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Aussie suburbs where you can buy with a $100k deposit or less
Despite Australia's booming property market, it remains possible to purchase a home with a 20 per cent deposit worth $100,000 or less in every state and territory in the country.
New data from mortgage broker Aussie revealed there are 3960 suburbs across Australia where buyers could purchase a free-standing home and avoid lenders mortgage insurance by having a deposit above 20 per cent.
Sorted by popularity per state or territory, the suburbs where potential owners can buy with a $100,000 deposit or less include Box Hill in NSW, Heidelberg West in Victoria and Carina in Queensland.
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A full breakdown of the suburbs – and the deposits required on average to buy – can be seen below.
First homebuyers frequently report the hardest part of purchasing a home is saving for the deposit, which is in many situations a more difficult task than servicing the mortgage of the purchased property.
Brad Cramb, CEO of Distribution at Aussie, said there are options for first-time buyers who do not have the required 20 per cent deposit to avoid lenders mortgage insurance.
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"You don't always need to have a 20 per cent deposit to buy a home. There are 5 per cent and 10 per cent home loan options where you can have a guarantor, access government support such as the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme, or pay Lenders' Mortgage Insurance, which could form part of your home loan option," Mr Cramb said.
"According to our Aussie data, close to one in five borrowers have secured a home loan with LMI in the past 12 months, helping them get their foot on the property ladder sooner.
"Some banks and lenders even offer LMI discounts or special offers, and for some professions, they can also waive LMI, so it's worth speaking to a mortgage broker to see if this could be an option for you."
A full breakdown of the data, including what suburbs may be affordable to you, can also be seen on Aussie's new Suburb Spotter Map.
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Mr Lamb said many buyers were willing to "suburb compromise" – that is move slightly outside their intended location – in order to get their foot on the market.
"In a competitive market it's important to do your homework, including considering where you might be willing to make compromises, researching suburbs where you could afford to buy a home in, and organising pre-approval," Mr Cramb added.
"Having pre-approval is also important, so when the right property comes up on the market, you can make an offer with confidence."
Most viewed suburbs for a house requiring a deposit of $100,000 or less
- New South Wales: Box Hill (10 per cent: $61,150), and Wyee (20 per cent: $83,000)
- Victoria: Heidelberg West (10 per cent: $75,000) and Dallas (20 per cent: $100,000)
- Queensland: Carina (10 per cent: $75,050) and Acacia Ridge (20 per cent: $90,500)
- South Australia: Adelaide (10 per cent: $70,525) and Ascot Park (20 per cent: $96,200)
- Western Australia: Scarborough (10 per cent: $78,200) and Nollamara (20 per cent: $79,000)
- Tasmania: Kingston (10 per cent: $63,050) and Glenorchy (20 per cent: $96,000)
- Northern Territory: Ludmilla (10 per cent: $56,200) and Bakewell (20 per cent: $93,200)
- Australian Capital Territory: Phillip (10 per cent: $56,650)
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.
One of the oldest coal-fired power stations in NSW demolished
One of the oldest coal-fired power stations in New South Wales has been demolished.
The chimney towers have been a recognisable part of the skyline in the state's Central Tablelands since the Wallerawang Power Station opened in May 1957.
But today the two 175-metre tall smokestacks and a boiler house erected during the region's coal mine boom have been flattened.
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The power station in Lithgow once provided up to 15 per cent of the state's power before it was closed down in 2014.
The site is being repurposed to build a large battery to help NSW transition to renewable energy.
Man allegedly stabbed in road rage incident in Perth
A 52-year-old man is recovering after he was allegedly stabbed during a road rage fight in Perth.
Dashcam video of the incident on the Tonkin Highway at Wattle Grove shows punches being exchanged by two drivers.
The vision appears to show the two men arguing, before one tries to leave.
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The other man appears to then pin his body, leading to an exchange of blows.
The 52-year-old drove away a short distance before realising he had been allegedly stabbed.
Police Minister Paul Papalia said the alleged attack was "deplorable".
"The person who's been injured has been impacted severely," he said.
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The alleged attacker's car was boxed in by witnesses, preventing him from leaving.
Police said the incident was sparked after an attempted merge involving the cars erupted into dangerous driving across multiple lanes.
The alleged attacker was charged with grievous bodily harm and reckless driving.
He did not apply for bail in court yesterday.
Doorbell footage captures arrest of Waukesha murder suspect
Footage from a home doorbell captures the alleged Waukesha murderer moments after he allegedly crashed into a Christmas parade that killed five people.
