mortgagee

Chinese money laundering into Australian property is reported to $76.6 Billion in 2015-16 of which $3.36 is reported by AUSTRAC as ‘highly suspicious’ by the Australian money laundering watchdog, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) .The report details that Chinese investors are skirting the system by transferring cash to real estate agents, solicitors and accountants in Australia via multiple small payments through networks of family and friends. In 2015, a report from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) warned “large amounts” of cash were laundered out of China into the Australian real estate market, but under current anti-money laundering regulations, only financial institutions are required to report suspicious transactions.

Click here to view the full article

Date: January 31 - Reviews: 8,767
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Chinese Money Laundering
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

The Australian superannuation industry is reported to be valued at over $2 trillion dollars and is the retirement nest egg for the entire Australia nation.

The apartment oversupply and correction is tipped to trigger an Australia-wide recession, is the Australian Superannuation Fund sector at Risk ? It is well known that many of Australia’s largest super funds have been funding the Australian apartment boom. Despite reaching out to APRA, it is unknown how many Super Funds and SMSF’s have placed Australia’s life savings at risk. This could be two fold. Australian’s love affair with property investment has also created a tsunami of Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSF) with individuals tapping into their life savings, leveraging their super funds to acquire large quantities of apartment type property investments.

Click here to view the full article

Date: December 17 - Reviews: 1,177
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Recession
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

The Australian Federal Government reported on December 9th that the economy during the September quarter declined

The Australian Federal Government reported on December 9th that the economy during the September quarter declined, shrinking down to 1.8 per cent from 3.1 per cent as of June 2016, representing an Australian GDP catastrophe, the greatest economic decline since the global financial crisis.

Treasurer, Scott Morrison in a press conference announced the truth about the Australian GDP catastrophe with a touch of political spin, “there’s nothing much to worry about even though the economy has suddenly stalled”, it was stated that Australia might be in an economic recession with a negative quarter of economic growth. Economists and doom sayers are in full swing over the Australian GDP catastrophe and potential economic recession in 2017.

Click here to view the full article

Date: December 10 - Reviews: 1,208
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Recession
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

The current population of Australia is 24,455,842 approximately 4.8 million Australians suffer from unemployment or under-employment.

The Roy Morgan Research released on December 1st has exposed that three Australian states have a higher than 20% unemployment and under-employment rate. At an average of 20% nationally, approximately 4.8 million (4.891,168) Australians suffer from unemployment or under-employment.

Click here to view the full article

Date: December 3 - Reviews: 1,422
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australia unemployment
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Australian Economic News, ANZ Bank warns on overbuilding in apartment market, settlement risk and Australian economy showing emerging signs of stress

ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott says his bank has become more cautious about lending to apartment developers and buyers due to concerns about overdevelopment and stagnant household incomes. He further warned; there are areas of concern across the economy and when it comes to property bubbles, "smallish" city apartments are a particular worry. Apartment 'settlement bulge' will be a key risk for property. Bank of Queensland chairman Roger Davis has highlighted the risks from a looming surge in apartment settlements in Brisbane and Melbourne amid signs more buyers are facing difficulties completing off-the-plan purchases.

Click here to view the full article

Date: December 1 - Reviews: 3,112
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australia economy stress
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Mortgagee Property Ltd (HK) is offering property developers an exit strategy as the Australian housing bubble bursts.

With Chinese buyers starting to rescind on apartments, a Hong Kong based real estate marketing company specialising in Australian distressed real estate is offering property developers an exit strategy for unsold and settlement risk apartments (unsettled). The company is seeking distressed apartment stock to service a mammoth client list of bargain hunting property investors.

With warnings from the IMF, RBA, financial institutions and many respected economists such as Morgan Stanley, the Australian housing bubble is showing signs of collapsing and many Australian apartment developers are desperate to exit the market before the bubble bursts.

Click here to view the full article

Date: November 11 - Reviews: 3,588
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian apartment developers
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

A statement by Stephen Walters that Australian Apartment prices are headed for a major shakeout and will fall 10 per cent to 15 per cent is conservative.

Reported in the AFR by Jacob Greber, one of Australia's most experienced economists Stephen Walters, has stated that the apartment glut is 'going to get ugly’ and predicts prices of apartments will fall 10 per cent to 15 per cent over the next one to two years. Whilst this article echoes the concern of every financial institution, economist, the IMF, RBA, and doomsday prophet, the prediction of 10 per cent to 15 per cent is in my opinion is a conservative forcast, said Scott O. Talbot. Within the two speed property market, heavily over supplied precincts can expect a fall of 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

Click here to view the full article

Date: October 19 - Reviews: 188
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian apartment glut
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

The past 48 hours has seen a deluge of articles published across Australia’s major news outlets discussing the Australian property bubble, the foreign investor credit crunch, an economic recession, settlement risk, apartment oversupply and apartment defaults.

Australia’s apartment oversupply and real estate bubble has triggered warnings from everyone worth taking seriously; from the Reserve Bank of Australia, Standard and Poors S&P, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and the IMF International Monetary Fund. The Australian news headlines are also full of noteworthy and radical economists weighing in on the Australian real estate market, predictions of oversupply, ridiculous prices, housing crash and an Australian recession.

Click here to view the full article

Date: October 16 - Reviews: 653
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian real estate news headlines
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

The National Australia Bank (NAB) chief executive is warning of an apartment glut at the Australian government's banking inquiry this week.

