Homebuyer Confidence index rises 7.2% to its highest ever level

If you are interested in the property market you should take a look at this link. A very clever report by Genworth.

Genworth is Australia's biggest Mortgage Insurer and their role is to provide insurance to the banks against a loss when a property is sold for less than the loan.

This can be a risky business when you take into account that a new loan can be taken out at 97% of the property purchase price. 3% does not provide a lot of room for mistakes (somewhat ironic today given the Government are now introducing another levy for something the banking system are already well covered for).

An organisation that takes on this much risk must spend a lot of time and money researching and analysing the property market.

http://www.genworth.com.au/streetsahead/

This report gives us a state by state breakdown on the following items.

1. Confidence- up by 7.2%
2. Over 50% of income spent on debt- down by 3%
3. Comfort with debt (when the borrower has less than 20% equity)- up by 4%
4. Has recently experienced mortgage stress- down by 6%
5. Has an expectation of mortgage stress in the near future- down by 10%
6. Good time to buy a home- unchanged (up by 3% in NSW)

Well worth a quick five minute read.

By the way, next week there is going to be a 0.25% cut in interest rates by the RBA next Tuesday (yes I am saying that with a lot of confidence). This only means one thing for home buying confidence!
 
Source; Ian Simpson, Smartline Mortgage Advisor