Central Mortgage Broker

12/05/2026

Did history repeat itself?
For those who don’t know, they have already done this before.

Back in mid-1985, Australia banned tax breaks for negative gearing, as part of a package of sweeping tax reforms. A year later, under the Reagan administration, the United States did the same – and also abolished tax breaks for capital gains. After two years, the Hawke government wobbled under pressure from vested interests and restored the tax break for negative gearing.

But the United States has never restored it. If we want to know what might happen here in Australia now that Labour has removed negative gearing again, we can only look at what happened in the American experience for valuable lessons.

05/05/2026

With Australia's inflation being one of the highest in the world, it is no surprise that at its meeting today, the Board decided to increase the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.35 per cent.

This means, unfortunately, homeowners will have to pay the price once again through increased mortgage repayments, in a bid to try and slow out-of-control inflation. With banks typically trying to make as much as 2% above the RBA rate. This means your mortgage may now be as much as 6.35% pa 😳

What the RBA said:
Inflation picked up materially in the second half of 2025, and information since the beginning of this year confirms that some of this increase reflected greater capacity pressures. In addition, the conflict in the Middle East has resulted in sharply higher fuel and related commodity prices, which are already adding to inflation.
Read more here: https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2026/mr-26-12.html

05/05/2026

Wow, with the Property market booming, $90K literally only gets you a prison cell, in the market nowadays. Though I do hope our first home buyers aim a little higher than this. When Cell 120 goes up for auction later this month. 😮

The decommissioned jail once housed some of Australia’s most infamous inmates.

29/04/2026

-WARNING-

The RBA will most likely increase interest rates again when they meet next week on the 5th of May.

As inflation has gone up to 4.6% from last month's 3.7%. The target is 2-3%, so at 4.6% I think the RBA, will push to raise rates.

Let us know your thoughts. What could they do better to manage this? Would higher export taxes on resources be a better option to lower inflation? Could this help reduce our cost for fuel here?

The RBA even says on their own site: "A powerful lesson from history is that low and stable inflation is a prerequisite for a strong economy and sustained full employment and growth in real wages."

14/04/2026

NEW WARNING: With AI use on the rise, it’s fair to say we have already seen many convincing AI fake photos and videos. But what if you are shopping for a new home, and unknown to you, the real estate agent used AI to alter the Photos? Are you okay with this? Or is it ethical to allow? Does this waste your time looking at homes that are not true to what you thought you saw advertised?

For our team, it was a shock to read in a recent Real Estate listing the following words at the bottom of their listing: “Please note that some photographs in this Real Estate advertisement have been digitally enhanced using AI-assisted editing software.”

So, with the rise in AI, we strongly warn our clients, please make sure when shopping for property, to check all photos are true and correct on inspection. Ask the Agents whether they have used AI to alter any photos? And if so, ask them what changed. Why they changed it, and if they could supply you with the original, non-altered photos. To help you make a better-informed decision before buying.

17/03/2026

Please don’t shoot the Messenger!!

As I‘m really sorry for hardworking families out there! The short of it is that the RBA at its meeting today decided to increase the cash rate target by another 25 basis points, to 4.10 per cent. This makes 2 increases, within two months! As they force homeowners yet again to make higher mortgage repayments in an attempt to slow inflation.

Their reasoning:

While inflation has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022, it picked up materially in the second half of 2025. Information since the February meeting suggests that some of the increase in inflation reflects greater capacity pressures. In addition, the conflict in the Middle East has resulted in sharply higher fuel prices, which, if sustained, will add to inflation. Short-term measures of inflation expectations have already risen. As a result, the Board judged that there is a material risk that inflation will remain above target for longer than previously anticipated. You can read the rest of this on their page: https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2026/mr-26-08.html

Effective from the 18th of March 2026

25/02/2026

Buckle up! The latest inflation figures were just released...
The bad news is that we are still at 3.8% for Jan 2026

What does this mean?

This could likely prompt the RBA to raise rates again.
They next meet on the 17th of March 2026.

Note the RBA deem normal inflation between 2-3%,

Chat to us here at Central Mortgage Broker for any more info regarding how this affects your home loan.

See this chart for reference

03/02/2026

I really hoped they would’ve held off until the next meeting on the 17th of March to again review rates. But here we are, and they have made the decision to lift rates by .25% to 3.85%.

We will be watching the banks over the coming weeks. As Banks start passing on this increase of .25% to their customers. Of course, if you get an increase higher than expected, or if you want us to check your rate? Please let us know

What the RBA had to say…
At its meeting today, the Board decided to increase the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 3.85 per cent.
While inflation has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022, it picked up materially in the second half of 2025. The Board has been closely monitoring the economy and judges that some of the increase in inflation reflects greater capacity pressures. As a result, the Board considers that inflation is likely to remain above target for some time.
Capacity pressures reflect, in part, the greater momentum in demand seen in recent months. Growth in private demand has strengthened substantially more than expected, driven by both household spending and investment. Activity and prices in the housing market are also continuing to pick up. Financial conditions eased over 2025 and it is uncertain whether they remain restrictive. Credit is readily available to both households and businesses and the effects of earlier interest rate reductions are yet to flow through fully to aggregate demand, prices and wages. More recently, the exchange rate, money market interest rates and government bond yields have risen following a rise in market expectations for the cash rate.
Various indicators suggest that labour market conditions remain a little tight and that they have stabilised in recent months, in line with the pick-up in momentum in economic activity. The unemployment rate has been a little lower than expected and measures of labour underutilisation remain at low rates. Growth in the Wage Price Index has eased from its peak, but broader measures of wages growth continue to be strong and growth in unit labour costs remains high.
There are uncertainties about the outlook for domestic economic activity and inflation and the extent to which monetary policy is restrictive. On the domestic side, if growth in demand is stronger than expected, and growth in the economy’s supply capacity remains limited, it is likely to add further to capacity pressures. Uncertainty in the global economy remains significant but so far there has been little or no depressing effect on the Australian economy; indeed, recent growth and trade in Australia’s major trading partners has surprised on the upside.

Source: https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2026/mr-26-03.html

21/11/2025

Interesting times with AI and the data risks it presents. We just heard Gmail has started reading all your private emails and attachments to train its AI, unless you opt out. As a business, we don't use Gmail. But I know lots of our customers may use Gmail.

So if you do, it may be worth checking your AI share settings...

A new Gmail update may allow Google to use your private messages and attachments for AI training. Here's how to turn it off.

04/11/2025

With inflation riding higher than the 2-3% targeted range. The RBA, for now, has put the brakes on cutting interest rates.

Meaning with only one more meeting, scheduled in 2025 for the 9th of December, and with December normally fuelled by Christmas spending. We most likely will not see any further rate cuts until early 2026, when inflation can hopefully drop back into or below the targeted range.