With housing availability at an all-time low, a QUT economist is proposing older homeowners be given incentives to rent out their spare bedrooms. Dr Lyndall Bryant, from the QUT Centre for Justice and School of Economics and Finance, has published…
Read moreAuthor: Adam Nobel
Confidence lifting new homes
Confidence in new home building is returning, new data has revealed this week. While the latest HIA New Home Sales report shows that the number of sales in September remained unchanged from the previous month, sales over the past twelve…
Read moreFor sale: summer outdoors
Spring is here and quite a few homeowners are thinking about putting their home on the market. The question is, what will attract the most buyers in the shortest amount of time? Homebuyers these days aren’t just looking for new…
Read moreAre your fans in winter mode?
With the advent of warmer weather, now is a good time to switch the direction on ceiling fans, if you had them on ‘winter mode’ during the colder months. The blades should turn anticlockwise during summer and clockwise through winter,…
Read moreA life, in shells
Selling the family home often brings angst and perhaps some guilt, but it must be so much harder when the house is a 300-year-old cottage decorated by your grandfather using tens of thousands of seashells. Kevin L. Ffrench was a…
Read moreLending up
Queensland borrowers drove home new lending in August, according to data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The latest figures show that the total value of new housing loans rose by 1% in August to $30.4 billion.…
Read moreTake a break, count the birds
Next week (14-20 October), Australians of all ages will be heading outdoors to a patch of green space, be it their backyard, park or local wetland, and getting to know their local birds, while helping BirdLife Australia collect information about…
Read moreTime to cover up
Consumer advocacy group Choice has released a review of 50 home insurance policies, naming quite a few as being over-priced and under-delivering. So, why be insured? With escalating costs and so many products – good and bad – on the…
Read moreBe ready for bushfires
Do you have a plan to follow in the event of approaching bushfires? When is the right time to leave? What would you take? If you live near bushland, spend 20 minutes this weekend with the family discussing what you’ll…
Read moreTrading horses for houses
After 182 years of horseracing, Singapore’s turf club ran its final meet last weekend, with the land now to be handed back to the government for housing. The news must have boosted the hopes of the NSW government, which is…
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