Have you seen cockatoos opening garbage bins in your neighbourhood? Are you and the neighbours placing objects on the lids to stop the cockies? The Clever Cocky research team wants to hear from you, to get a better understanding of…
Read moreAuthor: Adam Nobel
Exterior painting, perfect
If painting the exterior of your house is on your spring to-do list, there’s plenty of incentive to do the job properly: the new coat of paint will not only look more attractive, but also last much longer, so you…
Read moreBroker choice habits revealed
Two in three borrowers who use a mortgage broker make their selection within seven days or less, a new study has found. What’s more, the less research they do, the more likely they are to make a snap decision about…
Read moreWeaving the streets
Extreme heatwaves in Europe have led the residents of the Spanish village of Valverde de la Vera to take up their knitting needles in defence. Under the direction of a local architect and designer, the group has woven shredded plastic…
Read moreValues fall, but still high
Housing values fell again in August, but remain well above pre-Covid levels, new data shows. CoreLogic’s latest monthly national Home Value Index (HVI) fell 1.6% in August, with the downturn becoming more wide-spread. Sydney continued to the lead the downswing,…
Read moreOfficial rate up to 2.35%
The Reserve Bank has this week lifted interest rates for the fifth month in a row, increasing the cash rate by 0.5 percentage points to 2.35%, the highest level since 2015. Commentators are now suggesting that, while further increases are…
Read moreSolar benefits for more
If you rent, live in an apartment or have a roof that is unsuitable for solar panels, you might be wondering how you can take advantage of the benefits of solar power. After five years in the pipeline, Australia’s first…
Read moreLending slows
Lending fell again in July but remains at record highs, according to data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The latest figures show that the value of new housing loans fell 8.5% in July 2022 (seasonally…
Read moreBottle tops to benches
Are you determinedly recycling plastics, bottles and cardboard, but find yourself frustrated that no-one wants those colourful, hard plastic lids and bottle tops? Lids4Kids will collect them and pass them on to manufacturers who can in turn use them to…
Read moreNCC 2022: 7-star homes encoded
All new homes built Australia-wide will be subject to an updated code of energy efficiency, after an agreement was reached this week by the country’s Building Ministers. The agreed changes to the National Construction Code (NCC) represent the first significant…
Read more