Now more than ever your Property Management Department is your most important asset in the Real Estate industry. In the last 2 years the Business Development Manager position has become a hot topic and when performed well, is very powerful in a PM Department.  Most Principals know a BDM is extremely important component for growth in the PM department but are unsure on what they should be doing day to day and what type of person would suit the position.

After being in the industry for 10 years and going from Reception to Property Manager and then becoming a full time BDM, I have to say the BDM position best suited my strengths and was the role I performed exceptionally well. So what makes a powerful BDM and what should you as the employer look for when filling the position?

-          They must be a confident networker, build strong relationships and love meeting new people.

-          They must be passionate about the department’s vision and believe in the product they are selling to the client.

-          They must understand the position is not a 9 to 5 role and be prepared to do deals after hours or on weekends.

-          They must have a competitive nature and be goal orientated.

-          They must have the ability to build and manage a large database.

-          They must be a team player and good communicator.

-          They must understand no doesn’t mean no, it means not right now.

-          They must be prepared to always think ahead of ways they can go the extra mile for themselves, the business and the client.

These traits were successful for me and I know I’m not the only one out there. Once you have secured your BDM make sure as the Principal you have a plan in place to ensure the success of your BDM. A good starting point is setting targets and making sure you have regular meetings to discuss any concerns or positive feedback you may have.

All about Tara After completing High School, Tara Milzewski commenced work as a Trainee Property Manager and within 6 years became the Business Development Manager at Wide Bay Prestige Properties. Tara has very strong passion for Business Development and understands how important growth is for a Property Management Department. Tara’s significant accomplishments include successfully securing 268 listings in one financial year and signing 30 new rental listings in one month. To contact Tara for any further information feel free to email Tara at  tara@stbinvestments.com.au

Marketing your property for MAXIMUM EXPOSURE and MAXIMUM appeal

Thanks to Ann-Maree Bond

Email: scuderibond.annmaree@gmail.com

In the current economic climate there is no denying that marketing a property for sale requires a thoughtful marketing strategy to achieve the most positive sale outcome.

Where once simply uploading a property to the Internet was the sum total of the marketing strategy, now more than ever, the sale of your property warrants a clear, defined and strategic approach to best ensure the desired results.

The Fundamentals

When it comes to marketing it is all about the right time, right buyer, right place. There are 4 fundamentals needing to be identified in order to create the optimum scenario for all these ‘right things’ to line up. Commonly known as the 4 P’s of the marketing mix – Product – Place – Price _- Promotion – it is these 4 fundamentals that provide insight in to how best to market your property.

Product: What sort of property are you trying to sell? Who does it appeal to? How do you best ‘speak’ to this ‘target market’?

Defining the property correctly is crucial.  Are you selling a family home? An executive residence? A bachelor pad? Identifying this accurately will provide the basis for your marketing and advertising strategy.

Place: The geographic location of the property will also define who to market the property to and how. Are there schools close by (family appeal)? Is the property located in an entertainment precinct that will appeal to young people? Is the property located in an area that appeals to retirees?

Price: Whether your agent has decided upon an auction campaign or private treaty (defined list price) sale, you need to have an understanding of what your property is worth with regards to comparable sales in the area. You DO need to listen to what the market is telling you when it comes to price.  Complete inflexibility to price reductions could end up meaning that your property sits on the market for a very long time. You need to decide how much it is really costing you to keep, and whether opting for a price reduction to achieve the sale may be an option to consider.

Promotion:

Now that you know who your target market IS, how are you going to SPEAK to them?  What advertising and promotional initiatives will you take to ensure that the right person sees your property and is in a position to buy it?

It is the combination of these 4 fundamental factors that define how to structure the Plan of Attack.  Now that you have a clear idea of these, the next step is to identify the actual tactics to achieve the desired result.

Cut through the Clutter

Maximising Exposure

How can you appeal to the right person at the right time if they don’t know that your property is even on the market?  It is very important that you allocate a percentage of funds to be used for advertising.  You may not ultimately need to spend all of your allocation, however, despite your budget, there is always a means by which to establish your presence as a contender in the ‘For Sale’ property market.  Consider pictorial advertising, DVD tours, Feautre Property internet listings, colour brochures and professional photography as part of your promotional mix when selling your property.

Maximising the exposure of your property is of paramount importance. Make your property cut through the clutter of everything else that is on the market by making sure that it gets noticed.

