Have you ever wondered why we’re called “Our Leg Up”? It’s not just a catchy name—it’s a reflection of our mission to provide support and elevate individuals in their journey towards financial independence. Let’s clear up some common misconceptions and explore the meaning and inspiration behind Our Leg Up.

The Origin of “Our Leg Up”

The concept of giving someone “a leg up” means to assist them in making progress, especially in their career or personal development. At Our Leg Up, we extend this concept to financial empowerment, offering innovative solutions that help homeowners maximise the utility of their biggest asset—their home—without the burdens of traditional debt. Our borrower product enables individuals to access competitive home loans by unlocking the equity in their homes, significantly lowering deposit requirements and enhancing financial flexibility without the burden of traditional debt. Complementing this, our net-zero product provides homeowners with financial incentives to upgrade their properties with energy-efficient technologies. By covering the costs associated with reducing residential emissions, we not only give a leg up to individual financial security but also contribute to broader environmental sustainability.

Common Mishearings and Misinterpretations

It’s easy to see why names get tangled:

• One Leg Up: Suggests individual effort, but we’re about communal support. And also by using a community, we help diversify the risk.
• A Leg Up: Close, but lacks the inclusivity we embody.
• Leg Up: The root idea, yet it misses the collective aspect of our services.
• OLU: Our acronym, though it may not immediately convey our full mission.

Each of these variations captures a part of what we do, but none encompasses the full scope like “Our Leg Up.”

Why “Our” Makes the Difference

The word “Our” in Our Leg Up emphasises community and collective action. We believe in the power of community support to help individuals achieve their dreams. This is not about individual achievement; it’s about lifting each other up through shared opportunities and resources.

What We Offer

At Our Leg Up, we specialise in helping homeowners unlock the equity in their homes through offering a unique investment opportunity where you can join others in funding a pool of secured guarantees. These guarantees are backed by property equity, making them safer. We manage this collective investment carefully, diversifying the types of guarantees and properties involved to spread out and lower the risk for everyone. This approach allows investors to see steady returns while minimising potential losses, allowing them to generate recurring income without monthly repayments or interest accruals. This model doesn’t just benefit the homeowner but also contributes to a broader economic ecosystem by providing investment opportunities for those looking to get into their first property, or invest in net-zero homeownership.

What is an Equity Unlock Product. And how we Differ from Other Equity Unlock Products

An equity unlock product allows homeowners to access the value locked in their property without the need to sell or take on traditional debt, such as a mortgage. Typically, these products are appealing to individuals who are rich in assets but cash-poor, providing them with financial flexibility to meet their current needs or invest in new opportunities.

At Our Leg Up, our approach to unlocking equity stands distinct from traditional models. Unlike conventional equity release products that might offer a lump sum or regular income stream with compounding interest, Our Leg Up creates an innovative investment opportunity for homeowners. We enable homeowners to earn a return on the equity in their home that would otherwise remain inaccessible and non-yielding. By investing this equity into a communal fund, homeowners can receive periodic returns based on the performance of this investment. This model not only provides immediate financial benefits without additional debt or risk but also contributes to a broader economic ecosystem by allowing investment in community-supported projects. Thus, Our Leg Up doesn’t just unlock the equity in your home; it transforms it into a dynamic source of income that works for you in ways other equity products do not.

How You Can Get Involved

Whether you’re looking to tap into your home’s equity for additional income or you’re an investor seeking opportunities in real estate, Our Leg Up has a platform designed to facilitate your goals. Visit our website, explore our services, and see how you can get the financial leg up you’ve been looking for.

Now that you know the story behind our name, we hope it resonates more deeply when you hear “Our Leg Up” We are here to support you, offering a collective leg up to financial stability and success. Remember, when you search for us, make sure it’s “Our Leg Up”—where community and opportunity meet.

Ready to learn more about how Our Leg Up can assist you? Visit our website at OurLegUp.com for more information on how we can help you utilise your inaccessible real estate equity with confidence.

