Interest Rates

http://www.rba.gov.au/

6 March 2012

At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 4.25 per cent.

Statement by Glenn Stevens, Governor: Monetary Policy Decision

Interest Rates

The Reserve Bank is again expected to leave rates untouched when it meets tomorrow.

The RBA board will meet tomorrow following a surprise rate hold in February. This time, analysts are tipping the Reserve to leave the cash rate at 4.25%, saying the central bank is “relaxed and comfortable”.

In its last statement on monetary policy, the RBA board showed an optimistic outlook for economic growth, and indicated conditions would have to “weaken materially” before rates would be cut again. TD Securities economist Annette Beacher told News Ltd the Reserve Bank board appeared at ease with current economic conditions.

“The RBA is now projecting a relaxed and comfortable demeanour,” Beacher said.

Westpac, which has been predicting a further two rate cuts in the months ahead, conceded that the RBA was “widely expected” to leave rates on hold in March.

“The bank expects growth to be close to trend over the next couple of years and that inflation will remain consistent with the target over the forecast period. On the global front, the bank highlights recent positives, while citing Europe as the major downside risk to the outlook,” the bank said.

In spite of the expectation that the Reserve Bank will not move tomorrow, Westpac has argued that further monetary easing is needed.

“Locally, economic growth is relatively job poor and the high Australian dollar is acting to tighten monetary conditions. This suggests labour market trends will disappoint,” the bank said.

courtesy of Australian Broker News

Home Sales Prices for 2012

Melissa Beaumont Lee: Melissa Beaumont Lee for the Finance News Network. Joining me to discuss the 2012 property market outlook is First National Real Estate CEO, Ray Ellis. Ray welcome back.

Ray Ellis: Pleasure to be here Melissa.

Melissa Beaumont Lee: First up, can you explain how the report is put together and who you survey?

Ray Ellis: Well we survey our 450 offices throughout Australia which covers from Broome to Hobart to Cairns, and our offices there gather local information of how they see the market going in their area. We then compile that as a national report. So rather than being an overview of Australia, it’s actually specifically detailed as to what is happening in your viewers’ area.

read more

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Mortgage Lending

Nearly two-thirds of Australians believe there isn’t enough competition in banking, and say they would consider looking outside the majors for a mortgage.

A new survey from Citibank has found 65% of respondents believe the banking sector suffers from a lack of competition. The Citi-Fin Q survey also found Australians gloomy on property prospects, with 63% saying home owneship will be outside the grasp of the next generation.

Citibank director of mortgages Vibha Coburn chose to find positives in the results.

“Despite the doom and gloom from our survey respondents, I believe the fact that Australians will look at mortgage providers outside the big four when choosing their home loan is a positive sign,” she said.

The survey also found consumer attitudes toward home ownership are changing. Eleven per cent of respondents said they had moved or downsized in the previous 12 months to lower their expenses, and 62% said that they have adjusted their expectations regarding their “dream home” due to the high cost of housing.

“We’re seeing a trend where customers might sacrifice the size of a property to live in a particular location or vice versa. This could mark a return to eras gone by when first homebuyers bought an entry-level property with the aim of upgrading to another, larger property or a property in another area,” Coburn said.

How to Sell Your Home

How to sell your home using social media, Twitter, Facebook, Blog

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BREAKING: ANZ finalises RBA divorce

ANZ today made official its break with the Reserve Bank by raising its mortgage rates.

The bank last year indicated it would no longer be bound to the official cash rate, with ANZ Australia chief Philip Chronican saying the bank would make rate announcements the second Friday of each month.

ANZ made good on the promise today by lifting its standard variable rate by 0.06% to 7.36%. But while taking with one hand, the bank gave with the other, cutting its three-year fixed rate by 15bps to 5.99%.

The announcement comes just a day after Bank of Queensland vowed it would not lift rates until at least next month. NAB has also indicated it is intent on maintaining the lowest SVR among the majors.

Story courtesy of Australian Broker News

Mortgage Interest Rates

Europe a concern, but rates don’t rate with Gen Y.

Europe has been tipped as the major factor influencing Gen Y’s financial decisions, while interest rates failed to cause concern.

A Loan Market poll has found that Gen Y are the more likely generation to cite the Eurozone situation as the factor most impacting their financial decisions over 2012. Seventy-four per cent of Gen Y respondents tipped Europe as the greatest factor impacting their confidence, compared to 61% of the total survey respondents.

read more http://www.brokernews.com.au/news/newsletter/122158/

Interest Rates

Govenor Glenn Stevens advised cash rate to remain unchanged at 4.25% http://www.rba.gov.au/

Buying a Home ???

Home buying may be showing some “tentative signs” of recovery, but an expected rise will not break the downward trend.

Westpac’s forecast ahead of official ABS housing approval numbers due this week has called for a 2% rise for December. But the bank’s chief economist, Bill Evans, does not believe this will break the downtrend seen through much of last year.

“December is still too early for an unambiguously positive response to rate cuts. Even in interest rate sensitive sectors like housing these usually take several months to impact,” he said.

Evans suggested that “patchy sentiment” and consumer wariness woulld hamper any response to the RBA rate cuts in November and December. Even a massive 8.4% upturn in approvals for November left “a firm downtrend in place” for housing, Evans said.

“Overall, we expect a 2% rise in December, another positive but only enough to lessen – not break – the downtrend,” he said.

This article is courtesy of Broker News