Maximising Appeal

Make your property stand out.  Make it present in the most positive light to your desired target market.

‘Staging’ your property for sale is so very important, and yet it is something that often gets overlooked.

According to homebuying.about.com, when it comes to preparing your house for sale, there are 3 important ‘D’s’ that need to be taken care of before you put your house on the property market –

‘DISASSOCIATE, DE-PERSONALISE and DE-CLUTTER your home to more widely appeal to the buying public.  Although it can be difficult to imagine that anyone would have different tastes to you, neutral furnishings, and de-cluttered rooms not only present as being clean, fresh and tidy, but in most cases give a perception of the home being more spacious.  Consider renting a storage cage whilst your home is on the market.  This is a cost effective means of immediately de-cluttering your home, and gives you a head start on packing!!

Anyone who has watched Mad Men would be awe-struck by the skills of Joan Harris (nee Holloway), played by Christina Hendricks. The head of the secretarial pool at advertising agency Stirling Cooper is assertive, smart, witty and confident. She also knows the workings of the business inside out. She steps in when needed to take on key roles and does it brilliantly.

The world has changed considerably since the early 60s – for starters, both males and females are in these positions – but the executive assistant has become even more important because executives are now under more pressure.

Technology like email and smartphones allow managers to operate more self-sufficiently, and companies are being forced to cut costs so many executive assistants lost their jobs during the downturn. That is unfortunate because a good EA knows how to lift productivity in an organisation.

The EA is no longer just a secretary. The EA needs skills that are more than just a simple “admin” nature. The EA has to manage the schedule and needs of managers and make them look good. The EA needs to know all the workings of the business in ways that few there would understand. The EA also needs to be there when needed, either when the manager is struggling with a technology meltdown or trying to process all the minutes from the last few board meetings before a 3pm meeting. Furthermore, the EA has to do all this without going off and talking about it to the rest of staff. An EA is the manager’s eyes and ears and has to be trusted.

Indeed, there are moments when the EA might be even more important than the chief executive officer. Susan Heron, chief executive officer of the Australian Institute of Management, puts it bluntly.

“In a disaster recovery situation, it’s always amused me they have a sheet of people to call into the office. The CEO will be on the top.” Heron says.

“Most of the time, the CEO wouldn’t have a clue how to turn the lights on nor turn the photocopier. Who should they be on the top? I would say the EA should be on the top because they understand the functioning of the business and how it works.”

Heron has two EAs, one works three days a week and the other does two. It works perfectly for her.
“They keep me out of trouble, they keep me on the straight and narrow,” Heron says.

Her EAs are her liaison point with the board and have the job of putting all the board papers together. They organise her schedules and write presentations and speeches for her. That means they need to know exactly where she is coming from and get her voice right. They also need to provide background details she requires for meetings. They are the gatekeepers for anyone wanting to contact her. And they work closely with the executive management team. If any other manager needs help, they will step in. If the receptionist is sick, they will take over that role.

“I have people who have a good grasp of the business. They understand how the business works and they understand who’s who in the business,” she says. “What’s important is that they understand how I work and they are smart enough to manage me and be flexible enough to ensure that I get optimum delivery given the way I work.”

Heron wouldn’t even bother asking an EA candidate whether they have short hand. It simply isn’t relevant.

What’s the financial return on a good EA?

Recruiters say a top executive assistant in this market will earn $100,000. Are they worth it?

Paul Lyons, managing director of recruitment firm Ambition says the return on investment from a good executive assistant can be substantial.

“I probably get somewhere between 120 to 150 emails a day, internal and external,” Lyons says. “I try and cover those off within 24 hours. A lot of the time, it’s before work and after work. I also have four or five meetings, external and internal a day, and at the moment, I arrange those myself.”

“If you try to get hold of somebody, you can’t do it the first time so you have to try and get them the second, third or fourth time. So you have emails back and forth. That in itself probably takes up one to two hours a day, probably more.”

“I am thinking if I can be two hours more productive every day, then that is going to more than pay for an EA.”

So a CEO on close to $1 million a year might have an EA earning about one-tenth of that. But in a 60 working week, the EA will save the executive 10 hours a week (based on two hours a day), a near 17% increase in productivity. That makes a $100,000 position a good investment.

“Those are the sorts of calculations you have to go through. Is it one plus one equals three or is it one plus one equals 1.8? ” Lyons says. “Is it a must have or nice to have?”