Understanding Liquidity

Put simply, the term ‘liquidity’ refers to the ability to raise funds or convert assets into cash in order to meet bills as they become due.

To reduce the risk of everyone withdrawing their funds at once, banks have a range of deposit accounts. These include different types of accounts.

• ‘Term deposit’ (deposits locked in for a ‘term’)
• ‘Bonus savers’ (extra interest to deposit cash in the account)
• ‘Offset accounts’ (attached to loans which reduce our interest)

The aim is to only have a few customers make a withdrawal at any one time.

In an emergency, the reserve bank can also offer liquidity funding as a backstop. ‘the lender of last resort’.

Houses are very illiquid and require us to pay money to the government each year for the privilege of living in our own home or pay a fee to a lawyer and most likely a commission to a realtor in order to be able to sell.

So how do we make property generate cash? It is this huge asset that we know is worth a lot but doesn’t pay for our groceries.

Insufficient liquidity: when things fail

Have you ever reached the front of the supermarket queue with a week’s worth of groceries, only for your card to get declined? Imagine being a bank facing a week’s worth of customer withdrawals at the checkout, only to decline them.

When our card fails, embarrassment strikes, and we assure the store we thought we had funds, blaming the technology for failing. Frustration mounts, and we often call our partner or family to commiserate.

The recent US bank failures stem from banks holding assets they couldn’t liquidate in time to fulfill current withdrawal demands. The official cause? “Insufficient liquidity.”

Your Most Valuable Asset

Our Leg Up helps make property, often our most valuable asset, generate some cash. Or in banking speak, ‘improve asset liquidity’, without needing to take out an interest bearing loan. You no longer have to choose which of your children get’s the most financial support.

That said, Our Leg Up cannot transform your home into a deposit account. At its core, it is still a large illiquid asset. However, Our Leg Up has created a method to earn income from your home equity without the need to invest cash or rent out your property.

Typically, you should only opt for an OLU equity investment using your home’s equity if you plan to stay for at least three years.

Bank failures affect many, including those who are not bank customers. We must extract lessons wherever possible. It’s crucial that customers understand their investment terms. Some investments aren’t immediately accessible; we should anticipate a wait for returns. When you have a cash account for groceries, you expect your bank to avoid any “declined” messages at the checkout.

Visit Our Leg Up to find out more

Empowering parents

Empowering parents in the journey towards equitable financial support for their children’s aspirations of homeownership is a transformative concept. Because can the average person still afford a home? Our Leg Up introduces an innovative framework that allows parents to harness the equity in their homes as a financial springboard. And so this ensures that every child has an equal chance to step into the world of property ownership. And the initiative is not just about providing financial assistance; it’s about fostering a sense of fairness and unity within the family unit. Because it enables parents to utilize their assets in such a strategic manner, Our Leg Up breaks down traditional barriers that may have previously led to feelings of favoritism or inequality among siblings.

Pooling Resources

The platform’s approach to pooling resources from a broad network of property owners amplifies the potential for support. Because it creates a communal ‘bank of mum and dad’, benefits extend beyond individual families to a wider community. This collective effort not only maximises the utility of unused home equity but also embodies the principle of shared prosperity. As more families engage in this model, a ripple effect will be felt. This will lead to a significant shift in how communities support the next generation in achieving their homeownership goals. Empowering parents to become facilitators of this communal support system not only enhances their children’s prospects but strengthens communal bonds.

Building fairness

Our Leg Up’s mission goes beyond financial transactions; it’s about building a foundation of equity and fairness that permeates every level of family and community interaction. Empowering parents to make such impactful decisions in their children’s lives reinforces the importance of equal opportunities and shared success. As this model gains traction, it promises to reshape the landscape of homeownership support. And so the dream of homeownership is more attainable for many. Fostering a more inclusive and supportive environment for the future generations.

Our Leg Up gives you the opportunity to unlock the unused equity in your home and earn a return.