Darrell Brooks Jr was seen in the footage ringing a stranger's doorbell and asking for help.
"I caught an Uber, and I'm supposed to be waiting for it over here, but I don't know when it's coming. Can you call it for me please," Mr Brooks Jr said.
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"I'm homeless."
Police eventually showed up to arrest Mr Brooks Jr and can be heard asking the resident whether he knew the suspect.
"Put your hands up, your hands where I can see them," police yelled to Mr Brooks.
"Did you know this guy?" police asked the resident.
"Absolutely not," he responded.
Mr Brooks Jr was free on $1000 bail posted just two days before the deadly event.
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That fact is leading to a review of what happened and renewed calls for giving judges more power to set higher bails.
One pending case against Darrell Brooks Jr included an allegation that he deliberately hit a woman with his car in early November after a fight.
Prosecutors in Milwaukee County on Monday called their bail recommendation "inappropriately low" given the facts of that case and the Sunday crash, and said they would review it.
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Julius Kim, a defence attorney and former assistant prosecutor, said the bail could easily have been set more than twice as high.
"He was accused of running over the mother of his kid, and to put it at US$1000 ($1385) strikes me as low," Mr Kim said.
"It could have been an inexperienced attorney who happened to be reviewing cases that day."
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Police said Mr Brooks, 39, was behind the wheel of the SUV that sped through the parade route in Waukesha on Sunday, killing five and injuring 48 others.
Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said Mr Brooks was leaving the scene of a domestic dispute that had taken place just minutes earlier.
Mr Brooks has been charged with crimes 16 times since 1999 and had two outstanding cases against him at the time of the parade disaster.
That included resisting or obstructing an officer, reckless endangering, disorderly conduct, bail jumping and battery for the November 2 incident.
Mr Thompson said police were going to recommend he face five charges of first degree intentional homicide, which is punishable by life in prison. He was to appear in court Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday morning AEDT).
READ MORE: Five murder charges after Christmas Parade horror
Legal experts cautioned one extreme case should not be reason to push for higher bail amounts that would keep poorer defendants behind bars longer while they await trial.
"We don't want to have a kneejerk reaction here and say 'Let's lock up a lot of people pretrial," said John Gross, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and also director of its Public Defender Project.
"I'm sure the district attorney's office is going to look back at this and ask themselves, 'Did we get this wrong?'
"This is such an extreme incident … could they reasonably expect he would get behind a vehicle and run people down on a parade route?
"What would have alerted you to the capacity he would have had for this kind of violence?"
Some Republicans were quick to jump on the case as an example of a broken legal system.
Republican Rebecca Kleefisch, a former Wisconsin lieutenant governor who is running for governor in 2022, called the killings "yet another avoidable tragedy that occurred because a violent career criminal was allowed to walk free and terrorise our community."
Republican state Representative Cindi Duchow said she was reintroducing a constitutional amendment that would change the bail process in Wisconsin to allow judges to consider a defendant's danger to the community when setting bail.
Judges currently are only allowed to consider the possibility that defendants might not show up for a court appearance when setting bail.
"He tried to run over his girlfriend with his car — that's attempted murder," Ms Duchow said.
"If you're a danger to society, you should have to work hard to get out."
Mr Thompson, the police chief, said there was no evidence the bloodshed Sunday was a terrorist attack or that Mr Brooks knew anyone in the parade. Mr Brooks acted alone, the chief said.
The suspect had left the site of the domestic disturbance before officers arrived, and was not being chased by police at the time of the crash, according to the chief, who gave no further details on the dispute.
Mr Brooks is an aspiring rapper. On a YouTube page, a video that has since been removed showed him rapping in front of a red Ford SUV resembling the one at the parade. The rapper uses the name MathBoi Fly on his Twitter and other social media accounts.
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On Sunday, a joyous scene of marching bands and children dancing in Santa hats and waving pompoms gave way in an instant to screams and the sight of crumpled bodies as the SUV sped through barricades and struck dancers, musicians and others in the community of 72,000.
Police identified those killed as Virginia Sorenson, 79; LeAnna Owen, 71; Tamara Durand, 52; Jane Kulich, 52; and Wilhelm Hospel, 81.
Ms Sorenson, Ms Owen and Ms Durand were members of the Dancing Grannies club, and Hospel helped out with the group.
"It looked like dummies being thrown in the air," said Nicole Schneiter, who was there with her children and grandchildren.
"It took a second to register, like, 'Is that what we really just saw?' And then you looked in the road and there were just people laying in the road."