He says the person who needs the EA will be the one who is most visible in the organisation. That is usually the CEO but it can be other C-level managers with a high number of direct reports who have to be managed either face-to-face or via email.

“You are going to get bogged down in a lot of communication and an EA can help you cut through all of that and focus on the things you need to do,” Lyons says.

One of the big trends now, with the focus on costs, is for companies to share executive assistants across several managers. Lyons says they need to put some thought into this.

“You would need two managers who see eye to eye and are relatively close in terms of either proximity or certainly in terms of their style,” he says. “I suppose you could have someone who is an EA for somebody in Sydney and in Melbourne but it is helpful if the two executives are in close proximity and style.”

Barbara Sattler, a recruitment consultant with Staffing.com, a company that recruits and places secretaries, says most businesses could not function without a good EA. She should know, she was one herself working for an insolvency firm.

She says that that during the downturn, many smaller businesses made the mistake of getting rid of their executive assistants to reduce headcount and costs. That got them into trouble.

“You’ll find little tiny ones would take all the responsibility from the EA and give it to the receptionist and then find that the receptionist quit under the load so they weren’t better off,” Sattler says.

“Without an EA, you wouldn’t have a company. A lot of the time, they are as important as your front receptionist is. They are the backbone of your business. You will find that the directors, CEOs and finance managers are all off doing their thing knowing that the receptionist is looking after the people that hit the front of the house and the EA is looking after everything else that’s going on inside the business.”

When do you know you need an EA? How do you know you need one?

“When you are so busy that those little things that get taken for granted by some partners who have EAs are not happening,” Sattler says. “So it’s where he rocks up late, where he goes to get a business card out of his pocket and there isn’t one there, when he walks out the door and his tie is skew-whiff because he has just been busy and somebody didn’t say your collar is turned up.”

“When everything that needs to happen actually happens, you’ll find that the EA did it. Whether it’s making his travel bookings, whether it’s making his conference bookings, whether it’s confirming he will show up at XYZ, whether he will have enough business cards in his jacket pocket when he leaves, all of those things that make a partner look great.”

A good executive assistant needs certain skills, she says.

“You definitely become their go to person and you have to think one step ahead,” she says.

“They have to be somebody that actually enjoys the job they’re doing, has the skills set to do it and has the actual passion for that particular task. They are going to have to bring a lot of knowledge for organising travel, they will have a good ability to sit down and produce minutes. They will also have a good knowledge for actually producing documents that can be presented. And they have to have the ability to know that when everybody else has gone home, they may still be around to get something done that may make the company and the partner they are working for look brilliant.”

The good EA also has to be a whiz with technology. When there is a computer meltdown, they will be the first person the boss will call in. If they can’t fix it, they will know someone who can.

“You have to be able to use binding machines, you have to be able unblock photo copiers, you have to be able to reinstall printer cartridges, you have to be able to contact telephone companies when the telephone goes down,” she says.

“I was a trouble shooter for Word and Excel for many years. You need to always be one step ahead.”

One of the challenges for executive assistants is that there are many managers who feel they don’t need one, or who feel they can do a better job than the EA.

Heron says that is a management issue that needs to be sorted out.

“In that situation, the manager of that manager needs to have a good conversation about roles and responsibilities and efficiencies and the EA needs to be in a position to have that conversation. That comes down to people’s management skills,” she says.

She says cutting back on executive assistants is false economy. “You think you are doing a good job because you got rid of the head count. But have you done the hard work to think what the real cost to the organisation is? I suggest most people don’t.”

Courtesy Leon Gettler

Below is an excerpt from the website of Omni Jobs, an alternative to the regime of Job Boards that operate in Australia. Having read all of their research it is obvious to see why companies are turning to specialist job sites for their own industries in an attempt to find the right people for their teams.

As a recruiter we are also looking at alternative ways to attract the right candidates for our clients and the use of a “specialist” job site is one way of obtaining candidates. Unlike general job sites which attract all types of people applying for roles when the applicants generally have no skills or relevant experience or qualifications, a specialist site can help eliminate this frustration.

Here is just one experience that we have had since trying the new Real Estate Job site in the last 10 days.

We had advertised a role in North Queensland, always hard to fill, on the traditional sites as well as on facebook and our own blog and did not get the quality or number of enquiries that we where looking for. We placed an advert on www.realestate-careers.com.au last weekend and had an immediate response from a well qualified candidate who responded within days, we interviewed her on skype, got her to meet the client and the fit was absolute perfect. We have had some great results for other roles on the same site and can only recommend that anyone considering hiring in our Industry try this out to see for themselves.

