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Season 21 of The Block may be over but the sales are not, with two homes failing to find buyers at auction. It’s a different story across the broader market though. As auction clearance rates heat up we explain how to get your auction game on.  Life may imitate art, but reality TV doesn’t always reflect reality.   The Block ’s latest final episode is a case in point.  Two of the five homes failed to sell at auction. One didn’t even attract a bid. But auction clearance rates in our capital...

If you’ve just boarded the home buyer express, chances are ‘value’ is high on your list of neighbourhood must-haves. Well, it turns out that house hunters who are happy to stay on the train for just one more stop can be rewarded with savings totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars. When you’re house hunting, it’s not uncommon to want to snag a bargain. One possible solution? Check out the local rail map. New research by PropTrack shows house hunters could save hundreds of thousands of...

They say there’s nothing quite like a parent’s love. Well, perhaps except for a parent’s love plus an extra $40,000 to help buy your first home. Today we’ll look at the pros and cons of family support – plus other ways to buy a first home that give mum and dad a break. Saving a first home deposit can be an endurance test. Nationally, it takes an average of 5.6 years to save a 20% deposit .  The catch is that deposits tend to grow slowly, while property prices can rise quickly. In the past 12...