The National Australia Bank (NAB) chief executive warned the Australian government's banking inquiry this week of an Australian apartment glut. NAB’s chief executive, Andrew Thorburn also re-enforced the banks strict lending policy for off the plan apartments that is restricting foreign property investors from obtaining finance. When will the Australian property bubble burst ? In addition to the Australian 230,000 apartment glut and oversupply, another survey by Roy Morgan Research revealed that approximately 311,000 indebted Australians had no equity in their properties (negative home loan equity), with many owing more to the bank than their homes are worth, adding further fuel to the Australian housing bubble risk. "With over 300,000 home borrowers having no real equity in their homes, this represents a considerable risk, particularly if home values fall or households are hit by unemployment," Roy Morgan's director of industry communications, Norman Morris, said.

Click here to view the full article

Date: October 6 - Reviews: 2,888
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian apartment glut
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

The latest IMFC (International Monetary Fund) report has targeted the Australian mortgage fuelled household debt.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that Australian households are on a potentially dangerous debt binge in the wake of the global financial crisis. The wakeup call comes as the IMF puts global public and private debt levels at $US152 trillion ($199 trillion), putting some advanced economies now at greater risk in the event of another crisis. The IMF has warned of an unprecedented blow-out in private debt worldwide and identified Australia as one of three nations - alongside Canada and Singapore. ”Private debt has continued to accumulate at a fast pace, notably Australia, Canada and Singapore". The IMF says although private debt is starting to "retrench", public debt has increased by 25 per cent of GDP from 2008 to 2015.

Click here to view the full article

Date: September 28 - Reviews: 177
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: IMFC Alarmed Australian mortgage
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

China GDP debt drags Australia into the economic mud. China's debt is growing at 30 per cent per annum and will trigger another global financial crisis economists warn.

When the International Monetary Fund singles you out, it's worth paying attention. The IMFC's biggest worry is China and the strong link it has to the Australian economy. Australia's household debt is now painfully exposed to any debt bust in China. Australian real estate investors have been allowed to borrow excessively to secure houses and apartments at inflated prices, levels that could prove disastrous. Last month the Bank of International Settlements cautioned that China's credit to GDP ratio is higher than in the rest of Asia before 1997, and the US before 2008.

Click here to view the full article

Date: October 6 - Reviews: 877
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: China debt drags Australian economy
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Australian underemployment triggers mortgage stress in a third of Australian households with home loans serviced by dual-incomes, new research has revealed.

The Australian mortgage belt is heavily reliant on two incomes to meet bank loan repayments. With the highest household debt in history, a third of owner occupier home loans could face mortgage stress if one of the borrowers becomes unemployed or is forced into underemployment. Australian underemployment has reach a historically high of 8.7 per cent and has triggered an increase in the number home owners unable to meet their home loan repayments, according to the global credit rating agency Fitch Ratings. Dual-income households has now been identified as an Australian banking risk should repayments rise or employment conditions sour based on their ability to service repayments.

Click here to view the full article

Date: September 19 - Reviews: 187
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited - Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australia Government forces foreigners
Videos: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Australia Government forces foreigners to sell $92M of illegally purchased property. FIRB laws restrict foreigners to buy only new Australian real estate

The Australian government has announced the forced sale of another 16 properties purchased illegally by foreign buyers in breach of the FIRB regulations. Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison has ordered the sale of $92 million worth of Australian property in the Governments crackdown in foreign investment in housing. Foreign investors that have fraudulently purchased Australian real estate face criminal prosecution and civil penalty orders. In addition to being forced to sell the property immediately without being able to retain any profits, individual property investors face a fine of $135,000 and/or 3 years imprisonment. A company will be forced to handover $675,000.

Click here to view the full article

Date: September 19
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australia Government forces foreigners
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

The Australian level of household debt dwarfs that of the USA at the peak of the GFC housing bubble.

Published in the Guardian, the following snippets paint a devastating prophecy of the Australia economy. Today, the Australian household sector is the most leveraged in the world, with debts equal to 125% of GDP as of the first three months of 2016 (and its rising even further). In contrast, US household debt peaked at 98% in the first quarter of 2008. The US government was obliged to bail out its over leveraged banking system and mortgage lenders that were too heavily geared towards profiting from mortgage debt.

Click here to view the full article

Date: September 17
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Household GDP Debt
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Since the GFC of 2008, Australian household GDP debt has doubled and is unparalleled in the world in excess of 130 per cent of GDP.

To put this into perspective, Australian public debt peaked above 170 per cent of GDP during the Great Depression but household debt has never been remotely close to its present to current levels. In 2016, Australians are so highly leveraged with Australian household debt that even a small decline in residential values will have harmful consequences. According to the OECD, Australian household debt is 5th highest in the world and has increased in excess of the levels reached by countries where housing bubbles formed and burst, countries such as Ireland, Spain and the United States.

Click here to view the full article

Date: September 7
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Household GDP Debt
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

In the Australian headlines again, two more articles have highlighted the Australian apartment oversupply crisis that could trigger an Australian recession.

The Australian apartment recession report analyst CLSA (Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia) has issued a warning that the oversupply of apartments will trigger a crash in prices leading to a possible Australian recession effecting the entire housing market. The Australian apartment recession report highlighted issues of affordability and individual debt is overextending Australia’s real estate bubble, which is being held aloft by foreign capital”. The shift by big banks to tighten lending standards is likely to cause a "correction" and "crisis" in cheap apartments which will spread, leading to defaults among smaller developers and a sharp contraction in construction, CLSA says.

Click here to view the full article

Date: September 3
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australia Apartment Recession
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Reported by the ABC, CitiBank economists warn that apartment oversupply will spark settlement risk and a fall in apartment valuations in the next 12-24 months.