Anyway here is the excerpt from Omni,

The Omni Team

The Omni Job Board Network was created by a team of former HR, recruitment, web design and marketing professionals from North America and Europe disillusioned with the high cost and inconsistent results they experienced using traditional niche and branded job boards serving the Queensland market.

The Omni Research

Their research revealed that the vast majority of internet job-seekers had little loyalty to major job board brands, instead relying primarily on search engines to deliver relevant and up-to-date job listings in their area. In other words, multi-million dollar advertising campaigns designed to promote brand awareness and loyalty – and passed on to the customer in the high cost of job listings – were futile.

At the other end of the spectrum, independent niche job boards targeted job seekers in a single industry or location. Although generally cheaper – and sometimes free – such websites nearly always suffered from poor design, cumbersome recruiter interfaces and narrow focus offering little exposure to passive job seekers in other areas. Free sites were clogged with generic and duplicated ads.

The Omni Goal

Armed with decades of industry experience and the latest job-board technology, the Omni team set out to design a cost-effective, high-quality recruitment solution combining the rich media content, global reach and advanced recruiter interface of the branded job boards with the local focus of niche industry and location job boards.

Nikki Taylor from ICG Recruitment features in REUncut talking with Kevin Turner on virtual PA’s, to listen to the interview please click on the player below:

CUP Day punters could have an extra reason to cheer today, with the odds strongly in favour of the Reserve Bank keeping interest rates on hold for a sixth consecutive month.

But any sigh of relief from borrowers could be short-lived, with some pundits predicting that the RBA will still send rates north by Christmas. And analysts are divided over whether Australia’s big banks will be forced to raise rates independently if the RBA chooses to keep its powder dry today.

Nomura’s Victor German said it was clear banks wanted to raise rates, but, from a political point of view, it would now be "very difficult".

He named Commonwealth as the bank most likely to go it alone, but said the chance of an independent rise was "diminishing" with the new Senate inquiry into banking competition.

Southern Cross Equities analyst TS Lim agreed that political pressure made it tougher for banks to raise rates but said increasing funding pressures meant banks were likely to act anyway.

"Once CBA does it the rest will follow," he said.

Futures market betting on the likelihood of an official rise has plummeted in the past week after benign inflation data dampened expectations that the RBA would lift the cash rate to 4.75 per cent.

Market odds last night reflected just 26 per cent chance of a rate hike today, despite new data revealing an uptick in price pressure in October.

Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe said a rates pause today would be "probably only a temporary reprieve".

He said economic data in the next month – including critical growth, job and capital spending indicators – could convince the RBA to hike in December.

The TD Securities-Melbourne Institute monthly inflation gauge showed that on an underlying or "trimmed mean" basis – a measure used by the RBA – inflation rose by 0.2 per cent after flat results in August and September.

On a yearly basis, inflation grew at 3.1 per cent – outside the RBA’s target range of 2 to 3 per cent.

Pushing the gauge higher were price rises for car fuel, fruit and vegetables, and insurance services.

Story by Rachel Hewitt – with Peter Taylor www.heraldsun.com.au

IT is only a matter of time before interest rates rise again, with board minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) revealing that it "could not wait indefinitely" due to rising inflationary pressures.

Minutes from the latest RBA monetary policy board meeting, taken on October 5 and released on Tuesday, say that while the overall global outlook was broadly unchanged since the RBA board’s previous meeting, interest rates would need to rise "at some point".

A gradual tightening in resource utilisation meant that inflationary pressures would strengthen, the minutes say.

The minutes reveal that the decision to keep the cash rate on hold at 4.5 per cent, taken at the October 5 meeting, was finely balanced.

"While the board recognised that it could not wait indefinitely to see whether risks materialised, members judged that they had the flexibility to do so on this occasion," the minutes said.

Based on the medium-term inflation outlook, a case could be made to increase the cash rate at the October meeting as developments had been broadly consistent with central forecasts, the minutes said.

But members decided to leave the cash rate unchanged after accepting that the economy was expected to continue growing at trend in the near term, credit growth had softened and the rise in the exchange rate would effectively be "tightening financial conditions at the margin".

Board members also said it was "still possible" that downside risks to global growth could materialise.

"Members felt these arguments were finely balanced," the minutes said.