Headline CPI came in at 7.0% which is a reduction of 0.8% from the December quarter reading of 7.8%. Does that mean the inflation challenge is over?

Right across the world inflation got a huge shock after pandemic-era stimulus boosted demand simultaneously and global supply chains could not keep up. That catalyst is well and truly over in most countries, many stopped their direct money stimulus 12-18 months ago.

The global collective release of inflation was exacerbated by the collective failure of central banks to act soon enough. Unfortunately, the excuses put out in the media of global supply chains and the war in Ukraine were very real stories for 2021 and 2022 but no longer hold water. Oil as measured by West Texas Crude Intermediate (WTI) was $92 USD on Feb 22, 2022 prior to the Ukraine invasion, as of yesterday had fallen to $76 USD.

The inflation problem has instead migrated into the much more difficult to solve services sector. Chief among them has been housing. Housing is a unique component of the CPI as it captures both a goods price (construction) and a service price (rents).  The goods component is moderating fast however the service component, along with many other services, is still rising. In fact, the quarterly figure for growth in rent now exceeds the quarterly figure for housing construction cost.

According to the ABS, rents have risen 4.9% in the year to March, compared with 4.0% in the year to December (previous quarterly reading). The relatively modest pace in the growth of rent may come as a surprise to recent rental property hunters that might be more familiar with double digit hikes in Sydney and Melbourne.

The ABS points out that its figures are a combination of faster new rental leases and those longer term leases that roll over at a slower growth.

With building companies going bust and being unable to complete many houses, it is very unlikely that there will be an upswing in housing completions any time soon. Pressure will persist in the rental market and today’s data shows that it has yet to peak even though headline inflation has.

The steady uplift in rents seems to suggest inflation may be with us for a little while longer and may keep the RBA with an upward bias for interest rates for much of 2023. This will further limit borrowing capacity of younger people and in turn make it harder for developers to sell houses and apartments off the plan.

Saving a deposit for your own home will continue to get more difficult. Visit Our Leg Up to see how to get out of the rental trap.

Note: 2023 figures are for the year to March 2023, all other years are for the full year to December. Annualised figures for the March quarter show an even stronger growth in rent of 6.2%.

There has been a lot of discussion around the fact younger people are needing more help from their parents. Is it even possible for a person on a normal income to afford a home?

According to the ABS the average income for somebody employed full-time across both males and females and without any overtime or second job is $1807.70 per week, as of November 2022. For a single person, mortgage calculators, assuming you can gather a 20% deposit, will only allow you to borrow $470,000. Allowing you to purchase a property worth $587,500 once including your deposit of $117,500. That is only going to get you a modest property in most metropolitan areas across Australia. Enough for a single person can afford at least a 1 bedroom apartment in inner areas or a 2 bedroom apartment in middle and outer ring suburbs.

A couple fares much better than a single. With a combined income equal to 2 of the average weekly incomes, the borrowing capacity increases to $940,000. So we are talking about a combined purchase price of $1,175,000. That is above the median price for all cities in Australia except Sydney.

Under both scenarios, the assumption is a 20% deposit is available. Unfortunately this is where those people with families that can lend the deposit or act as guarantor can enter the market while others can’t. This is commonly referred to as ‘the bank of mum and dad’.

For people fortunate enough, it does afford the opportunity to get into the market much sooner. A property that may not be their ‘forever home’ but will get them a solid footing on the property ladder.

For people without such an advantage, a single that earns the average income, dedicates 50% of the after tax income to rent and saving for a house will be able to save for the 20% deposit in 8 years, assuming they can earn a 4% return on their savings throughout. This doesn’t include the stamp duty, lawyers fees or any other expenses. A couple does have a real advantage here. The same scenario with 50% of the combined after tax income being saved or spent on rent will allow the couple to save in just 4 years and 11 months.

