Aussies are turning to alternative strategies to slash their home loans as the RBA holds off on rate cuts.

New research from Finder has revealed almost one in five Australians are reining in their spending to secure a home loan or pay off their mortgage.

With the RBA unlikely to provide interest rate relief until well after Christmas, Aussies are taking matters into their own hands to secure a mortgage, boost their borrowing power, or reduce their current debt.

A survey of more than 1000 Australians found 18 per cent — almost one in five — needed to reduce personal debt and spending to refinance or gain loan approval.

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NSW residents were the most likely state to cut back on spending, with one in five reducing spending to win loan approval, according to Finder.

This included reducing credit card debts, car and personal loans, cutting down on food delivery and subscriptions.

The financial incentive for tightening belts is clear.

For prospective buyers, existing debts can dramatically slash borrowing power while for mortgage holders it can hold them back from a mortgage free future.

While the average home loan rate sits at 5.73 per cent according to the RBA, the average credit card carries a hefty 20.99 per cent interest rate.

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For someone earning an average Australian weekly wage of $2010 a week – having an unused $20,000 credit card limit reduces borrowing capacity by $84,000 – that’s from about $713,000 down to $629,000, according to Finder’s mortgage calculator.

Even a modest $250 monthly car loan payment cuts borrowing power by $36,000 to $678,000 for the same salary.

Finder’s personal finance expert Sarah Megginson said borrowers were doing everything they could do boost their borrowing potential.

“People aren’t just trimming luxuries, many are overhauling their entire financial lives to prove to the bank they’re a safe bet,” she said.

“The fact that millions are cutting back just to refinance reveals how tight the credit environment is. It’s no longer enough to have equity, you need spotless spending habits too.”

Ms Megginson said people are delaying major life decisions, from starting a family to upgrading a car, all in pursuit of keeping or getting a home loan.

“It’s a stark reminder that home ownership now dictates how, and when, Australians live their lives.”

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The land size of sold properties is declining and buyer search patterns are aligning with this trend reflecting changes in economic, demographic, and planning factors over the past decade.

New data from PropTrack shows that the median land size of houses sold nationwide has been trending downwards since 2015.

In 2015, a typical house that transacted had a land area of 670sqm. This figure has steadily decreased over time with the median land area of a house down to 645sqm in the past year.

The decline is likely a result of new homes being built on smaller blocks which is a product of many factors.

One key driver is population growth. Since 2015, Australia’s population has risen by 15%, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It is projected to increase by another 16% over the next decade.

The increase in population naturally increases demand for housing, especially in metro areas where the majority of Australians live. With land supply constrained by geographic boundaries, planning and zoning restrictions, land and ultimately housing costs tend to rise.

In order to keep prices within reach of Australians, many new houses have reduced land areas.

In recent years, state governments have also implemented a number of zoning reforms to encourage the “infill” of suburbs close to transport and amenities. This includes increasing the areas in which low and mid-rise houses are able to be built. As a result, more townhouse and duplex projects have emerged, typically on smaller subdivided blocks to maximise land use in these areas.

These changes have contributed to a faster decline in house block sizes in capital cities compared with regional areas.

The decline in block sizes has produced an interesting parallel in buyer behaviour, with buyers adjusting expectations to align with reduced land sizes.

Buyers are searching for properties on smaller blocks

In 2020, the most searched property type was a house with four bedrooms and two bathrooms on a 600 sqm block. The second most searched was a house with four bedrooms and two bathrooms on a 500 sqm block, followed by three-bedroom, two-bathroom houses on a 500 sqm block.

From 2021 onwards, buyer search preferences have shifted with the most popular land size and configuration consistently being a 500sqm house with four bedrooms, two bathrooms. Larger 600 sqm blocks have since fallen out of the top three, replaced by smaller 400 sqm blocks with four bedrooms and two bathrooms, which became increasingly popular in 2024 and 2025.

While the change in searches has likely been influenced in part by the properties available on the market, the decreasing affordability of large blocks is another probable driver, particularly in the capital cities.

With fewer new houses being built on large blocks and the supply of existing ones remaining largely unchanged, the cost of larger houses tend to be higher.

In the face of affordability pressures, buyers have had to turn to houses on smaller blocks, leading to increased demand for these properties.

