Hi Everyone – welcome to my Home Loan BLOG!
I get asked a lot of questions everyday about finance, the housing market and general banking – I thought to myself how can I share my thoughts on various finance related matters for anyone who is interested. So for what it is worth –I thought I would start a BLOG to spread the word! So here we are – The InReach Finance BLOG, I hope my BLOG will be able to assist you in either buying your first home or buying additional property for your property portfolio.
Today, I am going to give you my take on this crazy home loan market.
The home loan market in Australia is really a tale of two stories, the west coast and the east coast! The east coast is going great guns (albeit slowing a tad) and us here in the west where it really isn’t. A re-adjustment in the mining sector and several other key sectors suffering confidence issues has meant our once strong economy is no longer that!
As you will appreciate each story has positive and negative aspects for borrowers and sellers. In a hot market (a seller’s paradise) demand pushes prices up meaning you are paying more than you might have to – this means you may have to borrow more! Conversely in a quiet market it is the polar opposite.
Either way for mine, in either market, keep a close eye on how long the property has been on the market this can really give you a good indication of your starting point when you decide to make a move.
The WA market is in unique position, there are many people who are waiting for the market to drop further. In my opinion I not so sure it will. Yes in 2015 the housing market went backwards to the tune of 6%, but fall further? Well, I am not so sure – why, because people have higher mortgages or used equity in their homes to do things, so they can’t! This means buyer will have to meet the market rather than the reverse.
I get asked is what is in store for 2016. Well to finish my first installment with you today here our my 3 tips for 2016 (it will be interesting to review this in 12 months time).
- Confidence will grow – In my humble opinion, 2016 will be a better year than 2015. Now whether this means we will get better managing the current economic conditions or we will see growth in certain industries, I’m not sure many could pick this but I think it will be a combination of both.
- Flat Housing Growth – I expect that housing prices will remain steady rather than the further drop like 2015. Remember losing further ground would mean that we would need to grow double to be just back at 2014’s number!
- Re-Positioning – I wholeheartedly believe that businesses, organisations & industries and reevaluate their market position and begin changing their operations to suit. Banks are doing this with mergers and acquisitions, grocery stores are doing it with other FMCG (fast moving consumer goods). Remember the change will be subtle because as a human race we hate change!
I hope you have enjoyed reading my take where we sit today – like everyone, I would love to see WA prosper, it does make for a great place to be when it does!
Dean