The problem of course is that by the time they have saved that 20% deposit, the combined deposit and loan may no longer be enough to buy that same property. Thereby requiring even more time to save.

The media has focused on young people’s ability to enter the housing market. The biggest challenge remains the saving for a deposit. The second largest problem is the cost inflation of construction pushing up entry level apartments and houses the longer they take to save for the deposit.

Our Leg Up remains committed to helping level the playing field. Giving the opportunity for young people to access their first home sooner with as little as a 5% deposit.

Visit Our Leg Up to find out how.

There is no doubt rents are under pressure. In a tight rental market, the struggle is real. The question is, are rents too high or are they just playing catch up?

Looking at the change in advertised rent for 1 month, or 1 quarter can sometimes led you astray. There can be large movements when people need to rent but there are insufficient properties available.

For this analysis, let’s look at the change in rents from March 2020, just before the pandemic ructions, through 4 years, 2021, 2022, 2023. The combined capital cities for houses are used for both prices and rents. To make rents comparable with property prices, we have rebased prices and rents to equal 100.0. Caution should be taken when looking at single months of data as prices and rents are volatile and seasonal.

The results show that there has been a significant increase in rents during 2023. That said, the recent uplift was preceded by tepid growth, certainly nothing like the growth in prices. There is scope for rents to grow further, though like prices, after a rapid uplift there are a number of market adjustments. Including a move back to share homes and people deciding to purchase rather than continuing to rent.

The best solution for would be property owners and investors alike, is to see the signal coming from the rental market and increase the supply of properties to purchase and to rent.

Our Leg Up can help first home buyers get into the property market on a modest deposit (as low as 5%), when your income is sufficient to support responsible lending practices. Visit ourlegup.com to find out how.

Unless you have a time machine there really is no point comparing your struggles with past generations. The truth is, each generation had/has their own difficulties. The real question you should be asking is, “Am I going to be better off in 5 years?”

It is worth examining the past to see for each 5 year period going back to 1975, were those generations better off in 5 years and by how much?

In this analysis, time periods have been chosen on purpose at the exact 5 year intervals, every 5 years since 1975, so 1975, 1980,…2015, 2020. This is to avoid ‘cherry picking’ the data.

Incomes have been assumed to be a couple, (1 male and 1 female) working full time and earning average wages (gender pay gap included). Interest rates have been averaged across the year, prior to 1990 they were often consistent  throughout the year.

For consistency, every year of calculations, couples borrowed 95% of the median Australian property price, as the average of 7 capital cities. Note, this would not have been easy or perhaps possible before 1983 (financial deregulation). Interest repayments are calculated based on the interest rate at that time assuming you are on variable rates.

The analysis shows 3 things:
1. Yes, some time periods had things better or worse than others (again not relevant without a time machine)
2. Every time period showed improvement after 5 years    
3. Things are less uncertain after 5 years

Whether it is a good time to buy often relates more to your own personal circumstances though there are times when people are unlucky. The important thing to know is, things improve with time, even for unlucky people. Visit Our Leg Up to learn more

The recent banking crisis is likely to further increase the interest rate on your property portfolio.

Right now, the banks are sending a letter with an increase every month. In most states, regulations only allow you to increase the rent once a year so how do you keep up with the rising cost?

If you find yourself with 1 or more investment properties with plenty of equity in your property but insufficient rental income to support the loan, Our Leg Up can help generate income from the equity you already have.

With Our Leg Up, the equity in your property portfolio can generate income to increase the yield on your property.

Would potentially adding 20% to 50% more income from the same property make a difference to your portfolio?

Unlock the potential of your home with Our Leg Up and secure both financial security and the benefits of homeownership

Owners in metropolitan cities across Australia have seen a significant boost in their assets over the past decade. Despite recent declines, Sydney house values remain above $1.2mil, Melbourne close to $900,000, with Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra all posting strong growth as well.

