News

Commercial property finance is very poorly understood, and this is a major contributor to poor decisions by investors. The most important thing to know about commercial property loans is that there is no hard and fast rules about factors such as the leverage that is available, costs associated with commercial loans or the lending criteria. In commercial finance everything has to be viewed relative to the strength and size of the particular deal.

If you were to walk down the street and canvas the people who pass by, you’d be hard pressed finding someone who doesn’t have at least one credit card. In fact, most of us have two or three visas and mastercards and on the go at any one time, with varying credit limits and balances.

If it hasn’t happened to you, then it’s likely that you know someone who has ended up stuck with a mortgage that didn’t suit their needs.

As rising interest rates and inflated property prices push the dream of owning a home out of reach of many ordinary Australians, the question must be asked: are we facing an affordability crisis?

Home owners are still refinancing their mortgages, even as the property market remains flat, the latest Bankwest/MFAA Home Finance Index has shown. The Home Finance Index, which surveyed more than 1,139 respondents, revealed that one in four (24.7%) had refinanced their loan in the past two years and 14.2 per cent had refinanced in the previous year, an increase on the previous HFI.