Lenders can now check your bank transactions against the living expenses you declare, and APRA's 3 percentage point buffer hasn't moved. Here's how much harder that makes it to borrow what you expect.
Family money now helps a large share of first-home buyers into the market through gifts, guarantor loans and more. Here is how each works, and what it costs.
Offset accounts and redraw facilities both reduce the interest you pay — but they're taxed differently, and the gap matters most when you convert your home to a rental property.
After a third consecutive hike took the RBA cash rate back to 4.35% in May 2026, the fixed-vs-variable question has reopened. Variable still wins the new-loan data; more than a third of mortgage holders say they plan to fix this year.
As the Reserve Bank lifts the cash rate to 4.35% in its third consecutive hike, brokers continue to dominate Australia's home loan market — settling 76.7% of new mortgages worth a record $142.2 billion in the December 2025 quarter.
Rising interest rates reshaped Australian property investment. Now, with the RBA cutting and yields shifting, capital is moving — out of the capitals, into the regions, and toward asset classes that weren't on most investors' radar two years ago. Here's where the money is going in 2026.