For many older Australians that took a chance some years ago and remained in the housing market, they now sit on large price gains. Often suburbs which were middle or outer suburbs 20 and 30 years ago are now much sought after. This has led to an ever growing number of Australians having houses exceeding the $1 million price and even $2 million in many suburbs across Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and now also Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart.

The problem is a house is a giant asset in which you also live in and delight in the local amenities. You don’t really want to lose that, nor the benefits of the financial security and tax concessions it provides.

Our Leg Up has tried to solve this dilemma by providing a passive income as well as helping the next generation of Australians. By using the equity in your home, you can generate a return without taking on an interest bearing loan and earn 2% to 4% return.

Visit Our Leg Up to find out more about this opportunity.

Australian house prices have grown substantially since 1973. The 7 city combined Australian median house value was $21,400 in 1973. 50 years later, in February 2023 the same combined 7 city median house value has increased to $914,750.

The nominal dollar value of housing has increased by approximately 43 times since 1973. Any analysis would be disingenuous if the comparison was made in nominal dollars. Clearly, inflation, or changes in the prices of goods and services, is a big part of the overall change in house prices.

Inflation over that same 50 years has increased overall prices by approximately 12 times. So what is the ‘real change’ in house prices? If we inflate 1973 house prices by the value of the average price of goods and services, the median value of a house across the combined capitals would be approximately $250,000. This means the real value of houses has increased by approximately. 3.6 times across the last 50 years.

What about during periods of inflation? Examining time periods of inflation with annual growth of more than 7% (last year’s threshold) 1973-1981 and 1985-1989. In all of these years, annual inflation in the year to December exceeded 7%.

House prices grew from $21,400 in 1973 to $54,500 in 1981. However, once we adjust for prices, the real value of 1973 house price in 1981 dollars would have been $51,300. A real growth of 6%.

In 1985, house prices were $60,750, and increased to $103,750 in 1989. If we adjust 1985 prices by inflation, they increase to approximately $82,750. A real house price growth of approximately 25% over the high inflation environment.

So history tells us house prices do tend to at least keep pace with or exceed inflation during periods of inflation similar to what we are experiencing now. History is not a guarantee of growth in house prices but a guide that it may perform well as a hedge during periods of high inflation. Visit Our Leg Up to learn more

Over the long run, the housing market has been a strong performer. It offers investors some clarity and comfort because they know what they own. It can also offer regular income (when rented) or offer a consumption of shelter (if live-in). Houses are also able to benefit from tax advantages if lived in, or a reduction in gains taxed if lived in for part of the ownership.

The returns in the very long run tend to follow nominal GDP. What is that? Well, the number of people/households and the amount of income they earn. So houses will benefit from population growth as well as income growth.

Australia’s strong historic and projected population growth, underpin the long run returns greater than just the increases due to people’s wages. Typically, nominal GDP has averaged between 6% and 7% annually over the past 40 years. In the latest year to December 2022, nominal GDP was up 12% as Australia benefited from higher prices of the commodities we sell.

What if you could boost the return by another 2%?
A median $1mil property returning 5% per year would grow by over $625,000 over 10 years. If that was increased by just 2%, that same property would increase by over $965,000, approximately an extra $340,000 extra.

Our Leg Up aims to assist make this difference real by generating returns of 3% – 4%. Our Leg Up offers a way to ‘bank’ your property and earn a modest return in addition to the total return you will receive from any price change, rent or consumption that you continue to receive. Visit Our Leg Up

Do house prices grow faster than wages? The short answer is yes. Over the long term, history shows house prices tend to follow nominal GDP (as shown in the chart) which grows faster than income.

What is nominal GDP? Well it is the total production/income of all households. This includes the growth in the number of people/households as well as the growth in the amount of income they earn in the prices of that year (current prices). This shows house prices have traditionally benefited from population growth as well as wage and income growth from all sources. 

Australia’s strong historic and projected population growth underpin the long run price growth greater than just the increases due to people’s wages. Nominal GDP has averaged 6.7% annually over the past 40 years since 1982. Both GDP and house prices are higher when inflation is higher. This growth rate excludes the very high inflation period of the 1970s.

