Non-bank lenders could be squeezed out of the mortgage business within 12 to 18 months if global credit markets remain frozen, consolidating the big banks’ competitive advantage. Most could survive for about 12 to 18 months on the income that they generated on existing loans.
From the category archives:
News
Electricity is not an optional extra
A number of community service organisations have observed that compared to other Australians, low income households spend a higher proportion of their incomes on energy despite in some cases reducing consumption to the bare essentials in order to save costs. [click to continue...]
Construction activity ‘declines further’
Activity in the construction industry contracted sharply in November, as the firms continued to scale back work in response to the global financial crisis, a survey says. The Australian Industry Group - Housing Industry Association performance of construction index (PCI) fell 4.4 index points in November to 32 points.
Where have all the consumers gone?
A rush of new economic data released on Thursday - while not taking a full account of the central bank’s 300 basis points worth of interest rate reductions - suggests households may need another prod next year.
[click to continue...]
Rich countries carry out ’21st century land grab’
Countries including China, Kuwait and Sweden are snapping up vast tracts of agricultural land in poorer nations, especially in Africa, to grow biofuels and food for themselves.
Recyclable homes
Elsa Zaldívar, whose longstanding commitment to helping the poor while protecting the environment has won her deep respect in her native land, has found a way to mix loofah – a cucumber-like vegetable that is dried to yield a scratchy sponge for use as abrasive skin scrubber – with other vegetable matter like husks from corn and caranday palm trees, along with recycled plastic, to form strong, lightweight panels. Their hard work, along with the ecological methods they used and the quality of the fibre they produced, gave the product a competitive advantage over plantation-grown loofahs from China and other countries.
Record trade surplus as building approvals slump
Australia had a record trade surplus of $2.95 billion in October, but a building-approval fall was no cause for celebration. While that is good news, October’s building approvals data from the ABS means there is no cause for celebration. The number of approvals for residential building dropped by 5.4 per cent in October, seasonally adjusted, the fourth fall in a row, to be 26.1 per cent lower than a year earlier and at the lowest since April 2001.
Mansions go begging as wealthy dump luxury homes
Elite property listings have leaped by up to 24 per cent compared with the same time last year as cash-strapped investors face margin calls on share loans.
Finance and property giant on the brink of collapse
At its peak, Babcock & Brown was a $10.3 billion giant, with operations sprawling across investment banking, property, infrastructure and financial services.
Gold Coast developer Sunland
Gold Coast developer Sunland Group is negotiating to purchase two high rise development sites — one in Abu Dhabi and one in Qatar — as it diversifies outside the overheated Dubai property market.