The oversupply of apartments is sending prices downward CitiBank reported with a record 230,000 housing starts over the past 12 months, a key element that will trigger settlement risk. The oversupply of CBD apartments is also effecting existing landlords who struggle to secure tenants and are offering their apartments on Airbnb for short-term and holiday rentals in competition with hotel businesses. Off-the-plan settlement risk and a drop in prices will bring the apartment boom to an end Citibank economists report.

Click here to view the full article

Date: August 27
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Apartment Bust
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

The headlines of Chinese mortgage application fraud and VOI fraud is only two instances of illegal foreign investment in Australia.

In the headlines recently, Chinese mortgage application fraud has been identified and dodgy conveyancing firms are circumventing the VOI requirements however, Australia’s big four banks are also aware of a more organised and sinister banking fraud that is yet to gain attention.

Click here to view the full article

Date: August 24
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Banking
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

CHINA Capital Flight triggers the Australian property bubble. Chinese Capital outflow is fuelling the Australian property bubble

The topic ‘CHINA Capital Flight’ has not received (in my opinion) an ample share of the headlines and I believe is a significant contributor to the Australian property bubble. Domestically, the matrix of topics that has placed the Australian property bubble perilously out of control includes apartment oversupply, record capital growth, illegal foreign investment, FIRB fraud, Loan fraud and VOI fraud, just to name a few. But lets take a minute to speculate what external influences changed our delicate economic balance and where or how did it all begin. Reported by the Institute of International Finance, the CHINA Capital Flight crisis was approximately $700 billion in 2015.

Click here to view the full article

Date: August 8
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: CHINA Capital Flight
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Two-thirds of foreign apartment investors are walking away from their off-the-plan apartment purchase in June, according to Maddocks Lawyers. Foreign apartment investor settlement risk is soaring. Reported in the Australia Financial Review on August 3rd.

Foreign apartment investor, settlement risk is soaring following Australian banks refusing to lend to foreigners. Immediately after discovering 1,000’s of fraudulent home loan applications by Chinese apartment investors, Australian banks have stopped lending to all foreign property investors. Foreign investors are struggling to obtain financing from local banks and cannot get their money out of Mainland China.

Click here to view the full article

Date: August 5
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Foreign Investor Settlement Risk
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

The oversupply of Australian high rise apartments, feeble investor demand, falling rental yields and settlement risk is likely to force prices to plunge in most capital cities over the next three years, this summary report describes. 

Reported across the mainstream media; 220,000 Australian high rise apartments are scheduled to reach completion that could potentially cause property prices to plunge. Australian high rise apartment buyers may not complete their purchases due to the high-rise apartment glut, falling valuations and Australian banks stopping lending to property buyers with foreign income. AND, BIS Shrapnel forecasters published a report on August 1st, stating low interest rates and cheap funding had prompted a building surge that would lead to a major oversupply in most capital city markets in the next two years that could halve property values.

Click here to view the full article

Date: July 31 15:47 EST
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian high rise apartment report
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Professor Steve Keen has stated to ABC news that there will be an Australian Recession in 2017 and real estate prices will decline by 40% up to 70%. I highly recommend reading this ABC News article, linked below. Australian Recession 2017. Steve Keen has stated that Australia’s debt level according to the Bank of International Settlements, private debt level, has jumped from 150% of GDP to 210% of GDP and will trigger the Australian Recession in 2017.

Professor Keen believes that the Australian Reserve Bank (RBA) has “Unintentionally” lead the Australian economy towards a recession by facilitating and encouraging an unprecedented increase in household debt in the form of low interest property loans, which has led to asset bubbles. Professor Keen "We have borrowed ourselves so much to the hilt that we are now dependent on that continuing to rise over time and it simply won't," he told the ABC’s, The Business.

Click here to view the full article

Date: July 29 15:47 EST
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Recession 2017
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Off the plan apartment finance profiteering gouging. Also published in the Australian Financial Review, overseas foreign investors are surviving an off-the-plan finance crunch, the Australian apartment funding crisis. Over the past months, finance from Australian major banks has been frozen and foreign off-the-plan apartment purchasers are urgently seeking alternative funding and/or desperate to find another cash buyer.

Liken to profiteering from a natural disaster, the Monopoly game of apartment finance has loan sharks price gouging foreign investors that are at risk of not being able to complete their apartment purchase. The finance price gouging has spiked broker fees and finance rates to levels higher than is considered reasonable or fair. The exploitative and unethical finance products being offered on social media channels in China such as, Weibo and WeChat include broker and bank fees up to 7% of the loan amount.

Click here to view the full article

Date: July 29 10:00 AM EST
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Property Finance
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Australian property funding crisis. Australian bank lending has been frozen, Chinese clients face foreclosure There is an Australian property funding crisis gathering momentum for Chinese off-the-plan apartment purchasers, both domestic and overseas.

Published in the Australian Financial Review today, in late 2016 and early 2017 Chinese clients may face foreclosure as a direct result of the foreign lending freeze by Australian banks. Over 60 Billion dollars of apartments are reshaping Australian skylines. There are 116,650 new apartments under construction, off-the-plan apartments that have been heavily sold (obviously predominantly) to overseas Chinese investors. Financiers claim Chinese clients funding from Australian banks has been frozen and they face a predictable foreclosure.

Click here to view the full article

Date: July 25 10:00 AM EST
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Property Finance
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Australian Real Estate VOI Fraud - Who’s the buyer? Verifying overseas purchasers a risk in conveyancing - Foreign property investors are illegally sidestepping the Verification of Identity (VOI) process.

