in particular Perth’s, has shown more stable footing throughout 2019, moving from the end of the resources boom, which magnified the need for commercial spaces and facilities.  

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Late in 2019 NAB was named as the first, and at the time, only lender on the panel for first home buyers to choose from under the new First Home Buyer Deposit Scheme. The middle of December delivered an early Christmas present to the upcoming first home buyers, with a choice of 26 lenders. The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation proudly announced the full list of lenders who will be available to write loans under the scheme.  

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Have you gone through the loan process and found yourself, question after question, wondering, is this broker is going to ask me what I had for lunch on Tuesday six weeks ago? Well, you wouldn’t be alone. Brokers need to ask for an array of questions so that they can provide you with the most appropriate information. 

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We are now into the second revision of the best interest duty bill, with the bill now being tabled in Parliament. The bill originated from the recommendation put forward through the banking royal commission report, attempting to add further protection to the consumer. 

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Ho ho ho and deck the halls. Australians must have been very good this year because it seems we are getting an early Christmas present with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) holding the cash rate at 0.75% for December 2019. 

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AFL draft week may have come and gone, but there has been an arguably, even bigger pick made. The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme (FHLDS) was recently announced, and since then, we have seen a trickle of information around it come through to the market. It has now been announced that NAB bank has been named as the first of the two major lenders that will sit on the panel of the scheme.  

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Brokers are being urged to discuss with their SME clients, the potential cash flow concerns that can arise for non-retail business over the holiday season. SME lender Prospa has found that two-thirds of small businesses succumb to some amount of financial stress over this period, which is largely attributed to the lack of funds flowing into the business.  

Propsa’s recent broker poll highlighted one of the major reasons that small business owners seek financial advice is due to managing cash flow, with more than half of the brokers saying so. Other reasons noted were financing for new or upgraded equipment (20%), expanding the current business (12%) and covering BAS and ATO debts (10%).   .. Continued

It would appear that the big four banks are starting to lose a lot more business to the non-major lenders.  

With the smaller banks having reported multi-billion-dollar mortgage book growth. These figures have seen three of the big four banks outperformed according to the latest data from The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).   .. Continued