NEWS
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By Anita Marshall
October 1, 2009
Word About Facebook Well, keeping in line with modern methods of communication - AFS is now a member of Facebook. If you are facebook fan then do a search on Advanced Finance Solutions and become a fan/make comments/read our posts. If you are not a member of facebook then create a profile and join this wonderful social network - a few of us are self confessed addicts! www.facebook.co Word from Anita AFS are proud to announce that Jacqui Williams came 2nd in AUSTRALIA in the Australian Mortgage Awards (AMA) Young Gun of the Year Award category. We are so proud just to have had Jacqui in the finals let alone to have come 2nd - congratulations Jacqui. One of Jacqui's clients (Brad) wants to know if that means she now gets to wear a sash to all of her appointments?? With a lot of talk around at the moment about whether or not customers should fix their interest rates, we created a blog about 2 months ago which has been commented on by a few of our clients - www.advancedfin I will be on holidays as of tomorrow until Wedn Jacqui WOW - what a September! As you all know I was one of the finalist at THE AUSTRALIAN MORTGAGE AWARDS - it is like the OSCARS of the finance world. It was absolutely an amazing experience. It was held at the WESTIN - in Sydney. The food, company and honor of being nominated was a night I will not forget. I want to thank all of my very dear and loyal Clients - because without you I would not have made it that far. And a very big thank you to Anita and the wonderful team at AFS, this nomination is a credit to them all as well. THANK YOU! I hope everyone has started their spring Cleaning. Wayne My exciting news is that I am taking two weeks off work from next Monday 5th October - my fantastic personal assistant Kathryn will be holding the fort while I am away and the girls in the office of AFS will be handing all of our existing files. Enjoy October! Property Market Gears up for bumper season - Sept 2009 The property market is gearing up for a bumper season thanks to an influx of stock and the warmer spring weather encouraging buyers to investigate properties and attend open homes and auctions on the weekend. The level of real estate agent activity has risen by 17 percent since the start of June and is 31 percent higher than the same time last year, figures from RP Data revealed. RP Data's director of property research Tim Lawless told Mortgage Business that rental rates have recorded declines in every capital city, except Darwin, over the last three months. "The recent fall in rental rates can be attributed to an ebb in demand as more renters look to buy, take advantage of low interest rates and the boost to the First Home Owners Grant," Mr Lawless said. "With vacancy rates across the nation's capital cities generally below 2.5 per cent, it is highly likely the recent fall in weekly rents will be short lived. Such low vacancies will continue to place upwards pressure on rents over the longer term. "The number of new properties being added to the market place is up 11 per cent since mid-June as the spring selling season starts to ramp up. Over the last month there have been just short of 160,000 individual properties advertised for sale equating to $126 billion of housing stock on the market. "The number of properties being advertised for sale is actually lower than the same time last year reflecting the buildup of stock last year and the subsequent absorbing of stock throughout the second and third quarters of 2009," he said. Article from "Mortgage Business" magazine by Jill Fraser for Lending Central
A selection of 10 Golden Rules for managing your finances - Part 1 About 4 years ago, there was an article in the Sydney Morning Herald that described 10 Golden Rules for managing your finances. We came across the article the other day and were struck by how timeless the rules are, particularly in light of the Global Financial Crisis, so we thought that we would share them with you. They are not the only rules that you should apply when you are managing your finances - but they are worth thinking about. In this edition of Investment News we will describe the first five, and then next week, we will outline the final five.
Next month, we'll look at another five Golden Rules for managing your finances (This article provided by La Trobe Financial Services) Australian Mortgage Arrears Despite continued economic volatility globally mortgage delinquencies have not worsened and overall Australian residential borrowers have kept up their mortgage repayments. Credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings' last report, released this week, reveals that delinquencies have continued their downward trend, decreasing between the first three months of this year and the second quarter. Arrears improved slightly across all sectors except for non?conforming reduced?documen General ongoing arrears stability suggests that peak arrears were reached in the last quarter of 2008 and arrears are not likely to reach those levels again for the remainder of 2009. Fitch's view was that the usual spike in arrears from Q408 to Q109, due to Christmas spending and repayment of credit card debt, did not occur because of a combination of lower interest rates and the first bout of government financial support. Australia has faired better than most other countries during the global financial crisis; however, the influence of contracting global economies further impacting on Australia remains a real possibility. The combined efforts of expansionary fiscal and monetary policy within Australia appear to have had a positive influence in sheltering Australians from the global storm. The sixth cut in the official cash rate to 3% in April 2009 by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has been effective in keeping many borrowers' cost of funds at historical lows. The RBA has indicated in its August 2009 Minutes of the Monetary Policy Board Meeting that it would, in due course, need to adopt a less expansionary policy stance - therefore, the next likely direction in interest rates is up. The increase in arrears for non?conforming reduced?documen They are likely to be feeling the full effects of the economic downturn and related slowing and or failure of their business ventures. Although the increase is relatively large, non?conforming reduced?documen Looking ahead the report says that a number of competing factors will determine borrowers' sentiment as 2009 progresses. There is no expectation that there will be any further expansionary fiscal policy and/or monetary policy for the remainder of 2009; however, unemployment and further global instability will be the key factors for Australian borrowers and policy makers. As reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) the unemployment rate increased to 5.7%, seasonally adjusted in June 2009, dropping back slightly from 5.8% in March 2009. Fitch's sovereign analysts have forecast the Australian unemployment rate to rise to 5.8% during 2009, up to 7% in 2010. Arrears are more likely to increase once interest rates and unemployment both start to increase, which is not expected over the next quarter; however, the risk is there through potentially the latter part of 2009 and into 2010. The real tests for householders to continue paying their loans depends on interest rates and unemployment trends. The RBA is not expected to lift rates at its next meeting in October but many economists have forecasted rate rises before the year's end.
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Kind Regards, Advanced Finance Solutions Email - afsmortgage@bigpond.com Managing Director - Anita Marshall Ph 0429810906 Mortgage Broker Contact Details: Mortgage Planner - Jacqui Williams P Mortgage Planner - Tim Jennings Ph 0417263912 Mortgage Planner - Susan Chevis Ph 0413245224 Mortgage Planner - Wayne Dickerson Ph 0411514913
Mortgage Planner - Danni Toshack Ph 0407787597 Mortgage Planner - Ross Lovegrove Ph 0429921096
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