Australia's housing market has turned a corner: the book phase is over, activity has cooled and prices have fallen. The unsustainable price rises of recent years have been replaced by a sense of balance, and speculators are looking elsewhere to make a get-rich-quick...

  We have all heard the old adage that you need to speculate to accumulate… but when it comes to investing in property, if you want to maximise your returns, you also need to depreciate. If you are renting out an investment property, you are able to deduct...

We speak to potential investors on a daily basis, who are keen to build their personal wealth by investing in property. They tend to fall into 2 categories. 1. Currently Renting and can not Afford to Buy Where they Live. Those currently renting typically are looking...

Nobody gets to the top on their own: Don Bradman had his Invincibles; Ed Hilary had Sherpa Tenzing and Donald Trum had... Vladimir Putin (allegedly!). Life is too complicated to go it alone, especially in the world of finance. If you are looking to grow your wealth...

WHY ARE RATES RISING?

Can you remember back to November 2010: Julia Gillard was Prime Minister, Brad and Angelina were still a happy couple and The Donald as Leader of the Free World was still a funny joke on The Simpsons? It was also the last time the Reserve Bank of Australia raised the cash rate, to 4.75%. A lot has happened since then, including plenty of interest rate  cuts: the cash rate now stands at 1.5% – a historical low. So why are the big banks, such as Westpac, hiking their rates for homeowners?

AVOID A SETTLEMENT VALUATION NIGHTMARE

by Jon Ilievski, Head of Investor Education, Aviate Group

The apartment you bought off-the-plan two years ago is finally approaching settlement, but the bank says it’s not worth as much as you paid for it and won’t lend you as much as you’d counted on, leaving a finance gap you may struggle to fill.