Although land sizes have declined over the years, an important detail to highlight is that the size of new houses have remained fairly stable.

House sizes remain steady despite land area trending downwards

At a national level, the average floor area of a newly built house is currently 241 sqm. Over the past decade, the interior area of a house has consistently ranged between 230 sqm and 240 sqm.

This has also been evident at a state level with new houses in most states showing little change and in some cases an increase in house size since 2015.

While there has been a shift from private backyards to shared communal and green spaces in recent years, internal living spaces are still a priority for buyers and also developers who are focused on maximising land-use.

What homes could look like in the next decade

In the next decade, the composition of our cities is likely to evolve further with an increase in semi-detached and attached dwellings (townhouses and apartments), underpinned by planning and zoning reforms. The block size of detached dwellings (houses) are projected to continue trending downward as land becomes more scarce and less affordable.

As houses on smaller blocks become more prevalent and account for a larger proportion of properties on the market, buyer preferences may shift even more towards compact plots.

Despite this, we expect house sizes to remain relatively unchanged in the coming years as Australians continue to value generous internal living spaces.

The post Australia’s block sizes are shrinking and so are buyer expectations appeared first on realestate.com.au.

A question we’ve received from clients with increased frequency is whether they can forgo recording their loan modification agreement in certain circumstances or jurisdictions without jeopardizing their mortgage lien. And, as someone who has litigated several lien priority disputes stemming from an unrecorded loan modification agreement, I can say the answer isn’t always straightforward. From the business perspective, there may be an opportunity to increase workflow efficiencies, reduce timelines, and save on title or recording fees by not recording. However, there is always the competing compliance perspective: maintaining compliance when the recording requirements are clear and successfully managing risk when the requirements are less evident.

If you haven’t evaluated your recording policies recently, now is a good time to start. The likelihood of a junior mortgagee raising a lien priority dispute tends to increase when foreclosure rates increase. With the possibility of increasing default rates looming on the horizon, I recommend sending a meeting invite to your compliance team to review your policies. Certainly, investor/insurer requirements will dictate when a loan modification agreement must be recorded. But when servicers have discretion to decide whether recording is necessary, how can servicers ensure their loan modification complies with applicable law? What state requirements exist for recording a loan modification agreement? In the absence of investor/insurer guidelines or state statutes, what criteria should you consider?

In the past, certain investor requirements identified when a loan modification agreement needed to be recorded or be in recordable form and involved factors such as the amount of arrearages being capitalized, the modified interest rate, the remaining term on the mortgage prior to the loan modification, and the modified maturity date. While these may no longer be express investor requirements, they are still important factors and are relied upon by many servicers. In fact, case law analyzing these questions take into consideration these same factors when assessing the impact of an unrecorded loan modification agreement and whether a junior lienholder has a genuine lien priority dispute.

Many states have laws that impose recording requirements. For instance, it goes without saying the loan modification agreement should be recorded in New York and Ohio. Yet, other states don’t speak to the modification agreement itself, but rather to loan characteristics like the maturity date or the expiration of the lien, which in turn are pivotal to the mortgage’s lien position and a foreclosure statute of limitation. States like Massachusetts, Texas, and Virginia have laws that require an agreement to extend the maturity date—and thereby extend the mortgage lien—to be recorded. If a loan modification does include an extension of the maturity date, failing to record the agreement could mean your mortgage lien expires much sooner than you think.

Another recent development is the Uniform Mortgage Modification Act (the “UMMA”), which was prepared by the National Conference of Commissions on Uniform State Laws and finalized in 2024. Beginning with the 2025 legislative session, states could consider adopting the UMMA or a version of it. So far, Utah and Nevada have adopted the UMMA, and West Virginia and Wyoming have introduced legislation for its adoption. In a nutshell, the UMMA establishes a standard for determining when a loan modification agreement need not be recorded and ensures it will not negatively impact the mortgage, its enforceability, or its lien priority.