Overall, they concluded that it would be "appropriate to hold the cash rate steady for the time being," until evaluating further information at the next meeting, on Melbourne Cup Day, November 2.

The board noted that, despite the release of unemployment figures showing a 5.1 per cent unemployment rate in August, there had been a relatively limited amount of economic data released over the past month.

After rising to around record high levels in the June quarter, Australia’s terms of trade were estimated to have increased further in the September quarter but were then expected to decline gradually.

The minutes also noted that a slowdown in the pace of household borrowing had been accompanied by a cooling in the established housing market, and that the borrowing slowdown was a "welcome development".

There had been little new information on price and wage inflation, with consumer price index figures due out later in the month.

Good rainfall had led to conditions in the farm sector improving significantly.

In Europe, Ireland had been a focus of concern in financial markets and members noted that periods of "acute stress" in Europe were "likely to recur".

Meanwhile, business investment was expected to strengthen over the next few years and offset a scaling back in public investment.

Prospects for growth in Asia remained "solid" despite slowing from earlier in the year as the prices of many of Australia’s export commodities remained at high levels, board members said.

"Domestically, members noted that the economy appeared to be evolving broadly in line with the bank’s expectations," the minutes said.

The outlook remained for public spending to slow but for private demand to pick up, particularly in business spending.

Story by Kim Christian www.thesatellite.com.au

It’s now easier to get a job, but owning your own home is expected to become much more difficult.

As the nation moves into a period of higher house prices, rising interest rates and falling unemployment, economic commentators are pointing to declining housing affordability over the next few years.

Housing surveys released this week show residential property prices could climb by as much as 20 per cent over the next three years in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide, while other capitals are anticipating more modest growth.

At the same time, some economists predict unemployment could fall as low as four per cent and variable interest rates could soar past nine per cent as the resources boom kicks in.

BIS Shrapnel managing director Rob Mellor says steady residential property growth is expected over the next three years thanks to a strong economy, firm employment and income growth.

"The big risk is affordability," Mr Mellor said.

"That’s the part of the equation that certainly suggests over the next three years affordability will become a major issue."

While tight housing supply and strong migration were driving growth in Sydney, the imminent resources boom was set to keep dwelling prices firm in Perth, Mr Mellor said during the launch this week of the BIS Shrapnel/QBE Housing Outlook for 2010-13.

"Affordability will deteriorate as we go to a higher interest rate environment by 2013," he said.

"It will deteriorate back to the sort of poor affordability that we had during 2008, when interest rates got to 9.5 per cent.

"So it’s certainly a negative."

In terms of mortgage repayments as a percentage of income, affordability remains a serious issue.

"It will be a critical issue over a three year period," Mr Mellor said.

"We do expect interest rates to rise in 2011/12.

"They’ll probably be back at around 8.3 per cent or so by June 2012 and more like 9.1 per cent by June 2013."

Almost 50,000 full time jobs were created last month, keeping Australia’s unemployment rate at 5.1 per cent for September, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows.

Meanwhile, National Australia Bank is less bullish in its housing forecasts, saying annual price rises would average just 1.5 per cent.

The bank expects Canberra prices to rise 5.0 per cent, Adelaide to post a 3.3 per cent increase, just 2.7 per cent in Sydney, while Perth should grow by 1.6 per cent.

After record growth, Melbourne is expected to record an increase of 1.3 per cent and Brisbane should remain flat.

The survey found properties selling for less than $500,000 were expected to post the biggest price gains.

While Australia is nowhere near the dark days of 2003 when many mortgage holders had to part with a large chunk of their weekly wage, economists say we are just six interest rate rises away from that critical point.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has lifted the cash rate six times in the past year, bringing the cash rate to 4.5 per cent in May.

Commonwealth Bank chief economist Michael Blythe said household incomes were still constrained, while interest rates and house prices were tipped to rise.

"So there’s a whole set of factors that have acted to reduce housing affordability from a cash flow perspective," Mr Blythe said.

However, he said there was a "way to go" until housing affordability reached the crisis point of 2003 when debt servicing ratios hit a peak while the cash rate sat around five per cent.

"We’re obviously a fair way from that point and there’s the sense that a drop in affordability has taken some of the steam out of the housing market," Mr Blythe said.

Home owners who bought just before the financial crisis in 2008 will remember the cash rate reaching 7.25 per cent.