The two series can at times deviate from one another. There is seemingly a gravitational pull that keeps them in line over time. If we examine the most recent 3 year cycle as a test of the relationship.

House prices shot up above the nominal GDP index. Once again, the two series adjusted. House prices fell in the year to Dec 2022, while in the latest year to December 2022, nominal GDP was up 12% as Australia benefited from higher prices of the commodities we sell and a return of migrants.

House prices can and do move up or down significant amounts in the short run but appear to maintain a strong relationship with nominal GDP over the long term to grow persistently faster than wages. Visit Our Leg Up to find out more

Retirees tend to remain where they are most comfortable. Put simply, the longer you can hold onto your home, the greater certainty you will have over your retirement.

It is no surprise that we are holding onto our homes longer than ever before. The average ‘hold period’ for all households rose nationally in the latest quarter to 9.9 years.

For a retiree, their own home offers an unparalleled opportunity. It is a ‘triple threat’:

– Consumption
– Inflation hedge
– Real price growth

The only problem, it is all on paper. You can’t spend the wealth you have, let alone profit from the asset accumulation. It then becomes a difficult choice, do I stay where I am comfortable or ‘cash in’ so I can enjoy my retirement? Does it feel like you are trapped by your own home?

Our Leg Up has found a way to enable retirees to maintain their comfort and gain some income from their property assets.

Our Leg Up is allowing you to ‘bank’ your property asset and generate a return by using the value of your home as security. There is no interest to repay leaving you free to stay in your home, rent out your home or sell your home without having to repay a loan.

Visit Our Leg Up to find out more about this innovative product.

There is no doubt rents are under pressure. In a tight rental market, the struggle is real. The question is, are rents too high or are they just playing catch up?

Looking at the change in advertised rent for 1 month, or 1 quarter can sometimes led you astray. There can be large movements when people need to rent but there are insufficient properties available.

For this analysis, let’s look at the change in rents from March 2020, just before the pandemic ructions, through 4 years, 2021, 2022, 2023. The combined capital cities for houses are used for both prices and rents. To make rents comparable with property prices, we have rebased prices and rents to equal 100.0. Caution should be taken when looking at single months of data as prices and rents are volatile and seasonal.

The results show that there has been a significant increase in rents during 2023. That said, the recent uplift was preceded by tepid growth, certainly nothing like the growth in prices. There is scope for rents to grow further, though like prices, after a rapid uplift there are a number of market adjustments. Including a move back to share homes and people deciding to purchase rather than continuing to rent.

The best solution for would be property owners and investors alike, is to see the signal coming from the rental market and increase the supply of properties to purchase and to rent.

Our Leg Up can help first home buyers get into the property market on a modest deposit (as low as 5%), when your income is sufficient to support responsible lending practices. Visit ourlegup.com to find out how.

We all want a comfortable retirement. Has that been put out of reach? Newspapers were focused on the ‘positives’ in the latest CPI. Yay, CPI was only 6.8%, only 6.8%!

If we are fortunate enough to afford those little luxuries, they are a lot more expensive. ‘Holiday travel and accommodation’ was up 14.9% in the year to March though it has moderated from a high of 29% at Christmas.

‘Recreation and culture’, has increased by 6.4%. That means a trip to a show or movie will set you back more, forget about getting the choc top.

For those wanting to meet up with friends, ‘Restaurant meals’ increased 6.5% in Sydney. It’s even worse in Melbourne(7.6%) and in Brisbane(7.4%). Forget about that bottle of wine with dinner.

These price increases really do hurt. For anyone on a fixed income in retirement these increases result in difficult choices. Can I afford to visit my family at Christmas?

Our Leg Up can help. Most retirees that own their own property can make that property generate some extra cash. When prices rise, the value of your property and the cash it can generate is likely to rise long with it. This will allow you to continue to generate a modest passive income stream throughout your retirement.

