CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
From all of the team at DB Philpott Real Estate we’d like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
This year, instead of traditional Christmas cards and gifts, we have made donations to the Variety Children’s Charity and Hanson Institute.
We feel that the greatest gifts are those that have a positive impact!
Thank you for your support throughout 2022. We wish you and your family a healthy and prosperous 2023.
DB Philpott Real Estate will be open right through the Christmas and New Year period, keeping things moving over the holidays. We can assure you that we will continue to provide our reliable and consistent service to you every working day over the December and January holiday period.
INTEREST RATES
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has handed down its final cash rate decision for 2022.
After much conjecture about the trajectory of the cash rate, the RBA decided at its board meeting on Tuesday, 6 December, to lift the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.10 per cent.
It was expected that the central bank moved to raise the cash rate a final time before Christmas in an attempt to further stem inflation, even with the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) consumer price index rate of growth easing throughout October.
Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) president Hayden Groves called last week for the bank to heed to the latest ABS figures and relieve financial stresses from Australian borrowers heading into the holiday season.
“The current rate [of inflation] is below the budget forecast of 7.75 per cent and the RBA’s forecast of 8 per cent,” he said.
“There are lags between the RBA raising its cash rate and lenders passing on these increases to borrowers.”
The RBA, however, opted to keep its foot on the accelerator, according to RateCity research director Sally Tindall, who explained that “the board has said repeatedly it is prepared to do what it takes to get inflation back under control — one drop doesn’t mean ‘job done’”.
“This month’s inflation figures recorded a drop, but we’re still a long way from the target band of 2 to 3 per cent. With wages moving in the right direction and unemployment dropping back down to 3.4 per cent, the RBA has cover to fire off one last rate hike for the year,” she added.
Ms Tindall conceded, “the silly season is going to be a more serious one for a lot of families facing another cash rate hike before Christmas; at the same time, inflation is set to peak.”
Anneke Thompson, chief economist at CreditorWatch, said, “today’s decision by the RBA to further raise the cash rate will place undeniable financial pressure on Australian households.”
An additional interest rate increase compounds financial pressures already felt by Australian borrowers, especially considering November’s cash rate increase edged some borrowers closer to “uncharted waters”.
RBA delivers Christmas cash rate present – Real Estate Business
INSURANCE
Are you underinsured? According to recent CANSTAR & Insurance Council of Australia research, up to 83% of all Australian property is underinsured.
Did you also know that if you are under-insured, insurance companies may only pay out a pro-rata amount of the damage? This may mean the difference between being able to rebuild your property or having to compromise for a lesser replacement.
An accurate replacement cost estimate will ensure you have all the information you need to adequately insure your property. These reports estimate the actual cost to rebuild an asset, allowing for other often overlooked factors such as demolition, professional fees and escalation.
Building insurance is a balance between minimising the cost of the insurance premiums paid and maximising the peace of mind that comes with knowing you’re adequately insured. Too often property owners focus only on the premium and are not even sure what the current reconstruction costs would be to replace the property, the consultants and authority fees and the external site works. In many cases, it has been overlooked for some time, years in fact.
Firstly, an insurance replacement cost plan is a valuation and report on the cost to replace a particular building in today’s economic climate. Of course, the economic climate is not static, in fact, the current construction landscape is one of soaring construction costs and lengthy building programs. The risk of being underinsured exposes you, the property owner, to significant losses in the event of a disaster. Even if the property only requires partial reconstruction, it’s possible to be out of pocket when the insurance company does not release the total insured value for the property.
As a client of DB Philpott Real Estate we can refer you to a range of Quantity Surveyors to assess an accurate replacement cost.
Insurance Replacement Cost Plans – MCG Quantity Surveyors (mcgqs.com.au)
PROTECTING YOUR DATA AND PRIVACY & CYBER SECURITY MEASURE
Following heightened awareness in the marketplace around cyber security recently, we would like to take this opportunity to remind our clients of the robust investment we make to protect your data and privacy.
Our systems
We continue to invest considerably in ensuring our systems and infrastructure are secure. As an industry-leading platform, our primary data system ROCKEND has a high level of security measures employed, including regular vulnerability testing, audits, and dedicated team protecting their infrastructure and keeping your data safe. We work diligently with all our vendors in the security space, and in addition, run internal audits and data redundancy.
Our people
We have ongoing internal education to ensure that our people are security aware and have access to the tools to proactively protect your data and privacy.
Our clients
We would like to take this opportunity to confirm that we will never ask for payment details in an unsolicited manner. Changes to your account details will always be at your request and verified by a team member in person and must be in writing.
The Australian government provides a range of Personal Security Guidesto help individuals and families keep themselves cyber-secure.
Thank you for your ongoing support!
Regards David, Benjamin & the Team at DB Philpott Real Estate