The purpose of the UMMA is to clarify the law governing mortgage modifications, while saving time and money by reducing legal uncertainties and transaction costs. The drafters of the UMMA recognized that by imposing different recording requirements, the states have created a patchwork system that prevents servicers from maintaining a singular approach. As a solution, the UMMA creates a “safe harbor” modification, meaning if a loan modification agreement satisfies certain criteria it will preserve the original mortgage’s enforceability and lien priority without having to be recorded. Several of the UMMA’s criteria are the same factors identified above, therefore the UMMA should serve to reinforce servicers’ policies once its adoption has become more widespread. It is important for servicers to not only navigate existing state requirements but also monitor the UMMA’s progress to fully ensure compliance with applicable laws.

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Mortgage Connect provides a number of critical communication and loss mitigation products and services, including title services and loan modification agreements designed for both recordable and non-recordable purposes. If you have questions or concerns about your existing policies and how Mortgage Connect can help you navigate questions like those addressed in this article, please feel free to reach out to Jane Kennedy, Executive Vice President, Servicing @ jkennedy@mortgageconnectlp.com.

Over the last 30 years in this business, I’ve seen a lot of loan officers come and go. I’ve seen  managers get promoted, demoted, and disappear. I’ve seen companies rise, fall, rebrand, and  recycle their value props like clockwork.  

But the one thing that doesn’t seem to change — the thing that might actually be costing our  industry the most — is how we continue to hire the same kind of people, using the same logic,  with the same expectations… and then we’re shocked when the outcome doesn’t change.  

We call that recruiting. But really, it’s just insanity with a business card. 

When leaders confuse action with progress  

A loan officer leaves. Maybe they weren’t producing. Maybe they didn’t fit the culture. Maybe  they just bounced because someone else dangled a shinier comp plan. Whatever the reason, the  branch is now “short.” The pressure to fill the seat kicks in fast.  

So what happens?  

The manager starts looking for a replacement — but not with clarity. With urgency.  We fall back on the usual suspects:  

• The familiar name.  
• The person who’s “been around.”  
• The LO who swears this next move is the one that’s going to change everything.  They say all the right things:  

“I just didn’t get the support I needed.”  
“The last place overpromised.”  
“I’ve got deals lined up — I just need a better platform.”  

And my personal favorite “If I had your platform, I know I could double my production!”  

And we nod. We convince ourselves, “Well, we’ve got the systems. We’ve got the pricing. We’ve  got the culture. This will be the right fit for them.”

And then we bring them on.  

And 90 days later, we’re having the same conversation with our Ops we had the last time:  

• “Why is this file a mess?”
• “Why are they not updating the CRM?”  
• “Why are they asking for a RUSH on every file?”  

And we act surprised.  

But here’s the truth  

If the behavior doesn’t change, the results won’t either. And that’s the part we, as leaders, don’t  like to admit.  

We want to believe our environment will fix them. That we will finally be the ones to get them  to perform.  

But leadership can’t run on hope alone. At some point, it’s going to require discernment.  

Let me tell you about someone I know  

There’s an MLO I know of. Over the past 10 years, they’ve worked for 14 different mortgage  companies.  

And for the record, a few of those 14… were mine.  

Now, that kind of résumé doesn’t just happen by accident. It’s not the market. It’s not bad luck.  And it’s definitely not that they “just haven’t found the right fit.”  

This person struggles with two things:  

• Accountability, and  
• A resistance to any structure that might expose their weaknesses. 

They don’t want leadership — they want rescue.  
They want freedom without process.  
And when that doesn’t show up the way they imagined, they move on… again.  

It’s not that they’re a bad person. But when someone’s go-to move is leaving, you’re never going  to get consistency. You’re never going to build momentum. And you sure as hell won’t hit your  P&L targets. 

Why do we keep hiring this person?  

Because we think this time will be different.  

We tell ourselves we’re the exception. That our platform, pricing, and culture will finally unlock  something that no one else could.  

We rationalize their past by saying things like:  

“They failed somewhere else because they didn’t have what we have.”  

But here’s the reality:  

It’s never about what the company offers. 
It’s always about what the loan officer chooses to use — and how they show up when no one’s  watching.  

• The best tools in the world won’t change someone who doesn’t want to change.   The best tech stack won’t help someone who ignores training.  
• The best pricing won’t save someone who won’t pick up the phone.  

And no… the last four companies didn’t get together and conspire to lie to this one LO.  The common denominator in all the failed situations — is the LO.  

