Rates & Credit
Unlock expert property insights and market intelligence
Rates & Credit
Rate hikes and inflation push household strain to a post-pandemic high
A new Misery Index shows borrowing costs and prices now do the damage, not jobs. The question is who carries it.
Rates & Credit
Non-bank lending gets a $1.7bn boost from Macquarie and Citi
A bridging fintech now has more than $1.7bn in debt funding from two big institutions. The harder question is what that means for borrowers and risk.
Rates & Credit
Best interest duty review: cheaper loans aren’t always best
ASIC is reviewing how brokers meet their best interest duty, and the industry says the lowest rate is not always the right loan. The trade-off matters more as rates bite.
Rates & Credit
Trans-Tasman stress test: banks pass, but the gaps matter
Regulators say lenders would keep lending through a deep recession. The test is only as good as what it leaves out.
Rates & Credit
Unemployment rate Australia: 39,000 jobs lost, RBA hike risk grows
A weak jobs print lands days before the RBA meets. It cuts both ways for mortgage holders, and nobody agrees which way.
Rates & Credit
Non-bank lenders investors are turning to as bank limits bite
Property investors are shifting to non-bank lenders after the negative gearing changes. Whether that is smart borrowing or stored-up risk is unresolved.
Rates & Credit
Rate hike mortgage applications: credit shifts from housing to business
House prices sit 3.3% below their March 2026 peak and a further rate rise is tipped for early 2027. Investors are not the only ones pulling back.
Rates & Credit
Mortgage demand drops to a 2022 low, but loan sizes keep climbing
Applications are down almost a fifth in a month, yet first-home buyers are borrowing a record $743,000 on average. Who is still in the market?
Rates & Credit
RBA minutes show the board will wear job losses to beat inflation
Newly released records from the September meeting read tougher than the Governor's public messaging. The question is what that gap means for borrowers.
- Advertisement -
Rates & Credit
Mortgage stress at a 40-year high: the road from strain to forced sale
Repayments are nearing a share of income not seen since 1989, and refinancing is getting harder. What happens next for stretched borrowers?
Rates & Credit
Mortgage stress in Sydney and Melbourne: 450,539 households now in deficit
Cash-flow deficits are spreading beyond the usual hotspots, and a rate rise in September has made the buffer question harder to dodge.
Rates & Credit
Who benefits from higher interest rates as the RBA keeps hiking?
Four hikes have pushed the cash rate to a 15-year high, yet spending is still growing. The reasons say a lot about who is absorbing the pain.
Rates & Credit
Self-employed home loan rates: what a 6.99% offer leaves out
A non-bank lender is advertising 6.99% to self-employed borrowers after the RBA hike. The headline rate is only one line of the cost.
Rates & Credit
Melbourne borrowing capacity is shrinking faster than prices fall
Couples can now chase only 146 Melbourne suburbs, down from 210 in October 2025. Cheaper houses are not the same as cheaper loans.
- Advertisement -
Rates & Credit
Savings Rates Australia Hit 6%: Cash vs Property Now
Deposit rates have cleared 6 per cent for the first time since 2011, but the fine print matters. Does that change when to buy?
Rates & Credit
Fixed vs variable home loan: what the break-even rate is
Fixed rates are climbing faster than variable after the RBA's latest hike. Fixing is a bet on where the cash rate goes next.
Rates & Credit
Cash rate hold at 4.6% to December: what it does and doesn’t mean
A regional lender's economist expects the RBA to sit on 4.6% through year end. Pricing and sentiment suggest a pause will not feel like relief.
Rates & Credit
Suburban rate rise pain: who is squeezed in Sydney and Melbourne
Outer-suburban borrowers took on the biggest loans at the lowest rates. Whether higher repayments turn into forced sales depends on a few numbers.