At least nine patients, most of them children, were in critical condition Monday at two hospitals, and seven others were reported in serious condition.
Hundreds gathered at a downtown park Monday night in Waukesha, Wisconsin, for a candlelight vigil in honour of those lost and hurt.
A pair of clergy solemnly read the names of those who died. Volunteers handed out sandwiches, hot chocolate, and candles at the vigil, which was attended by interfaith leaders and elected officials.
"We are parents. We are neighbours. We are hurting. We are angry. We are sad. We are confused. We are thankful. We are all in this together. We are Waukesha Strong," said a tearful Amanda Medina Roddy with the Waukesha school district.
The chief said police weren't pursuing Mr Brooks before he entered the parade route, but n officer did fire a shot to try to stop him. The officer stopped firing because of the danger to others. Mr Brooks was not injured.
Gabby Petito's fiance's cause of death revealed in US
The partner of slain US woman Gabby Petito, Brian Laundrie, died by suicide, an attorney for the Laundrie family has told CNN.
"Chris and Roberta Laundrie have been informed that … the manner of death was suicide," said attorney Steven Bertolino.
Laundrie's remains were found in a Florida nature reserve last month after a weeks-long manhunt.
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He disappeared just days after his fiancée Gabby Petito was reported missing.
The couple had been traveling across the country in a converted van and documenting their travels on social media.
The case gained national attention as authorities searched for both.
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Laundrie returned to his parents house in Florida on September 1 without Ms Petito.
As police were trying to question the family about Ms Petito's whereabouts, Laundrie went missing on September 13 or 14 after leaving home with a backpack, according to his parents.
Ms Petito's remains were found in Wyoming on September 19.
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Her death was ruled a homicide by manual strangulation.
Laundrie's remains were found in an area of the park that had been under water during previous searches of the 25,000-acre nature reserve in North Port, Florida.
If you need help in a crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
For further information about depression, contact beyondblue on 1300 224 636 or talk to your GP, local health professional or someone you trust.
DFAT moves back to 'pre-COVID settings' for overseas Australians
The department responsible for helping Australians overseas is winding back some of its services to pre-COVID settings after removing thousands from the list of people wanting to return.
The move is a recognition of Australia's reopening borders, an increase in commercial flights and improving global vaccination rates.
But it comes at a time when thousands are still stranded overseas, thanks mostly to vaccination recognition issues or their home state or territory's border policy.
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The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it would still operate repatriation flights in the coming months to help the roughly 7500 Australians still registered as wanting to return home.
But a special portal for Australians overseas to express their need to get home has been shut to new registrations and travellers and expats are being directed to instead contact their closest embassy or consulate if they need help.
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"The temporary registration portal was established in the context of Australia's COVID-19 border settings," a DFAT spokesperson said in a statement.
"The process of expressing an interest in seeking consular assistance is now reverting to pre-COVID settings.
"From today (21 November), people departing Australia will no longer be able to register on DFAT's COVID-19 registration portal."
Marijk Smit, who along with husband Steven is stranded because China's Sinopharm vaccine is only recognised by Australian authorities for those under 60, said the list had never reflected the full number of people wanting to return.
READ MORE: Five murder charges after Christmas Parade horror
"There are still quite a few people that can't get home and if they kept the registration open, I think … the number would continue to be high for a while," she told 9News.com.au.
"This number, I think, has been embarrassing for the Government, and it is hard not to see this as a quite cynical attempt to make them look better.
"Many people still can't get back, because of states not letting them in, or the wrong vaccine such as Sputnik."
In late October, about 20,000 people were culled from a list of Australians wanting to return home that numbered more than 45,000 at one point.
READ MORE: Air New Zealand cancels more than 1000 flights
It's understood this was one of several reviews conducted by the department over the course of the pandemic in which overseas Australians were removed from the list if they didn't confirm they still needed help to get home.
In one recent email, the department asked people to give as much information as possible as to why they couldn't get back, including a lack of vaccine access or commercial flight options.
The DFAT spokesperson said the department had run 209 flights during the pandemic, helping about 32,000 Australians return home, and on Sunday about 75000 were still registered.
"Many Australians who were previously registered are no longer seeking government assistance to return, including those who are now returning via commercial flights," they said.
"DFAT has repeatedly contacted Australians abroad registered as wanting to return to get the most up-to-date understanding of their intentions and their need for support from the government."
