Author: mangakiko

“We do think there will be people who are going to struggle with these higher rates but it’s probably a small cohort at this stage,” she said.

First-time buyers using various government support measures clustered into particular parts of the country over the past three years. In Melbourne’s outer suburbs they included Cranbourne, Mickleham, Craigieburn and Mickleham while in Sydney they included Narellan, Camden and Riverstone.

The NSW central west city of Dubbo and the Logan-Beaudesert area of ​​Brisbane also attracted large numbers of first-time buyers who used low deposit schemes to get a foothold into the property market.

While house prices soared 25 to 30 per cent nationally through the pandemic, some areas had only moderate increases. Those areas are now experiencing falls in values.

In Melbourne’s Toorak, values ​​climbed by 11.1 per cent through the pandemic but have fallen 10 per cent over recent months. It’s a similar story in nearby Armadale (up by 11.6 per cent through the pandemic but down 10.4 per cent) and Hawthorn (13 per cent increase but a subsequent 8.6 per cent drop).

In Sydney, values ​​lifted by 9.5 per cent in Lakemba through COVID but have since fallen 7 per cent. Macquarie Park values ​​jumped by 17.5 per cent but have since gone backward by 11.9 per cent while in Chippendale values ​​went up 18.2 per cent but have given back 10 per cent.

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said tougher serviceability tests introduced by banking regulators would take some sting out of the recent lift in rates, but there would be some pain for people who had most recently entered the property market.

“Considering the dual impact of higher interest rates alongside high rates of inflation for non-discretionary items such as fuel, food, renting and energy costs, the impact on households is likely to be broad-based,” he said.

“With the cost of debt rising, and with inflation so high, we are likely to see a lot of households needing to cut back on their discretionary spending to ensure they can meet their debt obligations and purchase essentials goods.”

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The most recent increase in interest rates has made an immediate impact on consumer sentiment.

The ANZ’s weekly measure of consumer sentiment fell by 4.5 per cent last week to its lowest level since April 2020 during the then-nationwide pandemic lockdown. Confidence among homeowners dropped by 7 per cent.

ANZ’s head of Australian economics David Plank said the confidence was being affected by the RBA’s interest rate increases.

“So far in 2022, household spending has been robust despite very weak consumer sentiment, with strong employment gains, high levels of household saving and a desire to travel more than offsetting concerns about the rising cost of living,” he said.

“It remains to be seen whether this divergence between confidence and spending can continue.”

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Macdonald would later tell Strauss, according to the writ, that he had negotiated with the ASX for the escrow period to be reduced to one year because he was never a director or employee of GetSwift.

Just days before the float in December 2016, Strauss signed an agreement prepared by GetSwift that stopped him from selling the stock for 12 months for “the purpose of complying with chapter nine of the ASX listing rules,” according to the writ.

The value of GetSwift shares surged from 20¢ to more than $4 within 12 months of listing, but plummeted when the company became embroiled in a series of scandals over breaches of its disclosure and reporting obligations.

In February 2018, the company announced that fewer than half the contracts it had been spruiking were actually generating revenue.

Statements to the ASX announcing agreements with companies such as Commonwealth Bank, Fantastic Furniture and The Fruit Box also failed to mention that clients were only trialling, or contemplating a trial, on the GetSwift platform.

When Strauss’ shares were eventually released from escrow – almost three months after the agreed date – he was forced to sell them at significantly reduced prices. Had he sold at the peak of the market, the footballer-turned-investor would have made more than $15 million.

He would later learn from correspondence with the ASX that it had never imposed an escrow requirement on his shares, which were only ever subject to a voluntary arrangement, according to court documents.

Macdonald, who according to recent social media posts now lives in Florida, did not respond to phone calls or emails from The Age.

In 2019, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission started legal proceedings against the company and its directors, alleging GetSwift repeatedly misled the market in a series of ASX announcements about client agreements.

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Late last year, the Federal Court found that GetSwift had made misleading statements and breached its disclosure obligations. Macdonald and another director, Bane Hunter, were also found to have failed to meet their obligations as directors.

Justice Michael Lee said the evidence showed “what might be described as a public relations-driven approach to corporate disclosure on behalf of those wielding power within the company”.

Penalties will be determined during a three-day hearing to be held in January next year.

During a case management hearing last month, ASIC’s lawyer told the court it is seeking a $15 million penalty against the company, million-dollar fines against Macdonald and Hunter, and 12-year disqualifications for each of them.

The company is also facing a class action run by Phi Finney McDonald. A conditional settlement agreement was reached in the Federal Court in mid-2021, without any admission of liability by the company or the directors.

The company left the ASX in January last year to relist on Canada’s obscure stock exchange Neo, a move which was opposed by ASIC and then federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

The company’s Australian subsidiary was placed into liquidation last month and the parent company this week filed for bankruptcy in the US.

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