A great Seabreeze festival was held two weekends back.

Interest Rates, where to now?

RBA cuts cash rate below 4% for first time in 2 years.

The cash rate will drop below 4 per cent for the first time in two years as the central bank continues its rate-easing cycle.

The widely expected decision takes the interest rate below 4 per cent for the first time since May 2023, when it was 3.85 per cent

The May/June cash rate decision marks the second rate drop this year, after the RBA cut rates by 25 bps in February 2025 to start the rate-easing cycle.

The rate cut follows encouraging inflation data for the March quarter, which saw the annual trimmed mean of inflation, one of the figures the RBA is most interested in when setting the cash rate, fall within the central bank’s 2–3 per cent target range for the first time in more than three years.

In a statement as it announced its cash rate decision, the RBA said Inflation continues to moderate: “Inflation has fallen substantially since the peak in 2022, as higher interest rates have been working to bring aggregate demand and supply closer towards balance.

Owner Occupied rates (at time of writing).

For an owner occupied $400,000 loan at 80% LVR the rate available is 4.99% with a comparison rate of 4.99%.

Investment property rates.

For an investment property with a $400,000 loan at 80% LVR the rate available is 5.24% with a comparison rate of 5.24%.

First Home Buyer

I have updated the web site with the available exemptions have a look at this link for more details: https://arafin.com.au/first-home-buyer

The block and build grant of $50k may be one of the best deals in the country.

Property values and other statistics

A client of ours saw a $100,000 difference between purchase price and sale price in the last six months at Palmerston. It seems there is a lot of competition for existing properties at the moment. What follows are the early May numbers.

In the last three months we have seen a rise of 3.4% in property values in the NT which is positive news.

According to CoreLogic the last twelve months show Darwin property values increasing by 2.5%.

NT Property values are still 2.7% less than the 2014 property high.

The number of properties sold in Darwin is 35% more than 12 months ago.

The number of properties for sale in Darwin is 27% less than 12 months ago.

Darwin is the cheapest capital to buy property in with a median value of $519,000.

The rental yield for Darwin investment properties is the best of the capital cities at 6.6%.

In the last quarter the median price of houses and units sold was $603,000 and $366,000, respectively.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me should you require assistance or have a question to be answered.