Saddlers spill Guinness in Constituency #7 Domino League Best of the Rest eliminations
Peter Ngũnjiri
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Saddlers spill Guinness in Constituency #7 Domino League Best of the Rest eliminations
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, November 23, 2021 (MMS-SKN) — In hotly contested games at the elimination stage in the 26th edition of Constituency Number Seven Dr the Hon Timothy Harris Domino League on Monday November 22, two teams fell through the cracks and have lost the race for the top position in the Best of the Rest competition.
In the games that were played at the new Lodge-Ottley’s Community Centre, one of the two teams from Constituency Number Six taking part in the 14-team tournament, Saddlers Domino Club captained by Keith Eddy, return the best results by beating Guinness Domino Club 13-9.
The feat has given the team a bye in the next round of Best of the Rest competition playoffs which will continue tomorrow evening, Wednesday November 24.
In the second game of the evening, Unstoppable Domino Club captained by Samuel ‘Nokie’ Wilson lived up to its name by managing to stop Small Corner Bar Domino Club with a 13-11 beating.
According to the Constituency Number Seven Domino League’s PRO, Allington ‘Leggy’ Berridge, who is also the Captain of Phillips Domino Club, his team will play Unstoppable Domino Club tomorrow, November Wednesday 24. The winning team will meet Saddlers Domino Club, which received a bye, either on Thursday November 25 or on Monday November 29.
Constituency Number Seven Dr the Hon Timothy Harris Domino League, which is the longest running such league in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, is sponsored by Prime Minister and Area Parliamentary Representative for St. Christopher Seven (Bellevue to Ottley’s), Dr the Hon Timothy Harris.
Second round in a best-of-three games semi-finals of the 26th edition of the league will take place tonight, Tuesday November 23, starting at 7:00 p.m. at the same venue. Former champion team Unity Domino Club will come up against Sylvers Domino Club, and defending champion team Tabernacle Domino Club will face Mansion Domino Club.
Unity Domino Club and Mansion Domino Club will come to the tables with an added advantage having won their first best-of-three games encounters. If they win, they will sail into the finals, but should either Tabernacle Domino Club and/or Sylvers Domino Club win tonight, it will call for a third game tiebreaker that will come into play on Thursday, November 25.
The post Saddlers spill Guinness in Constituency #7 Domino League Best of the Rest eliminations appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
REUTERS WORLD VIEW: US Gasoline Prices, 45 Killed in Bulgaria Bus Crash, Jury Gets Arbery Murder Case, More
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FILE PHOTO: A sign at a gas station in San Diego, California, November, 9, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Blake
BUSINESSThe United States will release 50 million barrels of crude from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help cool oil prices, that will start hitting the market in mid- to late-December. The release is being in made concert with other releases from strategic reserves by China, India, South Korea, Japan and Britain Investors are betting that newly renominated Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will need to step up the pace at which the central bank is normalizing monetary policy to better grapple with surging consumer prices. Powell is the best person for finance’s worst job, says Breakingviews columnist Gina Chon. Turkey’s lira nose-dived nearly 9% after President Tayyip Erdogan defended recent sharp rate cuts and vowed to win his “economic war of independence” despite widespread criticism and pleas to reverse course. Italy’s antitrust authority fined U.S. tech giants Amazon.com and Apple a total of more than $225 million for alleged anti-competitive cooperation in the sale of Apple and Beats products. Facing scarce year-end inventories and a shortage of workers, retailers are turning ‘Black Friday’ into a month-long event. Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, said it had already started discounts, such as $30 off AirPods and KidKraft dollhouses. |
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American Diplomat Assigned ‘Save Haiti’ Challenge
Assistant Secretary of State Todd Robinson has the daunting task of helping Haitians restore their collapsed security — so they can restore their collapsed country.
Sixty-three Haitian migrants arrived in the Florida Keys last week in a ramshackle sailboat after three weeks at sea. More will likely be coming — because on top of Haiti’s other grave crises, violent street gangs have now overrun much of the country.
This month, veteran U.S. diplomat Todd Robinson visited Haiti’s capital. On his way back to Washington, in Miami, he told WLRN that he saw that Haitian reality for himself in Port-au-Prince.
“There are large areas of the city that are frankly under different levels of gang influence,” said Robinson. “I think it’s going to be a real challenge [for] the Haitian National Police to reverse that trend.”
Gangs have been amassing power for years as the Haitian government has all but disappeared amid the chaos that followed the catastrophic 2010 earthquake.
Today gangs control an estimated half of Port-au-Prince, hijacking fuel and kidnapping people for ransom at will. One of them, known as 400 Mawozo, is still holding 15 of the 17 U.S. and Canadian missionaries it abducted last month. Gang violence has forced thousands of Haitians from their homes this past year.
