Property news: election, first home buyer deposit guarantee and more

Welcome to this week’s edition of property news!

With one week to go to the election, it’s been a huge week of announcements and other (non-surprises).

On Tuesday, the RBA decided not to change the cash rate, keeping it at 1.5%

Later in the week, Scott Morrison announced his new First Home Buyer deposit guarantee policy, should Liberal win. Talk about throwing a spanner in the works! Labor have also agreed on a plan to help first home buyers save for a deposit.

So after weeks of the media announcing that we may actually be seeing the end of the slowdown, out comes Liberal with another housing policy and the experts just don’t know what to make of it.

'The correction is nearing its end': Property prices will soon be at rock-bottom, says HSBC - it was only last week that this bold announcement appeared in the SMH.

And now….

First-home buyer deposit guarantees likely to push up house prices, economists warn

Throw in the negative gearing policies, and it might just be a wildcard, as this article from Nine says:

Election a wildcard for housing market

From the article:

“This really is a wildcard because nobody really knows what the outcome of changing these policies is going to be," he told AAP, noting the stage of the housing market cycle usually had a bigger impact than a federal election.”

And on news.com.au:

‘Cut in half’: Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces housing market shake-up

In other news:

Private real estate sales can bring benefits but they're not without risks

House prices in western Sydney sneak up in pockets amid wider price downturn

Apartments in James Packer’s Sydney skyscraper snapped up for more than $40 million

Finally, we are proud to advise that our director, Andrew Phanartzis has been selected on the judging panel of the Australian Broking Awards. Is your broker on the list?

Have a great week everybody!