Skype calls and passports being held up to a screen are some of the methods conveyancers are using to verify overseas buyers of Australian property. Chinese property investors have been found to be lying on bank loan applications, triggering all Australian banks to stop foreign lending and, now discovered to be circumventing Verification of Identity (VOI) property ownership. Chinese Mortgage Fraud has reached every headline over the past 4 weeks however, liken ‘Peaches and Cream’ VOI fraud is estimated to be 1000 times greater than the reported mortgage fraud and, has yet to be a topic reported by the main stream media.

Click here to view the full article

Date: July 25
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Real Estate
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

BankWest halts non resident foreign property lending. Bankwest has announced it will no longer be lending to Non Residents. Australian Property

An email to mortgage brokers 14 of July, BankWest has made it clear the answer is NO to Non Resident Australian property lending.

The email states: I want to clarify Bankwest's position on this type of transaction/lending. Bankwest will accept most foreign income at 80% or 70% (for non common currencies) after conversion to AUD. We will lend to Permanent residents / Temporary residents borrowing with an Australian citizen living in Australia or Abroad. NO Non Resident Lending

Read the full article here

Date: July 14 10:00 AM EST
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australia Banks
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Australia market crash forecast Citi ING lending APRA fear. BIS Shrapnel market crash forecast as Citi and ING Direct tighten foreign lending triggered by APRA market fear.

Citi and ING Direct yesterday confirmed they had tightened lending to apartment buyers. APRA had earlier written to banks raising concerns about difficulties in verifying foreign incomes used in the loan application process,

Melbourne's new building rules either cause a market-led crash in apartment values but will not stop high-rise development in Melbourne, or end land speculation", Professor Buxton said. BIS Shrapnel is predicting that home prices across Australia will fall in real terms over the next three years. In its latest property market outlook.

Read the full article here

Date: July 12 10:00 AM EST
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australia Banks
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Australian Banks cautioned by APRA that one economic disturbance will be catastrophic
for Westpac, ANZ, NAB and CBA

APAR has previously cautioned the nation might be relying too heavily on China for growth.

Reported in the Herald Sun, June 24th. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) the Australian banking watch dog and regulator has delivered a chilling speech at the banking industry forum. The four major lenders are significantly vulnerability and could topple if there were one economic disturbance, the regulator says.

Read the full article here

Date: June 24 14:40 PM EST
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Banks
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Australia foreign investors default on apartments with restrictions on lending, plummeting valuations and a whopping 231,129 apartment oversupply.

The Australian apartment crisis is showing abyssal cracks as overseas investors default on off the plan apartment purchases.

Since the recent lending restrictions by Australia’s big four banks and devastating lower valuations, many overseas investors are opting to simply walk away from their apartment purchase. What is important to note is, that Australia property developers are now under duress as settlement risk posses a significant financial hazard with large amounts of apartments failing to settle over the next 24 months. A Settlement Risk Report issued by CoreLogic defines the number of units due to settle over the next 2 years expected to be a whopping 231,129 apartments.

Read the full article here

Date: June 20 10:40 PM EST
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australia Foreign Investors
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Reported in both the Australian and Herald Sun news papers today, Australia’s chronic apartment over supply is triggering banks to value off the plan apartments well below the original purchase price.

Some bank valuations are reported to be between 10-40% below the contract purchase price to mitigate the risk as the glut of apartments continues to grow.

Read the full article here

Date: June 7
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Property Developers
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Two more AFR headlines this week is provoking a state of terror and anxiety for Australian property developers, warning of impending economic disaster.

In the wake of the Chinese loan application fraud, Westpac has canceled $900 million worth of apartment loans, placing up to 3000 off the plan apartments into bloodshed settlement risk.

Within the same 24 hours, ME Bank announces a ban on foreign investor lending, as growing fears about the scale of loan application fraud and money laundering under investigation by Australia’s top five banks.

Read the full article here

Date: June 5
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Property Developers
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Australian Off-the-plan Apartments prices slump, high risk Melbourne property developers warn of impending economic disaster as the apartment market crashes

Summary of three articles published today highlighting AUSTRALIA is building more apartments than ever and the cooling housing economy has property developers rallying against bank and state government policy decisions.

Off-the-plan apartment owners are learning that property is not the golden ticket to increasing wealth as apartment values tumble. A valuation study conducted showed that 50 per cent of apartments demonstrated a shortfall between the contract price and the valuation.

Read the full article here

Date: June 3
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Off-the-plan Apartments
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

The media headlines in 2016 have been singing the same tune publishing chilling predictions that are now manifesting into a harsh reality for apartment investors that purchased off the plan apartments.

Australian Apartment Oversupply, Standard Poor’s Concerned, Apartment bust to shock tens of thousands of investors, BIS Shrapnel tips 'very messy end’

Read the full article here

Date: May 31 2016
Published by: Mortgagee Property limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Apartment Oversupply
Video: Watch on YouTube - Watch on YouKu
Download: PDF print version

Australia property developers get Cold Feet with property bubble and apartment oversupply driving down prices and Australian banks no longer lending.

• Almost $5bn worth of property deals have fallen through in the past week;
• Nationwide 'oversupply' of apartments is driving prices down and costs up;
• Banks are 'no longer lending money' to developers to build apartments;
• One planning expert said: 'Developers are more cautious and sensibly so'. 
 

Read the full article here

Date: May 30 2016
Published by: Daily Mail Australia
Reporter: Steven Trask
Category: Australian Real Estate
Download: PDF print version

The Australia Housing Bubble fears are making USA headlines with CNBC reporting on the Bets against Australia's Big Four banks and concerns that the Australia property market is about to crash.

