Although the media is full of alarm about housing affordability, existing home owners and property investors should be careful when they interpret the information they see on TV.

The media reports the housing affordability crisis as if it is bad news for everyone but this is not true. The fact is that the same factors leading to low housing affordability also lead to benefits for existing, or intending, residential property investors.

What are some of these factors and how do they play into the hands of investors? Firstly, there is the low rate of housing starts in Australia at the moment. Figures published by the Housing Industry Association (HIA) show that the rate of new dwellings being built is stagnant and lagging behind underlying demand which HIA estimates at 170,000 annually. In the most recent financial year the new starts were just 150,993 and this was down 0.3% on the previous year. In the month of August 2007 detached dwelling approvals were just 8,852 and unit approvals were just 3,811 - both substantially down from the level in the same month in the previous year.

Secondly, the HIA reports that rents increased on average by 1.6% Australia-wide in the September quarter. The annualised rate of increase to rents is much higher.

Thirdly, there is a decrease in the rental vacancy rate; that is, the number of vacant dwellings which are not producing a rental income to their owner. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Federal Treasury report that Australia's overall rental vacancy rate has fallen to just 1.36% - the lowest level recorded since the series began in September 1969. A vacancy rate of 3.0% is generally believed to indicate a balanced situation between demand and supply in the rental market.

Finally, the HIA has reported that average house prices across Australia have soared by 11.4% in the past twelve months.

The combined effect of all these factors means that the main nagging doubt faced by new property investors should be substantially calmed. One of the big worries for investors is that they may not be able to rent the dwelling at all or that they may only receive poor rental returns. It would appear from these statistics that, despite housing affordability issues for new home buyers, there are reasons for existing home owners and prospective property investors to be confident about the future.

If you are one such investor who has also come to this conclusion through your own independent research, now may be the time to contact us to discuss your financing options. We can help you access a loan from an extensive range of lenders.

As your mortgage broker, our role is more than arranging finance solutions - Our goal is to be up-to-date with the finance products and services on offer

This is a very exciting time as the level of competition between banks, credit unions and other lenders means there are attractive loan packages. These lenders are looking for business and as your mortgage broker we're in the ideal position to arrange a deal that suits your particular needs.

The market place has never been more complex with all that is on offer from the more basic, right up to more complicated products that need considerable thought and management.

So, as well as our ability to help you choose a loan to suit your needs, you have the added benefit of our ongoing assistance and support.

It's often nice to be able to pick up the phone and talk to a real person and know they understand your circumstances and genuinely want to help.

As everyone's circumstances change from time to time; be it redundancy, promotion, an addition to the family, or potential retirement, all can mean it's time to review your loan arrangements and make sure your finances continue to work for you.

Remember, we're here to help and we're only a phone call away.

You may have heard the term 'offset' or 'offset account' but do you know what it means?

An offset account allows a home owner or investment property owner to place an amount of money on deposit with the lender. Instead of receiving interest on the deposit as would be usual, the interest is 'offset' against the interest accruing on the mortgage.

Let's take a simple example. You become a beneficiary of a will and gain $100,000 as a cash amount. You decide that you do not want to pay that money into your loan account as a capital reduction because you have it earmarked for another purpose later on. You may simply want to keep it as a future reserve.

If you establish an offset account with your mortgage lender, and place that $100,000 on deposit, the lender will waive the interest due on the first $100,000 of your mortgage loan. Various conditions and terms apply which I can explain. This means that a much higher proportion of your normal monthly repayments will go to the repayment of principal rather than interest. Consequently your mortgage is reducing faster.

There are a number of other benefits to using this financial tool. There are also conditions for example it must be your own money in the offset account.

At the start of a loan contract, buyers are usually looking for every dollar they can find to establish their own equity, limit their total borrowing and ensure they have sufficient cash flow to meet repayments. The benefits of offset do not usually come into play at this stage because an offset account requires that you have excess liquidity.

The concept of offset usually becomes relevant at a later stage when the loan has been running for a while and when the borrower's financial circumstances improve.

If you would like to learn about how an offset account works, and about how it could be organised in your case, please give me a call.