Steven Korner - The Finance Korner

Steven Korner - The Finance Korner Dealing With The Banks So You Don't Have To.

03/09/2026

The market is starting to get interesting

01/09/2026

Two of the world's largest asset managers now own residential properties across Australia, and most tenants have no idea who their landlord actually is.

Vanguard and BlackRock collectively manage over $20 trillion in assets globally, and a portion of that capital flows into Australian residential property through REITs and institutional property funds. These vehicles allow global investment giants to acquire single-family homes, apartments, duplexes, and build-to-rent developments at scale, competing directly with everyday Australian buyers for the same housing stock.

The practical impact on renters can be noticeable. Institutional landlords typically operate with standardised lease terms and professional property management, which may mean less flexibility on negotiations around maintenance or rent reviews. For some tenants this could feel more transactional than a traditional private landlord arrangement.

The broader concern for buyers is around price pressure. When institutional capital targets the same metro corridors that first home buyers are competing in, it could potentially contribute to upward pressure on both purchase prices and rents, particularly in areas where build-to-rent developments are expanding rapidly.

For anyone sitting on the fence about entering the market, understanding who else is competing for that stock is genuinely useful context. The composition of property ownership in Australia is shifting, and that shift could have long-term implications for affordability and housing supply that are worth paying attention to.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

30/08/2026

Do you agree?

28/08/2026

Everyone always says they wish they bought during the last market crash, yet only a handful of people ACTUALLY do!

26/08/2026

Waiting until you feel ready to buy an investment property is one of the most expensive financial decisions a person can make.

The property market doesn't pause while you gather confidence. Someone who purchased their first investment property in Sydney in 2015 instead of waiting until 2020 could have seen their entry price increase by well over $200,000 in that window alone. The market moved regardless of whether they felt prepared.

The shift that tends to separate action-takers from long-term waiters is replacing the question "do I feel ready" with a specific, pre-defined financial threshold. Something like having $80,000 in usable savings, a stable income above $135,000, and a credit score over 700. When those numbers are hit, the decision is essentially made for you.

This matters because readiness as a feeling rarely arrives on its own. Life stays busy, markets stay uncertain, and there's generally always a reason to wait a little longer. A measurable trigger removes the emotional component entirely and gives you a clear, objective signal to move.

For many first-time investors, defining those triggers with a broker or financial professional before they're needed could potentially be the single most impactful step they take in their property journey.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

24/08/2026

Going to be some great property deals for people over the next 12 - 24 months!

22/08/2026

Most borrowers don't realise their offset account is quietly costing them money every single day they underuse it.

Home loan interest is calculated daily on your outstanding balance, not monthly, not quarterly. This means every dollar sitting in your offset account reduces the balance the bank charges interest on in real time, even if that money is only there for a few weeks before being spent.

The difference between treating an offset like a casual savings account versus a strategic tool can potentially add up to tens of thousands of dollars over the life of a loan. For a $600,000 mortgage, having an extra $10,000 sitting in your offset for an additional 30 days a month could reduce your interest charges meaningfully across a 30-year term.

The approach that tends to work best is having your income paid directly into the offset account, then transferring a calculated monthly amount into a separate everyday account for bills and spending. The key is knowing your actual monthly expenses to within a few hundred dollars, so you're moving across only what you genuinely need.

This keeps the maximum amount of money reducing your loan balance for as long as possible each month. For many borrowers, this simple structural change could potentially shave years off a standard 30-year loan without requiring any extra repayments.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

20/08/2026

Having an ABN doesn't automatically make you self-employed in the eyes of a lender, and for labour-hire contractors, that distinction could change everything about how your income is assessed.

Some lenders have a specific policy for ABN contractors who operate more like employees than business owners. If you work predominantly for one labour-hire agency, receive a consistent weekly payment, and don't invoice multiple clients, certain lenders may assess your application under a PAYG-style policy rather than treating you as self-employed. This could mean your borrowing capacity is calculated using your weekly pay rate rather than two years of lodged tax returns.

The difference in approval timelines and borrowing outcomes can be significant. Tax returns take months to prepare, and if your most recent year reflects a lower income or inconsistent figures, lenders who assess you as self-employed may discount your borrowing capacity considerably. Being assessed under contractor-friendly PAYG policy could potentially allow you to apply sooner and on stronger figures.

To qualify under these policies, lenders typically look for at least 12 months with the same agency, a consistent payment frequency from a single source, and in some cases, a letter from the agency confirming the ongoing nature of the arrangement. Not every lender applies this approach, and some may still classify you as self-employed regardless of how you're paid, which makes lender selection particularly important in this scenario.

Working with a broker who understands which lenders have genuine contractor policy could potentially get your application assessed on income you're already earning.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

18/08/2026

wild times for first home buyers

16/08/2026

Sacrificing your bonus into super before a loan application could quietly cost you access to a property worth far more than the tax you saved.

When a lender calculates your borrowing capacity, they work from your assessable income, which is the income that actually appears on your payslip. If you've directed a $20,000 bonus into super through salary sacrifice, that amount may not show up as received income, meaning the lender could be assessing you on $120,000 when your real earning capacity is closer to $140,000.

That $20,000 gap can translate to roughly $80,000 to $100,000 less in borrowing capacity depending on the lender and your existing financial commitments. On a 30-year loan, that kind of reduction could push a property out of reach entirely or force you into a significantly lower price bracket.

Here's where it gets interesting though. Many major Australian lenders, including some of the Big Four, may add voluntary super salary sacrifice back into your assessable income during assessment. Because the arrangement is entirely voluntary, credit assessors generally recognise that you could stop contributions at any time to service a loan, so some lenders won't penalise you for it.

The tax argument for salary sacrificing is real, a $20,000 concessional contribution taxed at 15% rather than your marginal rate could save you $6,000 or more. But if a home loan application is on the horizon within the next year or two, it's worth understanding how your bonus structure could affect what you're able to borrow before making that call.



Content is general information only and not personalised credit advice. Loan eligibility, rates, repayments, fees and lender policies vary and can change. Speak with a licensed broker for advice tailored to your situation.

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