Interesting moves by the banks

[ol' boy]

I guess it is an attempt to curb the Interest Only Investor loans and secure the much safer Owner lived in homes.
Can't say it is a bad thing, and the banks have been lending like the 80's again of late
Our own son just secured a loan for his first farm for an amount that i never thought would be approved, yet the CBA approved it.
That would never have happened 4 or 5 years ago. Some very scetchy lending, purely based on cheap interest rates, not job security.

I wonder if this latest news will start to knock a few out of the market?

[Uncle Fester]

This comes as a response from concerns of the RBA and now even our sleepy heads in parliament have discovered the term "household debt", at least Scott Morrison is a bit more awake. Turnbull will continue to brush as much as he can under the carpet like he usually does: "Housing affordablity, what me worry?"

However these subtle independent moves from the banks won't go anywhere, just a little extra cash for them.
The investors will continue to drive up prices to nirwana, that is their intention.
It is a wild stock market type ride at the cost of the basic need of life: a roof over your head.

If our hypocritical government were actually serious about affordable housing then they would ban interest only loans together with neg gearing on EXISTING properties.
Tax breaks for investors must be only for NEW constructions. Maybe even provide a tax break for owner occupied new constructions, a kind of own home builders negative gearing on their home loan.
Also foreign buyers should only be allowed to purchase new constructions(I think that was discussed at some stage but it is not applied).
Only then things will get better.

Oh, and as for cheap living in the bush, I have been observing so called 'multiple occupancy' properties in the Norther Rivers hinterland NSW for some time and right now they are going through the roof.
You are basically paying now 250k for a bit of bushland that you don't own, no water, power or sewerage, rough gravel track access, but have the right for a dwelling on it
They were 30-40k mid 1990's.

[ol' boy]

Oh, and as for cheap living in the bush, I have been observing so called 'multiple occupancy' properties in the Norther Rivers hinterland NSW for some time and right now they are going through the roof.
You are basically paying now 250k for a bit of bushland that you don't own, no water, power or sewerage, rough gravel track access, but have the right for a dwelling on it
They were 30-40k mid 1990's.

I just looked at some vacant blocks of land yesterday, in a town, proper bitumen roads and curbing
1000m2 Blocks were $19,000
2000m2 Blocks were $29,000

Here they are:

Kids spend more on a secondhand car!
27 min to a major town (Hamilton)
Plenty of work in the area, wind farms everywhere in that area for good paying work.
45min to pristine beaches and Port Fairy and Warnnambool
Power Available
Town Water
No Traffic
No Paid Parking
No Road Tolls

Home Loan???, you could put it on your Credit Card
Would the Housing Whingers move here? No they would be too busy whinging they cant have it all, looking for a Government hand out.

[gordon_s1942]

One problem is evolving with Rural Living here is a recent Local Council requirement that you must have 4000 square metre block to comply with their Septic Tank requirements UNLESS a house/dwelling is or has been on the block previously.
I am not sure if this is requirement is State wide or just one imposed by our local Council but it will have the effect on Villages like the one I live in where most of the blocks average 2000 square metres.
This area requirement is not applicable IF a sewerage system is available.

Due to drainage problems, the Village of Cullen Bullen is now facing having a sewage system installed to comply with today's Health regulations.
This wont be inexpensive either as the houses are spread over a fair area, not closely grouped together as some Villages are.

[Uncle Fester]

I just looked at some vacant blocks of land yesterday, in a town, proper bitumen roads and curbing
1000m2 Blocks were $19,000
2000m2 Blocks were $29,000

Here they are:

Kids spend more on a secondhand car!
27 min to a major town (Hamilton)
Plenty of work in the area, wind farms everywhere in that area for good paying work.
45min to pristine beaches and Port Fairy and Warnnambool
Power Available
Town Water
No Traffic
No Paid Parking
No Road Tolls

Home Loan???, you could put it on your Credit Card
Would the Housing Whingers move here? No they would be too busy whinging they cant have it all, looking for a Government hand out.

OK, tell all the "Whingers" in Melb/Syd to give up their jobs and move to the 4-5 little properties they might have at that price(for what ever reason) in Penshurst, VIC

... and also totally ignore the fact that they have rather basic looking listings in the 600k range too.

[ol' boy]

1000's of similar places if you look nomeat, i just gave 1 simple example.

[lsemmens]

The biggest problem with some of these cheap rural properties is the lack of facilities in the area. I live in a town of 800, everything except the deli and pubs closes at 5:30 on weekdays and 1200 on Saturday, no Sunday trade. Or nearest petrol station is 10km down the road (if they have petrol - I got caught on Friday they had none) I then had to travel another 10s to the next one. I I need to go to the city, the nearest one is 30Kms away. Public transport? What's that? Child Care? If you can fin a spot? In our area work may be available, but not a lot of it. Again, you might have to travel 50-60km to work requiring a car. Not much for the kids either. I'm happy, I'm retired, but, if I had kids.......

[Uncle Fester]

1000's of similar places if you look nomeat, i just gave 1 simple example.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for decentralisation, away from city molochs and the rat race but tell that to the politicians 'you' voted for
that promote exactly the opposite.
In NSW(former Baird Government) at least, pretty much everything was taken from rural areas and invested in Sydney big time, like
rail infrastructure placed strategically mainly to cause property prices to sky rocket.

No clue about VIC but something is making Melbourne prices tagging along not to far behind.


A few thousand ultra cheap properties away from everything are not going to do anything about the situation of a million or two working families
who have to suffer from out of reach housing if they want to continue to work and not live off welfare.

[ol' boy]

No need to go full country
Thousands and Thousands of 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 garage properties for $270,000 to $350,000 in regional towns of 15,000 people +

Anyway, this is all getting a bit off topic as to why the Banks are acting by themselves

[Uncle Fester]

They are not acting by theselves but following hints from the RBA and Scott Morrison. A selective interest rate rise, that how it is done these days.
The RBA would actually like to lower the rates to stimulate economy(much needed) but the house price bubble has their hands tied behind their backs.
So the banks try to cool things off a little but I am certain this is by far not enough to take any effect in the mindset of these speculators.
What is going on in Sydney right now is panic buying, pathetic at these prices. It is about time these crazy people burn their fingers and things get back to normality.