Australian real estate price-to-income ratio in Australia makes the American housing bubble in the lead up to 2007 look positively moderate," Jonathan Pain, publisher of investment newsletter, The Pain Report, told CNBC's "Street Signs."

Watch this chilling CNBC video here

Date: May 24 2016, 13:47
Published by: CNBC
Reporter: Leslie Shaffer
Category: Australian Real Estate
Download: PDF print version

Loan equity LVR and lower rental yields will crash the Australian property market as massive apartment over supply crushes valuations and banks demand additional loan equity.

LVR Loan to Value Ratio is the proportion of money borrowed from a financial institution such as Westpac, NAB, CBA or ANZ bank for a home loan compared to the value of the property. The LVR is the assessed 'risk factor' to mitigate market fluctuations and loan defaults should the lender have to ‘fire sale’ or quick sell the property asset to recover the loan amount.

Click here to view the full article

Date: May 19 2016, 13:47
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O Talbot
Category: Australian Real Estate
Download: PDF print version

The recent crackdown by Australia’s leading banks to stop lending to foreign property investors has reached every headline across the globe. Revealed this week is one of the triggers that forced Australian banks to turn off the finance flow to Chinese investors.

Reported by the Australian Financial Review, overseas Chinese property investors are purchasing fraudulent documents such as dodgy bank statements and false pay slips for as little as $200. According to AFR, one fraud included a “ludicrously obviously” fake loan application from a Chinese investor wishing to borrow $960,000 for the purchase of an apartment in Sydney.

Click here to view the full article

Date: May 15
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O Talbot
Category: Australian Real Estate
Download: PDF print version

Reported in the Sydney morning Herald: ”It looks like Australia has a greater oversupply problem than the US did in 2007," says Mr Montgomery in a note to clients. "And after their property market collapse, it took five years before property prices began recovering."

Breaking down what will be constructed and what will be required, Mr Montgomery is left with an oversupply of 200,000 dwellings by the end of 2016. "The volume of new apartments is now approaching, and even exceeding, the average number of apartment sales overall in the past five years," reads the CoreLogic report.

Click here to view the full article

Date: May 15
Published by: Sydney Morning Herald
Reporter: Jessica Sier
Category: Australian Real Estate
Download: PDF print version

Chinese property investment and mortgage fraud turn lying into an art form, Australian banks report, foreign investors could trigger a financial meltdown

Chinese property investment and mortgage fraud turn lying into an art form, Australian banks report in two explosive articles on May 13 News.com.au and the Australian Financial Review.

Australian banks have stopped lending to Chinese property investors because of growing evidence that thousands of loan applications are obvious forgeries. Mortgage fraud could spark a financial meltdown, a senior economist warns. The practice of doctoring paperwork on home loans is much broader than the banks would have us think.

Click here to view the full article

Date: May 14
Published by: Mortgagee Property Australia
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Real Estate
Download: PDF print version

Apartment Settlement Risk for Australian Property Developers in Brisbane and Melbourne as record high supply levels complete, banks stop foreign investor loans
The number of off the plan apartments due to complete and settle over the next 24 months has hit record highs in Australia's capitals. With all the major Australian bank refusing to lend to overseas investors, many of the foreign investors will not make good on their purchases and settle with the developer.

The apartment supply levels should be organic to the local market demand. The apartment levels have been falsely increased to cater to the spin masters selling CBD apartments to uninformed Asian investors and, property developers taking advantage of the false (none organic) market demand.

Click here to view the full article

Date: May 13
Published by: Mortgagee Property Australia
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Real Estate
Download: PDF print version

Australian foreign borrowers are alarmed about the unfolding bank loan fraud, placing off the plan apartments into settlement risk. With all the major Australian Banks now cutting out foreign buyers, foreign off the plan apartment purchasers struggle to obtain finance.
Following the recent announcements by Westpac, NAB, CBA and ANZ, that they will no longer lending money to foreigners wanting to buy residential property.

Yesterday, the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Australia's fifth largest, told more than 30 mortgage managers and thousands of brokers to immediately stop lending to foreign borrowers and exclude foreign-sourced income from local real estate deals amid growing concerns about fraud and possible money laundering.

Click here to view the full article

Date: May 10
Published by: Mortgagee Property Australia
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australian Real Estate
Download: PDF print version

ANZ Banking Group and Westpac Banking Corp have discovered they have each approved "hundreds" of home loans backed by fraudulent Chinese income documents, which were allegedly manufactured with the help of dodgy mortgage brokers.

"Westpac staff undertake verification for foreign income including obtaining pay slips and bank statements in both the relevant foreign language as well as getting those documents translated," Westpac  spokesman David Lording said in response to inquiries from The Australian Financial Review. "We have identified an issue with some loans that we are currently investigating."

Click here to view the full article

Date: May 9 06:00pm
Published by: Australian Financial Review
Reporter: Christopher Joye
Category: Australian Property Market

Australian Banks have literally surprise bombed [Pearl Harbour] the off the plan apartment market, terminating foreign property investor lending.

The market is in a panic over settlement risk with overseas investors not able to obtain finance and complete off-the-plan apartment purchases. An estimated 44,784 off the plan apartments are scheduled for completion and settlement in 2016. In 2017 a further 52,920 – based on apartment approvals.

Everyone was wrong:  Industry experts, economists and doomsayers have been finger pointing at the market conditions prophesying the trigger to an Australian real estate crash with speculation of; oversupply, APRA restraints, reduced LVR’s, the mining bust and China’s economic struggles as possible triggers.

