Secure your home these holidays
The Christmas break is here, and if that means packing up and heading off for a few hours, days or weeks, it might be good to know your home is safe and secure while you’re away. School holidays, particularly over…
News
More lights, greater happiness
A family in WA has strung together 420,000 lights in what could be one of Australia’s largest home Christmas displays, the ABC reported this week. The interactive, walk-through display will not only raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis (inspired by the…
Not that button!
Politics aside, we can all feel a little sympathy for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnston, after a visitor accidentally switched on his Christmas light display an hour before he was due to. Thinking the front doorbell wasn’t working, fellow MP…
Values up as listings rise
Values rose in November for the fourteenth month in a row, new data shows. The latest Corelogic monthly update has revealed that national housing values were 1.3% higher in November. This takes values 22.2% higher over the past 12 months,…
Year of no change
At its final meeting for 2021, the Reserve Bank of Australia decided this week to make no change to the official cash rate. The official rate has been at .1% since November last year. In his regular statement announcing the…
Investor lending near record highs
Lending to property investors reached a six-year high in October, according to statistics released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The figures show that new investor loans rose 1.1% to near record levels in October 2021 (seasonally…
Bathroom, or wellness spa
After the last couple of years, it is unsurprising that a major trend in home décor is focussed on generating a greater sense of wellbeing. The movement towards creating wellness oases at home was forefront amongst the winners of this…
For rent: your Christmas tree
Many of us would like to have a ‘real’ Christmas tree, but they can be problematic to dispose of afterwards. Some will end up in the green bin, while potted plants might spend the following 11 months in a corner…
Suburbs become solar energy plant
500 households in Perth have been chosen for a new $35 million virtual power plant, a network of solar-powered homes that collectively generate and store energy, minimising the use of fossil fuels. Selected because of their suburbs’ high uptake of…
Fixed rates on the move
With the Reserve Bank holding out on raising interest rates, some lenders are starting to make their own decisions, it seems. In the last few days of November, Commonwealth Bank increased fixed rates for the third time since September, taking…