For the record, the last time a recruiter brought up this person to me again — I passed. Since  then, they’ve already been with three more companies.  

The flip side: Loan officers need to hear this too  

Let’s not put all the weight on leadership.  

If you’re a loan officer reading this and you’ve been through multiple companies, and the story’s  always the same — that they lied, that they didn’t deliver, that they failed you — it might be time  to ask yourself a better question:  

What if the thing that’s not changing… is me? 

If you keep walking into the same conversation, maybe it’s not because the industry’s broken.  Maybe it’s because you haven’t slowed down enough to own your role in the outcome.  

And that’s not a dig. That’s an invitation to grow. 

Leadership requires pattern recognition  

One of the most underrated skills in recruiting isn’t selling the company — it’s seeing the pattern  before it becomes a problem.  

• If someone’s had five logos on their LinkedIn in five years…  
• If every story starts with “they didn’t support me…”  
• If every goal sounds like a fantasy but the discipline isn’t there…  

Then we have to stop fooling ourselves into thinking we’ll be the ones to change them. 

You don’t build a strong branch by collecting bodies. You build it by curating a team that shares a rhythm, a mindset, and a willingness to be coached.  

Because like I said in Leadership Matters — leadership isn’t about playing the loudest note. It’s  about holding down the rhythm, connecting the team, and keeping the song moving forward.  

Final thought: Stop the cycle  

If you’re a manager, stop hiring in circles.  

If you’re a loan officer, stop joining in circles.  

Insanity isn’t always loud.  
Sometimes it looks like the quiet, repeated decision to do the same thing and expect something  magical to happen.  

So let’s stop hoping. Let’s start leading.  
Let’s start having better conversations on both sides of the recruiting table.  And maybe next time… it really will be different — because we chose to be. 

Fobby Naghmi is the SVP of AnnieMac Home Mortgage.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners. To contact the editor responsible for this piece: zeb@hwmedia.com.

Han intends to finish this show as she started. Hiding out in the caravan having a sook.

Refusing to come out to talk to Foreman Dan because she was “too cold”, Han decided to instead discuss the plans over the phone from her hideaway.

Realising how strapped for cash the girls are this week, Dan was surprised to hear that Han was still flirting with unnecessarily rendering the walls of her pool cabana.

It felt like another case of Han making a rod for her own back, fixating on minor details at the expense of the big picture (in this instance finishing a huge garden space).

She had done the same thing with the shed last week. And the garage before that.

Frustrated to find Han hiding in the caravan after tramping mud all through the interior, Can sniped: “I’m trying to have fun down there and you’re doing f**king dumb sh*t.”

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Can also reminded Han that they were falling behind. Everyone else was making headway on their gardens while Han was toasting up some peanut butter bagels and umming and ahhing about rendering the cabana walls.

“I’m not doing what everyone else is doing,” Han protested as Can pleaded with her to see sense when there was an entire garden still to finish with the smallest budget on The Block.

Han was not swayed, bellowing: “I will do what I want to do!”

“And where does that get us? The bottom of the leader board,” Can retorted.

“Why aren’t we choosing easy at this point? And cheap? We don’t have any money.”

She had a point. But to Han, it felt like Can had lost trust in her vision and ability to get the job done. Plus, her dad was about to arrive on site to help her finish the job (for minimum wage).

Han’s dad – and her first choice for doing The Block with – had assured her over the phone that rendering the cabana walls could be done. And so, that’s what she was going to do, come hell or high water.

Can wasn’t convinced.

“I think we just figure out where we focus our efforts Han,” Can said, tactfully.

“A shed is a shed. A cabana is a cabana. And that’s all it shall be. Shall we focus our attentions out to the wider garden darling?”

As Han urged her other half to stop teasing her, she spat “I love you but I hate you right now.”

Remarkably, even after all this, Han was still talking about purchasing a sauna.

As Can showed her the books, to prove just how little money there was this week, Han seemed to think that there was still money lurking somewhere.

“You are not a builder. You have no idea how much things are going to cost. You are overreacting,” Han reasoned.

Meanwhile Can was having buyer’s remorse for splurging on some of Han’s previous suggestions. Things like an expensive wine fridge and altering the lay-out of the house. Oh, and let’s not forget the unfinished shed.

