Author: Michael Matusik

We all know that the vacancy rate remains tight.  But few realise just how tight it has become.  Of the 1,600 odd postcodes across Australia with rental properties in them, 475 or 30% have a vacancy rate under 1%.  Seven out of ten postcodes have a vacancy rate under 2%, and nine out of ten

There are just over 9 million private dwellings across Australia.  At any one time about 85% or 7.8 million of them are occupied on a full-time basis. Of these 7.8 million occupied dwellings, around a third are owned outright (no mortgage); just over a third are held with a mortgage and just under 30% are

We keep on reading about how low residential vacancies rates are across much of the country.  Ditto on how much rents have risen; and the expectation that they will continue rising, and at the same pace, well into the future. But several sub-measures of the rental market suggest that rental growth is already slowing down.

So what exactly is happening with Australia’s housing finance? Last week’s official statistics – well, more importantly, the media hype & reporting that seems these days to accompany such data – leaves most of us shaking our heads. “Best increase in four years.”  “May’s interest rate cut has immediate impact.”  “Largest ever volume in loans