He said first home buyers would slowly return to the market, simply because that demographic "requires a certain level of housing stock".

"We’ve had this period of rapid housing growth and that has generated a big demand for housing," he said.

© 2010 AAP
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The Reserve Bank surprised many when it decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 4.5 per cent this month, despite the market pricing in a greater than 70 per cent chance of a rise.

It has now been five consecutive months since the last rate rise in May, which is good news for the property market.

Sydney property activity for spring has been solid with September recording a healthy 66 per cent clearance rate with total sale values up on this time last year driven by a surge in listings.

Almost 2300 properties are listed for auction this month, compared with 1625 for the same period last year.

It seems vendors are taking advantage of the traditionally strong spring selling season combined with the impetus to act now before the next phase of interest rate rises begins and dampens buyer enthusiasm.

It’s no longer clear whether the next move upwards will be in November or if the Reserve Bank is likely to wait until the new year to start raising rates again.

According to the RBA, the average standard variable mortgage rate offered by the banks in September was 7.4 per cent.

Regardless of when interest rates start to move again, most economic forecasters are expecting at least another 1 per cent by the end of next year.

Take into  account comments from the banks about their struggle with increased funding costs, and it would be prudent to expect an additional increase on top of official cash rate movements.

So by the end of 2011, it’s possible that standard variable mortgage rates will be at 8.5 per cent or higher.

So what can mortgage holders do to gain some protection?

Many will already be thinking about potentially fixing part, if not all, of their mortgage.

Up until the last month, there was some uncertainty over the path of official interest rates due to some weak economic data at home and abroad.

This affected future views of interest rates in the market, and these in turn influenced how banks set their
fixed mortgage rates. According to RBA data, fixed-rate mortgages have been at similar levels as the standard variable rate since July, the first time since early 2009.

The latest housing finance figures (August) show the proportion of owner-occupiers taking out fixed rate home loans was less than 4 per cent, and actually fell slightly from July.

That is, more than 96 per cent of new loans in August were variable.

There is always a risk in fixing a mortgage and picking the right time to do so. The last time the proportion of new loans being fixed rose significantly occurred in March 2008, when the standard variable mortgage rate was
9.35 per cent, just shy of the peak four months later.

At this time, 24 per cent of all new loans were fixed, according to the ABS.

Now may be the right time to at least consider the option of fixing a portion of your mortgage.

With further rises on the cards, the opportunity exists to lock in a three-year rate now which may well be below the standard variable rate in a few months.

Anthony Ishac is the general manager for the Fairfax Media-owned Australian Property Monitors.

  The CEO of Australia’s largest independently-owned mortgage broker, Mortgage Choice, says the latest ABS housing finance data* highlights that warnings of interest rate rises are having a dampening effect on home loan demand.

The August ABS Housing Finance report 5609.0 shows a reduction in both the number and value of housing finance for investment housing, while the value remained steady for owner occupied housing finance. The total value of dwelling commitments dropped 1.3% from July to August 2010.

The number of owner occupied loans increased 1.0% and the number of loans for the purchase of established dwellings increased 1.4%. However, the number of loans for the purchase of new dwellings dropped 2.0% and the number of loans for the construction of dwellings dropped 1.0%.

Mortgage Choice CEO Michael Russell said, “It is no secret that winter delivered a slowed pace for housing finance demand, particularly from investors.”

“There is no doubt the Reserve Bank’s hold on the cash rate will shortly come to an end. What is just as worrying for potential and existing borrowers is how lenders will react to the news.

“To counteract any out of cycle rate movements, potential borrowers need to factor in higher loan repayments, create a savings buffer as early as possible and research their loan options thoroughly. It is important to know all the ins and outs before entering the mortgage maze.

“Some good news is that we have witnessed a dozen or so lenders announce product changes over the past couple of months. In a further sign that lender competition for home loans is rapidly returning, some lenders are offering special discounted interest rates and higher loan to value ratios.

“With a close eye on interest rates, potential and existing borrowers need to knuckle down now to prepare for rises by assessing their household budget, repayment strategy and the suitability of any home loan.

“A professional mortgage broker will introduce a borrower to a range of options, work to secure interest rate or fee discounts and put forward a solid case for loan approval. These are major reasons why 40% of all new home loans in Australia are sourced through brokers.

“Looking forward to the spring housing finance data, we will be keen to see if demand heats up.”

*All figures quoted are seasonally adjusted.

Source: www.australianhousehunters.com.au