The latest from Integrity Finance Australia
Looking for ways to pay off your mortgage in record time?
Whether you’re a seasoned investor or buying your first home, an offset loan can help you reduce interest payments, save on tax, and pay your mortgage off years ahead of schedule.
What is an offset loan?
With an offset loan the borrower takes out a home loan and opens a linked savings or transaction account. The balance in the savings account is then ‘offset’ daily against the home loan.
nterest rate increases have most likely peaked, drawing property purchasers back to the market. But many are left asking: “How can we possibly afford to get into this market?”
This is particularly the case with singles. Home loan prices are continually bid up by couples with 2 incomes. The tax benefit alone of a dual income family makes an enormous difference to the disposable income available to pay to a mortgage.
Being a de facto or same sex couple is no hindrance at all – but being single is tough!
Our market moves through stages of who is buying. Currently, it is great to see relative strength in the first-home buyer segment.
This is driven in part by the government incentives, but also by support from Baby Boomer parents. Classified as born between 1946 and 1966 this generation have seen the massive wealth creation benefit of home ownership. They are now active in encouraging young family members to buy their homes too, and where able to, providing support via ‘bank of mum and dad’.
Part of keeping balance in life is remembering to 1) plan ahead, 2) live in the moment, and 3) reflect on what has been. Do you recognise the importance of all three?
Central to what we do at Integrity Finance is the whole plan ahead metric with clients. You do not buy a home, or pay off a mortgage, or build that property portfolio, without lots of planning ahead. So most of my time is spent thinking about the future.
It was interesting to see the 2023 home value changes, with the national Home Value Index up 8.1%. This was an improvement on the 4.9% drop in 2022, but well below the 24.5% national surge in 2021.
Read about this and more in our February Money Matters newsletter here
Our society needs more long-term rental properties available for tenants. Are you able to assist?
For those who ‘believe in property’ (probably every reader I think!), the journey is firstly to buy the residential home, secondly to buy the first investment property, and then (fill in your own space!)
What a year for property headlines!
Rising rents are now the headline, replacing misguided predictions of a property price collapse. There is a property shortage, with not enough houses to accommodate everyone, and the problem is getting worse.
Dozens of applicants are often chasing one property, some offering higher rent or to pay three months’ rent in advance to get a home.
