Investment the culprit in housing affordability - 2004-01-04
IT might be a new year, but there is one issue that just will not dissapear, housing affordability.

Everyone agrees that a major factor behind the more than doubling in house prices over the past decade has been the very sharp fall in mortgage interest rates over the period.

However, the great decline in mortgage rates, from more than 16 per cent to less than 7 per cent, was essentially over by 1997. Over the same period average house prices, in real terms, rose by about 20 percent.
Read the full story at Courier Mail

Your credit score is vital, and there are several ways to increase it - 2004-01-04
What is a credit score? How and where is it used? And what can I do to increase my credit score, and perhaps decrease my costs of borrowing money?
- J.J., Clinton, Conn.

Credit scores provide a numerical snapshot of your financial fitness. A quest to understand credit scoring should begin with a quick look at the nation's three largest credit tracking companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Each company keeps in touch with banks, mortgage lenders, auto lenders, credit-card companies and others.
Read the full story at Sunspot