A fixed-rate, fixed-term home loan may yet prove an absolute bargain. The traditional Christmas "sucker's rally" is now well and truly behind us as markets start to focus on the harsh reality of the real economy during 2009.
The Reserve Bank has been freed from the threat of inflation, allowing it to cut interest rates dramatically next week as it works to keep the economy out of recession.
Home-loan approvals rose more than expected in November as first-home buyers got back into the market, offering a glimmer of hope for a sector whose growth has been stalled by the economic slowdown.
First-home buyers are storming back into the property market, lured by aggressive interest rate cuts and generous government grants, but official job figures out today hold the key to whether the recovery is shortlived.
You can almost hear the sound of cheap champagne corks popping. A generation of would-be first-home buyers are getting ready to escape the clutches of the rental market.
More than 40,000 unlucky people have been caught out in a fixed mortgage rate trap, having taken out their loan at the highest fixed interest rates in a decade.
Householders who put solar panels on their roofs and generate power that feeds back into the electricity grid will be paid a fee, but how much will not be decided until January.
Price on Application 