Click here to view the full article

Date: April 29 04:00pm
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O. Talbot
Category: Australia Real Estate

Westpac will no longer lend to offshore customers who are not citizens or residents of Australia with an eligible visa. Reports Elysse Morgan
Westpac Bank and its subsidiaries are no longer lending money to foreigners wanting to buy residential property.

It is the third major bank to clamp down on lending to non-residents, home buyers with foreign self-employed income and those who hold temporary visas in Australia. ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank moved earlier this month.

Click here to view the full article

Date: April 27 09:00pm
Published by: ABC News
Reporter: Elysse Morgan
Category: Australia Real Estate

Fraud is rife in the banking system as banks systematically fudge the numbers on loan applications to make borrowers look more creditworthy than they really are, according to an explosive submission to a Senate inquiry on white collar crime. Reports ABC News.
"We see incomes exaggerated, that's extremely common. We see signatures forged," said Ms Brailey, who runs the Banking and Finance Consumers Support Association. "In all cases," she said, "[the loans are] unaffordable, unsustainable and unverified.”

Jeff Morris, the whistleblower who exposed the Commonwealth Bank financial planning scandal that led to calls for a Royal Commission into financial services, also believes that the practice of banks artificially boosting borrowers' income and assets in order to make loans is common.

Click here to view the full article

Date: April 22 09:00am
Published by: ABC News
Reporter: Stephen Long
Category: Australia Real Estate

Mortgagee Property Limited addresses the Australia Property Market downturn with options to survive a real estate crash, recommending offshore mortgage lending.
The head lines in 2016 have been sending terrifying messages to every Australia real estate investor around the globe, from a sensational market crash to a serious market correction and a wide spread crack down on mortgage lending.

Australian Government authorities, including the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia and APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority) are enforcing heavy measures to protect the Australian banking and financial sector from the unmistakable down turn.

Click here to view the full article

Date: April 21 09:00am
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Reporter: Scott O Talbot
Category: Australia Real Estate

Foreign incomes do not count for temporary residents buying property in Australia
THE nation’s biggest bank has slammed the door shut on home loan lending to some applicants with foreign incomes as it further tightens its lending standards. Reports Sophie Elsworth, News Corp Australia

The Commonwealth Bank yesterday revealed it would no longer be accepting home loan applications from temporary residents who are not earning an income in Australia. It comes just a month after ANZ reviewed its lending to foreign investors and temporary residents. The CBA crackdown is expected to have a flow-on effect to other lenders and could make it easier for Australian residents to buy property by cutting out applications from temporary residents, experts say.

Click here to view the orignal article

Date: April 19 12:00am
Published by: News Corp Australia
Reporter: Sophie Elsworth
Category: Australia Real Estate

A glut of inner city apartments and an influx of Chinese money into the property market is shifting the risks in the banking system, the Reserve Bank has said in its semi-annual health check of the financial sector.
In its most extensive warning yet of the "indirect" risks facing the property market, the Reserve Bank's Financial Stability Review warned that the supply of new apartments in major metropolitan cities could "weigh on prices and rents," which could reduce the income of property investors and make it harder for them to sell. Reports the Australian Financial Review, Jonathan Shapiro

Recent data has shown that apartments in central Melbourne are being resold at a discount of up to 30 per cent of their off the purchase plan price, an indicator that 20,000 apartments under construction, the 19,000 approved apartments and 30,000 dwellings awaiting approval were weighing on prices.

Click here to view the orignal article

Date: April 15 at 7:56 PM
Published by: Australian Financial Review
Reporter: Jonathan Shapiro
Category: Australia Real Estate

Australia's apartment construction boom and the health of China's economy, inexorably linked, have dominated the Reserve Bank's latest commentary on financial risks.

Tighter access to credit for households could pose near-term challenges in some medium and high-density construction markets given the large volume of building activity that was started several years ago," the bank warned in its half-yearly Financial Stability Review. Reports ABC, Michael Janda

"This new supply may weigh on prices and rents in these areas," the RBA warned. If that occurs, investors will need to service their mortgages while earning lower rental income and any households facing difficulties making repayments may not be able to resolve their situation easily by selling the property."

Click here to view the orignal article

Date: April 15 at 7:56 PM
Published by: ABC News
Reporter: Michael Janda
Category: Australia Real Estate

Rental yields on houses in Australia's two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, have declined to record low levels, Moody’s said in a research report published this week.
Affordability of servicing properties is now at its worst levels on record. Reports MortgageBusiness, James Mitchell

“As a result, the net costs involved in servicing a housing investment (investment loans costs less rental income) have increased relative to household incomes, making investment properties less affordable,” the report said. The report highlighted that low rental yields combined with deteriorating affordability “increase the risks and default probability for Australian residential property investors and therefore for Australian RMBS backed by loans on residential investment properties.

Click here to view the orignal article

Date: April 13 at 7:56 PM
Published by: mortgagebusiness.com.au
Reporter: James Mitchell
Category: Australia Real Estate

But that warning comes with an important caveat — Chinese and Australian banks are going to share the disaster and we don’t know the relative ‘market share’.
Sydney and Melbourne shows that a big chunk of the more than $65 billion in approvals in 2013-14 and 2014-15 has now been initiated. The Australian mining investment boom was generally said to be worth about $100bn.

