Deportation is on pause for a citizen of Samoa who came to New Zealand for a choir performance on a short-term visa but stayed for 27 years – marrying, having children, and serving a prison sentence within that time. The 53-year-old…
Category Archives: headline
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What Aussie house prices will do under the new government
A new federal government under Anthony Albanese will only have minor impact on Australia's housing market compared to soaring interest rates and low supply, experts have warned.
Albanese and the Labor Party won the 2022 Federal Election by campaigning on a ticket of addressing the rising cost of living, which included a housing policy that proposed the federal government sharing up to 40 per cent of a property's purchase price with first homebuyers.
Despite this, the policy is capped at a maximum of 10,000 places – a figure that experts say is not high enough to have a material impact on the market.
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"Home ownership is likely to be in focus, but the ALP's proposed Shared Equity Scheme is set to be capped at 10,000 places per annum, so unless that is changed or there are widespread first homeowner grants rolled out across the country that alone won't be a market mover," said BuyersBuyers founder Pete Wargent.
"Housing market demand is more likely to be driven by employment and wage growth. Employment and job vacancies are both at record highs, so there's a genuine prospect that the unemployment rate can fall towards 3 per cent over the year ahead".
"The challenge will be whether that can be sustained as interest rates rise, but overall the labour market fundamentals are presently in a very strong shape."
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Tim Lawless, Research Director at property data firm CoreLogic, says while the ALP's "help to buy" scheme will give some first timers a leg up into the market, it only addresses the symptom of housing affordability.
"Being able to share up to 40 per cent of the purchase price with the government, along with only a small deposit and opportunity to save on lenders mortgage insurance, helps to overcome several of the hurdles of home ownership," he said.
"Keeping in mind buyers will still have to fund their transactional costs, including stamp duties, legal costs and bank fees."
Wargent said a Labor government will still have to deal with the fundamental supply and demand variables of the Australian property market.
"There is a looming challenge around housing supply. Nationally, rental vacancy rates have plummeted to around 1 per cent as employment has surged to a record high," he said.
"Rental vacancy rates in many parts of the country are at levels associated with a rental crisis. Indeed, asking rents for houses have jumped 10 to 20 per cent over the past year, and more in some regional locations.
"It's not yet clear how the new government will plan to tackle this from a policy perspective. A vacancy tax may be effective but could be considered a radical move for a newly formed government."
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Chief Economist at AMP Capital Shane Oliver said while the government's proposed policies will help, the benefit on the market as a whole will only be "marginal".
"The construction of 30,000 social homes combined with the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council if appropriately focused on boosting supply have the potential to help improve housing affordability," he said.
"It's marginal though.
"The main impact on home prices will likely from come rising interest rates (which would have occurred whoever won the election) which we see driving prices down by 10-15 per cent over the next 18 months and may prove to be a headwind for prices thereafter."
The information provided on this website is general in nature only and does not constitute personal financial advice. The information has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information on this website you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.
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Man left wounded, pet killed during horrific dog attack
A man who was left with grisly bite wounds and saw his pet cavoodle killed during a horrific dog attack has called on the owner of the offending pit bulls to turn himself in.
Patrick Crisostomo, from Westmeadows in Melbourne's north, was walking his dog along the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail in Jacana last Thursday when he was approached by two off-leash pit bulls at around 5.45pm.
The two dogs attacked Crisostomo and his dog, Kevy, a 15-year-old cavoodle, who was killed in the attack.
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Crisostomo suffered multiple bite wounds as he used his body to shelter Kevy from the attack.
He spent the night at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and needed stitches.
"For me, the most painful thing is the mental anguish," he said.
The two attacking dogs are described as being stocky with a medium build. One is brown, the other is white.
Police say the owner of the attacking dogs is believed to be Middle Eastern in appearance, with a medium build, aged in his late 30s, with short dark hair.
He was wearing a brown jacket at the time.
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Crisostomo said the owner of the two dogs attempted to hit the animals with a stick to stop the vicious attack.
He urged the owner to come forward.
"I just want justice because this guy walked away and he knew someone was hurt badly and knew my dog was dead. This could happen to anyone," Crisostomo said.
"Don't make it any worse for yourself, turn yourself in and we know you will be found.
"We will do anything we can to seek justice, we just want closure for our family."
Police are appealing for any witnesses around the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail area around the same time to come forward, and for any information that may assist in identifying the owner and his two dogs.