Archive for March, 2011

There’s no shortage of expenses for a rental property that are usually claimable as a tax deduction with the following list being supplied by Aviate Property Group:

• Advertising for tentants
• Bank charges
• Body corporate fees & charges
• Cleaning
• Council Rates
• Electricity & Gas
• Gardening and Lawn mowing
• In-house audio/video service charges
• Insurance (building, contents, landlords and public liability)
• Interest on Loans
• Land Tax
• Lease document expenses (preparation, registration and stamp duty)
• Legal expenses (excluding acquisition & borrowing costs)
• Mortgage discharge expenses
• Property agent’s fees and commission
• Pest control
• Registration
• Stamp duty
• Quantity Surveyors Fee’s
• Repairs & Maintenance
• Secretarial and bookeeping fees
• Servicing costs : for example a call out fee
• Stationary and postage
• Tax related expenses
• Telephone calls and rental
• Travel and car expenses (Rent collection, inspection and maintenance of property)
• Water charges

You would need to check with your taxation adviser to make sure that this applies to your individual circumstances but this list gives an idea of the expenses that may apply.

Have a look at see if you may be missing out on claiming.

 

There are some good deals in the market at the moment for loans for business purposes:

* Business Purpose from 6.95% (Comparison Rate of 7.00% for new loans less than 70% LVR)

* Cash out to 90% (Max $1Mil)

* Company/Trust Structures

* Nil application fee or account keeping fees

We can provide more information on this at any time.

Note: Comparison Rate calculated on a loan amount $150,000 over a term of 25 years based on monthly repayments. WARNING: This comparison rate applies only to the example or examples given. Different amounts and terms will result in different comparison rates. Costs such as redraw fees or early repayment fees, cost savings such as fee waivers, are not included in the comparison rate but may influence the cost of the loan.

The following reports have just been released by PRD Nationwide. There is a range of information in these reports with some being of particular relevance to South East Queensland.  Hope you enjoy the reading.

Quarterly Property and Economic Report

The Quarterly Economic and Property Report analyses the Australian economy in contrast to most other Research reports. Most research reports analyse the local market or specific topics in property, whereas the Quarterly Economic and Property Report, provides an analysis of the entire Australian Economy. Economic indicators such as interest rates, housing commencements, inflation and home loan lending are considered, with a view as to how these will impact on the property market.

 

Activity Trends in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane

A comparative study of activity trends in property between Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne

 

NSW Northern Beach Towns Highlight Report

This report will provide an overview to the Tweed, Byron and Ballina LGA’s demographics, infrastructure and analyse the beach town property markets inside these LGA’s.

 

Gold Coast and Northern NSW Growth Suburbs

The purpose of this Property Watch report is to assess suburbs on the Gold Coast and northern New South Wales that have the potential to perform positively over the coming year. Suburbs have been chosen based on current pricing levels, infrastructure, current property trends, access to amenities and other factors. In addition, our suburb picks from 2010 have been analysed to check their performance.

 

Brisbane Hot Spots Report

The purpose of this Hotspot report is to identifies suburbs of Brisbane that have the potential to perform over the coming year.

 

Sydney Hot Spots Report

This Property Watch report assesses the suburbs of Sydney that have the potential to perform over the coming year. Suburbs have been chosen based on current pricing levels, infrastructure, property trends, access to amenity and other factors.

 

Ararat Property Watch

This report analyses the current trends and performance of the Ararat Local Government Area (LGA) house and vacant land markets.

 

Ballarat Property Watch

This report analyses the current trends and performance of the Ballarat Local Government Area’s (LGA) house and unit markets. It further highlights the area’s characteristics and demographic trends to provide an understanding of the type of real estate product in demand by the local market.

 

Bankstown LGA Property Watch

This report analyses the property market within the Bankstown LGA. It highlights the area’s characteristics and demographics as well as studying the performance of the real estate market within the region.

 

Geelong Property Watch

This report analyses the current trends and performance of the Geelong Area’s house, unit and vacant land markets. It further highlights the area’s characteristics and trends to provide an understanding of the type of real estate product in demand by the local market.

 

Hastings / Port Macquarie Property Watch

This report analyses the current trends and performance of the Hastings LGA’s house, unit and vacant land markets.

 

Horsham Property Watch

This report analyses the current trends and performance of the Horsham Local Government Area’s (LGA) house, vacant land and unit markets.

 

Maitland LGA Property Watch

The following Property Watch is the result of an investigation into the house and unit markets comprising the residential property market within the Maitland LGA.

 

Northgate Property Watch

The following report investigates the current market trends impacting the house and unit market within Northgate.

 

North West Sydney Property Watch

This report analyses The Hills and Parramatta Local Government Areas (LGAs).

 

St George Property Watch

The following Property Watch is the result of an investigation into the house and unit markets comprising the residential property market within the Hurstville, Kogarah and Rockdale Local Government Areas (LGAs).

 

Sutherland Shire Property Watch

The following Property Watch is the result of an investigation into the house and unit markets within the Sutherland Shire Local Government Area (LGA).

 

Werribee Property Watch

This report analyses the current trends and performance of the Werribee Area’s house, unit and vacant land markets. It includes Werribee’s direct neighbouring suburbs of Tarneit, Hoppers Crossing, Point Cook, Werribee South and Wyndham Vale.

 

The Global Financial Crisis certainly changed the face of Home Loan Lending. It seemed that overnight, many of the rules with lenders were changed and funding became a lot harder to get. The amount that you could borrow against the security property was drastically cut, policies were changed so that the amount of extra income from sources such as overtime, commissions, bonuses and allowances was dramatically cut which substantially reduced the amount that could be borrowed, and lenders started favouring existing clients.

 

Part of this was due to a marked increase in the arrears level which was a carry on effect from the GFC with job losses or overtime cuts. The mining tax and the funding difficulties for major construction also had its effect with many projects halting and again, the flow on meant job losses and less overtime.

 

Low Doc Lending became “dinosaur like” in that previously there was a perception that you could get a Low Doc loan as long as you had a pulse and whilst this may not have necessarily been an accurate assessment, it did provide flexibility. This was removed initially after the GFC and further impacted by the recent introduction of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act where a credit provider is now required to make certain that the borrower can cope with the debt that they are looking at taking on.

 

The start of 2011 has seen a dramatic change for the better. As dramatic as the effects of the GFC were, these have been reversed in many ways because of the increased competition that has returned to the market place following the return of a number of players that did go quiet during the GFC.

 

We have also seen a dramatic reversal of so many of the changes that were introduced after the GFC over the last few months and whilst this is great news for borrowers, the complexity that it has introduced into the home loan market is incredible and has really highlighted the need for professional advice.

 

The differences in policies that exist between lenders are huge and it can have an impact between having a loan approved or declined. Just because it doesn’t meet one lender’s policy, doesn’t mean that they will all say no.

 

In welcome news yesterday, the Reserve Bank of Australia announced that they would be leaving the Official Cash Rate unchanged at 4.75%.

A copy of the announcement by the Reserve Bank can be found here.