Australia’s biggest and best-funded developer, Harry Triguboff (Meriton), warned readers that the local banks have funded a significant proportion of this enormous figure. In past statements the Reserve Bank has warned of Australian banks’ exposure to property development. The problem is that another part of the bank has loaned billions to developers. In 1990, the banks ended up effectively owning or controlling large amounts of real estate, which they usually sold at a loss.

Click here to view the orignal article

Date: April 11 at 7:56 PM
Published by: The Australian
Reporter: Robert Gottliebsen
Category: Australia Real Estate

Australian Mortgage debt has doubled since the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) carried out the confidential search in 2007, and experts fear the risks identified in the secret report are now far worse (in 2016). Reports Stephen Long from ABC News 7.30
"In a steady economic scenario over the next three years, the delinquency rate is predicted to reach 7.5 per cent.”

ABC News 7.30 has been told that APRA's then-chairman, John Laker, told staff that the report could not be published because it would panic investors and could undermine the banks. Last year, in a footnote to a speech, (current) APRA chairman Wayne Byres revealed that Australia's big four banks and Macquarie did not have enough capital set aside against mortgages to cover loan losses in the event of a severe house price crash.

Click here to view the orignal article

Date: April 6 at 10:56 AM
Published by: ABC News
Reporter: Stephen Long
Category: Australia Real Estate

According to the 2016 Building Industry Prospects report, Melbourne will have an oversupply of more than 20,000 homes by 2017. Reports: Olivia Lambert from news.com.au
BIS Shrapnel has recently released a report that states there will be too many homes in Melbourne next year.

BIS Shrapnel managing director Robert Mellor said there were record levels of apartment construction in the last 18 months. With so many apartments shooting up like weeds over the last few years, Mr Mellor said we’ve reached a time where Melbourne can too easily cater to the demand. A spokesman for AMP said the business identified certain high density areas and put provisions in place to manage risk and oversupply. AFR reports Melbourne, the city’s Centre and Southbank are on the black list along with South Yarra, Docklands and South Melbourne.

Click here to view the orignal article

Date: April 2 at 10:56 AM
Published by: News.com.au
Reporter: Olivia Lambert
Category: Australia Real Estate

Apartments in central Melbourne are being resold at up to 30 per cent less than their off-the-plan purchase price, sales data shows.
Analysis of a handful of transactions shows many apartments have failed to hold their value between original purchase and resale, typically a few years later. Reports Michael Bleby, The Financial Review

The figures are the clearest sign the apartment boom in the Victorian capital is running out of steam and could show more widespread falls if owners elected to sell.  Melbourne's surge in new apartments led to predictions more than a year ago than an oversupply was likely to push prices down. As of November, the City of Melbourne had 20,000 apartments under construction, another 19,000 approved and a further 30,000 dwellings awaiting approval. Half of all new homes under construction were in the CBD, according to the city's Development Activity Monitor report.

Click here to view the full article

Date: March 29 at 1:20 AM
Published by: The Financial Review
Reporter: Michael Bleby
Category: Australia Real Estate

Most people believe that they can buy properties are bargain prices at mortgagee auctions. However, experts caution that this is not usually the case. Property buyers are very aware of the nature of a mortgagee auction that banks are very keen to sell for the highest price.

With mortgagee in possession property you should look before you leap with professional research to negotiate the purchase.

A mortgagee auction attracts a lot more attention than if it was sold by negotiation.  It is important to remember that mortgagee auctions have a legal obligation to make an effort to get the best price for the property – that’s why they are auctioned.

Link to the full article

Date: March 27 at 3:30 PM
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Category: Australia Real Estate

Segments of the Australian real estate market are in trouble (bubble), with off-the-plan apartment owners in Melbourne and Brisbane poised to be the biggest losers.

There is no doubt that some segments of the Australian real estate market are in trouble, with off-the-plan apartment owners in Melbourne and Brisbane poised to be the biggest losers.

The old enemy of property developers, 'supply and demand', has developers becoming increasingly anxious to place bigger advertisements and offer bigger discounts, free furniture and a slobbering list of other marketing tricks to attract un-informed buyers. On top of this, the auction clearance rates have dropped to the lowest level in years so the writing is on the wall to go bargain hunting.

Link to the full article

Date: March 27 at 11:30 AM
Published by: Mortgagee Property Limited
Category: Australia Real Estate

The great bear raid on Australian banks continues. The global hedge funds say that Australian bank chief executives and boards are misleading the market and their shares are headed for a big fall, which will almost certainly send Australia into recession.

Why do world traders believe that Australian banks are headed for a calamity?

Australian house price-to-income ratio is still at its highest level in history and has surged over the past two years on the back of low interest rates. This, of course, caused Sydney and Melbourne house prices to boom to levels that make our dwellings among the most expensive in the world. The traders believe that the fall in commodities will extend the current Australian income recession and, even though interest rates may fall further, we have an unsustainable housing bubble and that because the bank balance sheets are over leveraged to housing, bad debts are set to rise.

Link: Originally reported by the Business Spectator

Date: March 24 at 9:58 AM
Reporter: Robert Gottliebsen
Published by: Business Spectator
Category: Australia Real Estate

The main Melbourne focus is the central business district and nearby Docklands and Southbank, where large numbers of high rise complexes continue to be built.

Reported in the Australian Financial Review: Apartment lender AMP 'blacklists' more than 140 suburbs for apartment lending

Average losses were about $40,000, or about 10 per cent, between agreement to buy and pre-settlement valuation, which is required by lenders to assess any changes in value and he amount of money a lender can borrow.

Buyers have to bridge the gap between the purchase price and final valuation, which can result in contract breach, deposit loss and, potentially, legal action by vendors.

