Ex Wizard boss Paul Ryan says the banking inquiry provides an opportune time for consumers to demand a better deal... Home-buying frenzy in Sydney gnaws at efforts to contain risk...
'Put the blow torch back on the big four': ex Wizard boss
Paul Ryan, who was a co-founder of Wizard Home Loans, says it's time for consumers to drive change within the industry and to shop around if their bank doesn't provide a better deal.
“If nothing else comes from this Banking Inquiry - it provides an opportunity for a rising tide of people power to begin a conversation with their lenders about better services," says Ryan.
Ryan said the Inquiry should be used as a lightning rod for Australian mortgage holders and small business owners to put the blow torch back on the big four banks.
“With the big banks under the microscope in Canberra, now is the time for customers to be voting with their feet and demanding a better deal,” he said. “It’s clear that any real change has to be driven by consumers - not the hot air coming out of Parliament House or the vested interests of the big four banks.
“It’s high time for consumers to start shopping around. There are so many more options available” he said. “If consumers wait for a seismic shift to be led by Government or the major banks - we’ll be waiting a lifetime."
Home-buying frenzy in Sydney gnaws at efforts to contain risk
(Bloomberg) -- Policymakers say efforts to rein in the runaway housing market are working. But on the ground there’s a fresh bidding frenzy, as fiberboard shacks fit for demolition and miles from downtown Sydney go for almost A$1 million ($760,000).
A lack of houses in and around the city, the epicenter of the property boom, is pushing up prices again even after banks last year tightened mortgage lending. Some buyers are snapping up homes they’ve never seen, worried it might be their last chance to own a patch of land, said Peter Baldwin, the chief auctioneer at real estate agency Richardson & Wrench for 27 years.
“It’s all guns blazing again,” said Baldwin, who’s never seen fewer properties for sale in spring, a season when home hunters are usually spoiled for choice. The shortage “will just keep this market humming along.’’
A three-year surge in home prices paused at the end of 2015 after banks raised mortgage rates to offset the cost of holding more capital. The market is taking off again as a growing population tries to squeeze into too few properties, posing a potential headache for new central bank Governor Philip Lowe.
House prices in Sydney are up 14 percent this year through September, compared with 9 percent across the nation’s major cities, according to CoreLogic Inc., defying an assessment by real-estate listing firm Domain last year that the boom was over. Dwelling values in Sydney have now almost doubled since the end of 2008.
Paul Ryan, who was a co-founder of Wizard Home Loans, says it's time for consumers to drive change within the industry and to shop around if their bank doesn't provide a better deal.
“If nothing else comes from this Banking Inquiry - it provides an opportunity for a rising tide of people power to begin a conversation with their lenders about better services," says Ryan.
Ryan said the Inquiry should be used as a lightning rod for Australian mortgage holders and small business owners to put the blow torch back on the big four banks.
“With the big banks under the microscope in Canberra, now is the time for customers to be voting with their feet and demanding a better deal,” he said. “It’s clear that any real change has to be driven by consumers - not the hot air coming out of Parliament House or the vested interests of the big four banks.
“It’s high time for consumers to start shopping around. There are so many more options available” he said. “If consumers wait for a seismic shift to be led by Government or the major banks - we’ll be waiting a lifetime."
Home-buying frenzy in Sydney gnaws at efforts to contain risk
(Bloomberg) -- Policymakers say efforts to rein in the runaway housing market are working. But on the ground there’s a fresh bidding frenzy, as fiberboard shacks fit for demolition and miles from downtown Sydney go for almost A$1 million ($760,000).
A lack of houses in and around the city, the epicenter of the property boom, is pushing up prices again even after banks last year tightened mortgage lending. Some buyers are snapping up homes they’ve never seen, worried it might be their last chance to own a patch of land, said Peter Baldwin, the chief auctioneer at real estate agency Richardson & Wrench for 27 years.
“It’s all guns blazing again,” said Baldwin, who’s never seen fewer properties for sale in spring, a season when home hunters are usually spoiled for choice. The shortage “will just keep this market humming along.’’
A three-year surge in home prices paused at the end of 2015 after banks raised mortgage rates to offset the cost of holding more capital. The market is taking off again as a growing population tries to squeeze into too few properties, posing a potential headache for new central bank Governor Philip Lowe.
House prices in Sydney are up 14 percent this year through September, compared with 9 percent across the nation’s major cities, according to CoreLogic Inc., defying an assessment by real-estate listing firm Domain last year that the boom was over. Dwelling values in Sydney have now almost doubled since the end of 2008.