“Haiti is frankly in an unprecedented position,” Robinson said, pointing to the country’s economic implosion, a major earthquake on its southwest peninsula in August and the brutal, still unsolved assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July.
“We have to bring our ‘A’ game on this.”
Robinson — who recently became the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs — bears much of the daunting task of helping Haiti, and its national police, restore public security.
Over the past decade, the U.S. has sent more than $300 million to strengthen Haiti’s feeble law enforcement. On his trip this month, Robinson began delivering $15 million in new aid, including armored vehicles. But Haitian cops will need a lot more than that before they can, as Robinson put it, “take back their country.”
“Absolutely,” he said. “These are things we can achieve with the Haitian National Police, [but] it’s going to take a significant investment on the part of the United States and the international community.”
“We know political, economic, social elites are behind the scenes supporting these gangs. They should be on notice we’ll make it possible for the Haitian justice system to find out who they are,” Todd Robinson
How significant the Biden Administration hasn’t yet said. But the needs are urgent. For one, the U.N. reports gangs are now forcefully recruiting younger Haitians who, thanks to a dearth of economic opportunity, are especially vulnerable.
“Several of the young people we work with might tell you, ‘Oh, yeah, my [family’s] rent I have to pay,’” said Julio Warner Loiseau, who heads a youth assistance nonprofit in Port-au-Prince called Nouvelle Perspective.
“And if [my program] can’t find a job for them, the gangs can just give that money to them — and now they are in the gang!”
Robinson says providing Haitian young people alternatives to gangs will be a key part of his mission — as it was for the U.S. when he was recently Ambassador to Guatemala, one of the countries in Central America where youths fleeing murderous gang recruitment migrate in droves to the U.S.
But Loiseau points out Robinson faces a serious dilemma — one security experts who know Haiti have warned about for years. That is, the gangs — including an alliance of criminal groups run by former Haitian cop Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, who is widely considered the most powerful person in Haiti right now — allegedly have ties to a lot of influential political and business leaders in Haiti.
“The system is so corrupt that a lot of the businessmen and the politicians need those gangs to protect their interests,” said Loiseau. “So a lot of the people Ambassador Robinson’s meeting in Haiti, they don’t want to fix the problem.”
That’s such an open secret in Haiti that Robinson just as openly acknowledged it in his conversation with WLRN.
“We know political, economic, social elites are behind the scenes supporting these gangs,” Robinson said.
“And they should be on notice that we’re going to make it possible for the Haitian justice system to find out who’s supporting them … and there will consequences.”
GUN RUNNING
But many Haitians believe working with Haiti’s current, weak justice system is a dead end.
When Robinson held a meeting with Haitian diaspora community leaders in Miami after his visit to Haiti, a key question they had was: Why doesn’t the U.S. itself identify and sanction, if not indict, corrupt elites in Haiti as aggressively as it has in Cuba, Venezuela or Nicaragua?
“The United States has at its disposal a lot of tools to stop the people who are driving this situation,” said diaspora leader Ariel Dominique, who was at the meeting.
“Whether it’s through the Justice Department, blocking visas, freezing assets, or to stop the flow of arms.”
There has indeed been a lot more smuggling of guns and bullets into Haiti recently — and that’s a big reason the gangs are thriving as monstrously as ever. Haitians like Loiseau insist ramped up arms interdiction has to be the U.S. and international priority right now.
Meanwhile, other Haitians — and some U.S. officials — fear it will take Washington far too long to help Haitian police restore order there. They suggest the only way Haiti can hold vital elections next year, or even the year after, is if U.S. and international troops provide voter protection.
Last month, Haitian Foreign Minister Claude Joseph told the U.N. the “new realities” of gang dominance may require it to return some of the international peacekeeping presence that had been in Haiti until recently.
But a lot of hemispheric security experts warn against putting boots on the ground.
“We have a horrible history with doing that,” said Brian Fonseca, who heads the Gordon Institute for Public Policy at Florida International University.
“Foreign intervention has undermined the evolution of the Haitian state. It’s held back true transition to democratic governance in Haiti.”
Robinson, the diplomat now heading the State Department’s mission to help Haiti rebuild its public security, shares that concern.
“We’ve tried interventions in the past,” he said, “and we are where we are.
“It’s up to the Haitians to take responsibility for their future.”
Even so, the U.S. is finding, once again, it can’t avoid its own responsibility to help Haiti reach that future.
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