Link: Originally reported by the Australian Financial Review

Date: March 23 at 11:42 AM
Reporter: Duncan Hughes
Published by: Australian Financial Review
Category: Australia Real Estate

APRA The Australian banking regulator will probe whether parties are getting around banks’ tightened home loan policies, building on its scrutiny of the $1.5 trillion mortgage market.

Following a recent high-profile report alleging poor bank underwriting and fraudulent behaviour by brokers, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority yesterday flagged it would look into how easily loans can be approved “outside” banks’ policies.

APRA’s comments come after a report by US research house Variant Perception last month claimed Australia had “one of the biggest housing bubbles in history” and prices would fall 50 per cent in “many” parts of Sydney and Melbourne. The thesis was partly based on “very poor” bank underwriting standards and that APRA was missing the risks. It added “disreputable brokers” could produce “authentic-looking tax returns” for clients and also encouraged lying about incomes to get “dodgy loans past bank loan officers”.

Click here to view the orignal article

Date: March 18 at 4:42 PM
Reporter: Michael Bennet
Published by: The Australian
Category: Australia Real Estate

Australian off-the-plan apartment investors are in a panic with an estimated third of purchasers unable to complete the settlement of their Melbourne CBD apartments in 2016.

The tough new APRA lending rules created in 2015 that require larger deposits from real estate investors has caught many by surprise. The new ‘Loan to Valuation Ratios’ (LVR) has increase from 10 per cent to 20 per cent.

Pair this with bank valuers writing down the value of apartments a further 10 per cent to 20 per cent. In particular, apartments effected by massive oversupply and described as ‘Shameful': Melbourne lord mayor Robert Doyle slams as ‘dog boxes in the sky’. It’s double trouble for Melbourne CBD overseas investors, according to mortgage brokers. For many, the additional 20 - 40% equity to achieve funding is not an option and the market is anxious that many will walk away from their purchase. Property developers are preparing for the settlement risks and potential flood of investment properties coming back onto the market, that will drive down apartment prices even further.

Click here to view the orignal article

Date: March 15 at 4:42 PM
Reporter: Duncan Hughes
Category: Australia Real Estate

Melbourne’s oversupply to crunch property prices, says forecaster BIS Shrapnel
Melbourne apartment the oversupply will be significant. BIS Shrapnel tips 'very messy end' to the apartment boom. An excess of 22,000 homes by June next year.

MELBOURNE’S apartment market is set to lurch into oversupply next year, piling fresh pressure on property prices, a leading economic forecaster says. Following a four-year apartment construction surge in Victoria, fuelled by investors and empty nesters looking to downsize, high-rise projects are now being completed in their droves. With less demand on the horizon as population growth levels out, BIS Shrapnel forecasts Victoria will have an excess of 22,000 homes by June next year. Much of those will be accounted for by inner-city abodes. Healthy demand is expected to continue for new housing in regional Victoria as high prices force homebuyers beyond the urban fringe.

Click here to view the orignal article

Date: March 10 11:00pm
Published by: the Herald Sun
Reporter: Paul Gilder
Category: Australia Real Estate

An inevitable glut of high-rise apartments will hit “tens of thousands” of off-the-plan investors in Sydney and Melbourne, a new report claims.
Melbourne apartment the oversupply will be significant. BIS Shrapnel tips 'very messy end' to the apartment boom.

Melbourne CBD will have an excess of 22,000 homes by June next year. The building boom has seen a surge in small apartments in high-rises, which will see an imminent “busting of the apartment bubble”, according to the Australian Population Research Institute report Sydney and Melbourne’s Housing Affordability Crisis: No End in Sight. The report, by Bob Birrell and David McCloskey, says Melbourne, and then Sydney, will soon see obvious signs of a market replete with surplus apartments as both cities jump to about 21,000 to 22,000 apartment completions in 2016 and 2017. In 2014 and 2015, completions totalled 13,000 to 14,000.

Click here to view the orignal article

Date: March 7
Published by: www.domain.com.au
Reporter: Jennifer Duke
Category: Australia Real Estate

Melbourne's lord mayor has harsh words for some of the city's high-rise property developers.
In a strongly worded speech to the Urban Development Institute of Australia conference in Adelaide, Cr Doyle likened some high-rise residential towers to "dog boxes in the sky".

"You know I am pro-development, but some of the developments that have been put before us are shameful," Mr Doyle said in a speech prepared for the conference. "Developments that are three times the recommended height limit: it's not iconic, it's just big. "That rely on borrowed light: it's not a bedroom, it's a cupboard. These developments are not better for our city and we will not give them planning approval."

Click here to view the full article

Date: March 10 2016 at 5:42 PM
Published by: The Australian Financial Review
Reporter: Nick Lenaghan
Category: Australia Real Estate

Jonathan Tepper believes Australia property values will plummet by 30 to 50 per cent leaving investors with high loans and little return, reported 60 minutes.
Insane, that's the best word to describe the Australian housing market, Australia property values will plummet 30 to 50 per cent. Australia real estate bubble".

A renowned investment expert who predicted the mortgage bubble burst in Ireland the United States and Spain has warned Australia will be next. Jonathan Tepper Property values in Australia are out of control and the level of mortgage debt in Australia is something like 3.8 times the gross domestic product, he said. Mr Tepper believes the mortgage bubble will burst within the next year as a consequence of the ‘unsustainable level of borrowing.’

Click here to view the full article

Date: 22 February 2016 at 6:42 PM
Published by: The Daily Mail
Reporter: Martha Azzi
Category: Australia Real Estate