It wasn’t just the girls who were struggling. Ben and Emma hit a roadblock when foreman Dan came past to tell them their $20,000 concrete slab wasn’t up to code. It was too steep and would need to be pulled up and redone.

The setback left the normally upbeat pair feeling uncharacteristically glum.

Britt was also in a slump. Despite being gifted a bunch of helium balloons and a celebratory meal to mark her 30 th birthday, Britt wasn’t in the mood to party.

Instead, she and Taz snuck off to have their own private dinner without telling the others they weren’t attending the festivities in Britt’s honour.

The cause of Britt’s mood was the news their shed wasn’t compliant and would need to be changed before the house could go to auction.

Reluctantly the couple agreed to remove their tables and chairs and add more wine storage, to make the space more of a cellar and less of a speakeasy.

In typical form, Sonny wasn’t too sad to hear Britt and Taz’s shed had been given the thumbs down.

“Why, should I be? Rules are rules,” he shrugged.

Mat was a little less discreet, dancing down the street singing “non compliant” with delight.

Following the advice of Dave Franklin, Mat and Robbie have invested in a huge bottle tree. The 4.2m tree will join a yard already brimming with novelties such as a pickle ball court and vast fireplace.

Alicia, on the other hand, after a few wink-wink-nudge-nudge chortles about “erecting Sonny’s big wood” (arbour) was taking a less is more approach to her landscape, arguing “just because you’ve got space, doesn’t mean you have to fill it all.”

MISSED AN EPISODE? HERE’S ALL OUR RECAPS SO FAR

Episode 1: Why no NSW applicants were good enough for The Block

Episode 2: The worst day on The Block

Episode 3/4: ‘Tear them off’: teams forced to rip tiles from walls

Episode 5: Judges feedback leaves one contestant vomiting

Episode 6: Dan and Dani’s heartbreak

Episode 7: The big problem with the Block house designs

Episode 8: Robby and Mat’s drunken blunder

Episode 9: ‘An up-market nursing home’

Episode 10: Can faces the wrath of Han

Episode 11: Han micromanaging from her sick bed

Episode 12: Sonny cops a spray from Alicia

Episode 13: Brutal feedback leaves Block team confused

Episode 14: Han and Can are in trouble with Dan, and other contestants

Episode 15: Han explodes at Dan in shocking tirade

Episode 16: Defiant Han gets epic dressing down from Scott Cam

Episode 17: Two teams are smashed by hyperbolic judges

Episode 18: Two teams start the week devastated by judges’ feedback

Episode 19: Copying scandal erupts as Alicia and Sonny point the finger

Episode 20: Ben and Emma drop good news into tense Block week

Episode 21: Ben and Emma and Sonny and Alicia cop the wrath of the judges

Episode 22: As Sonny and Alicia despair, Mat summons his inner Mean Boy

Episode 23: Han and Can all but quit the spa room challenge

Episode 24: Ben and Emma finally crack after yet another loss

Episode 25: Britt and Taz make a major blunder

Episode 26: The girls fire their builder

Episode 27: Ben and Emma hatch a sneaky plan

Episode 28: Britt’s decision to freeze out her former bestie has Alicia on the warpath

Episode 29: ‘Basic’, ‘no heart’, ‘not elegant’ – judges pan some teams’ kitchens

Episode 30: Block stars ugly showdown

Episode 31: Greed and cheating accusations at body corp meeting

Episode 32: Team unleashes on ‘dog act’

Episode 33: Three teams fail to finish in bruising week

Episode 34: Han fires up at sacked builder over ‘w***er’ texts

Episode 35: Sonny refuses to back down on his decision to block extended hours

Episode 36: Sonny dobs in Britt and Taz and Han loses her cool

Episode 37: Going all out for a win one team comes unstuck

Episode 38: Mild-mannered Ben calls for an arson attack on Britt and Taz

Episode 39: Alicia denies making snide comments then refers to Britt’s ‘b***h face’

Episode 40: A controversial Block win stirs new trouble

Epidode 41: A pig-headed decision could cost one team big at auction

Epidode 42: Han worries she’s been portrayed as a spoilt brat

The post The Block 2025 Episode 43 recap: In a repeat of last week, Han has big plans and no cash appeared first on realestate.com.au.