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.

A. Accrued Depreciation - The total depreciation of a property over a period of time. Usually the difference between the replacement value at purchase and its present appraised value. Appeciation - An increase in a property’s value over time. Property can appreciate...

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Zippy The Wonder Dog has been touring the US in search of more of the world’s weirdest and wackiest properties.  In this article, he explores some of the country’s apparently most haunted homes …….