Sydney and Canberra ease as rental vacancies hold steady nationally

Whether Australia's rental upswing has run its course will become clear this spring, according to SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher (pictured). Asking rents are typically firmest ...

Consumer confidence slump keeps buyers on the sidelines

Australia's consumer confidence remains stuck in a slump, with brokers saying the mood is spilling over into the housing market. The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence report showed ...

First-home buyers sink as older Australians drive a credit rebound

Australia's mortgage market is splitting sharply along generational lines. Equifax's Consumer Market Pulse for August shows Australians aged 56 and over driving a rebound in credit card and personal ...

Regional cashflow plays gain appeal as investor tax rules tighten

Federal budget changes restricting negative gearing to new builds from 1 July 2027 are pushing investor attention toward regional markets where established housing is often the only option, according ...

Queensland overtakes WA as nation's top performing economy

Queensland has taken over as Australia's strongest-performing state economy, unseating Western Australia in the latest CommBank State of the States index, with South Australia the biggest mover of the ...

Lenders stay cautious on rates as RBA's next move remains unclear

The average variable rate for owner-occupiers paying principal and interest now sits at 6.61%, according to Canstar's latest Weekly Rate Wrap-up, with the lowest variable rate on the database at 5.69% ...

Housing Australia unlocks fresh funding for crisis and transitional housing

Government adds $300 million to accelerate crisis housing delivery, as sector data shows how the existing pool has been spent ...

Sellers turn cautious, squeezing supply in Sydney and Melbourne

Vendors are pulling back on listings, reshaping the housing outlook as Sydney and Melbourne diverge from the rest of the ...

More than just interest rates: brokers reveal what's actually moving markets

Markets continue to debate the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) next move. But brokers on the ground say there is more shaping market activity than interest rate expectations alone. Experiences vary ...

Australians won't give up on homeownership despite affordability strain

Borrowing power had already eroded earlier in the year, even before the market's more recent slowdown: Moody's Ratings put ...

outsource Financial launches Fraud Finder to combat document fraud

Aggregator group outsource Financial has launched Fraud Finder, a fraud detection tool aimed at helping brokers spot document ...

Auction clearance rates lift as bidder numbers strengthen for spring

For brokers, rising bidder numbers alongside still-subdued clearance rates suggest market confidence is building in stages.