Visit Our Leg Up to see if you can generate a cash flow from your home to make you more comfortable in these difficult times.

Housing is tight, really tight. According to SQM Research, rental vacancies in February 2023 across major metropolitan areas have reached 1.0%, not seen since 2006.

Commentators point to a ‘flood’ of student migrants re-entering Australia. This is an easy message to sell because we tend to think of the success of our universities and the many foreign students that come to live and study in Australia.

The most recent data for 2021-22 (395,000) does suggest a significant increase in the number of migrants compared with 2020-21 (146,000). However this is far below any of the preceding 5 pre-COVID years. Migrant arrivals averaged 522,000 per year across the 5 preceding years.

A more accurate picture looks at the net-migration (removing those migrants that return and Australians that go overseas). That is also below average. Last year was 171,000, against an average of 226,500 in the 5 pre-COVID years.

At the last Census (2021), there were 2.84 million rented properties. A 1% vacancy rate would imply about 30,000 properties are vacant as of February this year. The latest Births and Deaths from the ABS, show net natural population growth at around 140,000. Implying each year Australia adds around 365,000 people that all require housing. There has also been a slew of natural disasters which has displaced thousands of Australians across the country, all needing rental properties while they rebuild their lives.

So while migration is definitely not to blame for our current housing shortage, even a return to pre-COVID migration trends could add to pressure in the rental market and make migrants an easy target.

Building more dwellings by empowering young Australians, including those new to our wonderful country, to save and purchase or build their own property will improve the lives of all Australians.

Our Leg Up aims to assist young people reach their goals sooner. Assisting Australians to reach home ownership with as little as a 5% deposit.

Visit ourlegup.com to find out how.

Interest rates are going up! Why is it getting harder to save?

Putting together a deposit should be getting easier. Banks are desperate for our deposits but where are the amazing deals?

Despite the highest official cash rates from the RBA since 2007, the national savings rate is falling. In the latest official figures from the ABS, national income was up 12%, household income up 7.7% but the household savings rate fell to just 4.5% from 11.2% at the start of the year.

If saving for a home deposit is your goal, don’t give up! Our Leg Up can help to keep your goals within reach. Our Leg Up can assist you receive home loans on as little as a 5% deposit.

The recent NSW election result should see the end of the public service wage cap. By far the biggest cost will go toward nurses’ wages. Unfortunately removing the wage cap while overall hospital funding is capped will make the problem worse.

The Federal Albanese government caps hospital funding at only 6.5% growth. Every 1% that NSW increases wages, is 1% less services hospitals can provide. While a real wage rise for nurses is long overdue, without further funding this will make the public hospital queues worse and worse each year.

It’s not just hospitals and not just NSW. The higher wages will now force other states and doctors offices across all of Australia to compete for nursing staff. State health departments and will engage in a round of ‘hunger games’ between each other for qualified nursing staff.

The squeeze on Medicare funding through persistent under indexation has forced many GPs to institute out of pocket fees for the first time, others to raise theirs substantially. In-hospital treatments in the private sector are under the same pressure, squeezed on two fronts between poor Medicare indexation and private health insurers.

Having additional cash flow, funded by your home, will provide a way to ensure you don’t miss out on the care you deserve.

Using Our Leg Up, the equity in your home can generate income without incurring a debt or any interest. Free up cash to meet health costs as they arise.

Unless you have a time machine there really is no point comparing your struggles with past generations. The truth is, each generation had/has their own difficulties. The real question you should be asking is, “Am I going to be better off in 5 years?”

It is worth examining the past to see for each 5 year period going back to 1975, were those generations better off in 5 years and by how much?

In this analysis, time periods have been chosen on purpose at the exact 5 year intervals, every 5 years since 1975, so 1975, 1980,…2015, 2020. This is to avoid ‘cherry picking’ the data.

