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Friday, November 15, 2024

Understanding key changes to finance and property

Mortgage Advisor Toni Dawson has great advice for all your property needs. Photo supplied

Hi, I’m Toni Dawson, a Mortgage Adviser, fully qualified and with over 15 years’ of industry experience.

Over the past 18 years, I’ve also been actively involved in buying, selling, building, renovating, developing, and investing.

With this extensive background, I have the expertise to guide you at every stage of your journey.

This is my first Times column and I wanted to start by giving you a brief summary of some of the finance-and property-related changes that came into effect on July 1:

1) Bright-line test:

The period for the Bright-line test on residential property has been reduced to two years.

This means that from July 1, 2024, onwards, properties sold within two years of ownership will be subject to tax on any profit made from the sale.

There are exceptions, such as for main owner-occupied homes.

2) Debt to income ratio (DTI) rules:

These rules limit how much lenders can lend in relation to a borrower’s total income, taking into account all debts including student loans.

Owner-occupiers are limited to borrowing up to six times their total income, while investors can borrow up to seven times their total income.

Currently, these rules are not expected to affect many borrowers due to prevailing interest rates, but they will come into play in a lower interest rate environment.

3) Loan to value (LVR) rules eased:

The LVR rules, which impose restrictions on the amount lenders can lend based on the value of the property, have been relaxed.

Some lenders are now accepting rental property applications with a deposit requirement as low as 30 per cent, down from 35 per cent.

Previously, only 15 per cent of a lender’s loan book could consist of owner-occupiers with less than a 20 per cent deposit. Now 20 per cent of the loan book can be high LVR loans.

If you’d like to talk through your situation, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

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