Incomes have been assumed to be a couple, (1 male and 1 female) working full time and earning average wages (gender pay gap included). Interest rates have been averaged across the year, prior to 1990 they were often consistent  throughout the year.

For consistency, every year of calculations, couples borrowed 95% of the median Australian property price, as the average of 7 capital cities. Note, this would not have been easy or perhaps possible before 1983 (financial deregulation). Interest repayments are calculated based on the interest rate at that time assuming you are on variable rates.

The analysis shows 3 things:
1. Yes, some time periods had things better or worse than others (again not relevant without a time machine)
2. Every time period showed improvement after 5 years    
3. Things are less uncertain after 5 years

Whether it is a good time to buy often relates more to your own personal circumstances though there are times when people are unlucky. The important thing to know is, things improve with time, even for unlucky people. Visit Our Leg Up to find out more

Is the RBA about to fire the starter’s gun in a race to save? It’s been a white knuckle interest rate ride that most aspiring homeowners have never experienced before. Interest rates have grown faster than any time since the 1980s but could that be over soon?

These are the words in which the RBA give us the greatest hope for a pause, “Members agreed to reconsider the case for a pause at the following meeting”

What happens when they pause? This has been a difficult period for some but for others, an opportunity to save a deposit without having the price run away faster. Is that about to come to an end? Will you be ready to move on your dream home?

Whether it is a good time to buy is always hard to say without hindsight. What you need to ensure is that when an opportunity arises, you can pounce when the time is right for you.

Our Leg Up can help you secure a loan with as little as a 5% deposit. The more options you have, the sooner you can move on that gem when it becomes available.

The recent banking crisis is likely to further increase the interest rate on your property portfolio.

Right now, the banks are sending a letter with an increase every month. In most states, regulations only allow you to increase the rent once a year so how do you keep up with the rising cost?

If you find yourself with 1 or more investment properties with plenty of equity in your property but insufficient rental income to support the loan, Our Leg Up can help generate income from the equity you already have.

With Our Leg Up, the equity in your property portfolio can generate income to increase the yield on your property.

Would potentially adding 20% to 50% more income from the same property make a difference to your portfolio? Visit Our Leg Up to find out more.

Property is a great way to build wealth for wage and salary income earners. Many Australians have taken the opportunity to build their wealth this way, often with 2 or more properties. As interest rates have increased, banks are suddenly less willing to lend. They said no to the house!

Many property investors have significant equity in their existing portfolio and have solid income to service their loans. In addition, long term investors often have a long history of making repayments on-time or often well in front of minimum requirements. Despite this, new credit is now much harder and ultimately may be impossible to access.

Our Leg Up supports responsible lending practices. Loans should only be granted where there is ample equity and income to service them. Our Leg Up credit standards are more stringent than those of the banks issuing the loans. So how can I increase my income if I can’t borrow?

If you find yourself with 2 or more properties with plenty of equity to support purchasing another property but insufficient income to support additional funds for loans, Our Leg Up can help generate income from the equity you already have.

With Our Leg Up, the unused equity in your property portfolio can generate income without incurring any more debt in the first place, that way there is no loan to service and no interest to pay.

An increasing number of people are looking to supplement their income to meet the rising cost of living. More and more the pressure is making Australians reach out to loans, even those in retirement.

Loans to retirees are offered as a viable way to relieve the pressure. Unfortunately, these loans are often at much higher rates even than those offered to home buyers. Over time, the interest on these loans compounds. What took years to save, can erode much quicker than you think. Newspapers are reporting a large increase in retirees taking out these loans

There are safeguards in place to ensure these loans won’t leave you in negative equity. The loan provider can’t force you to sell your home. However, what if you have to move later? Perhaps to be near children or grandchildren? You could find yourself slowly crushed by the weight of compounding loan that you can’t escape.

Our Leg Up is different.

Using Our Leg Up, the equity in your home can generate income without incurring a debt in the first place, that way there is no interest.

This will help to keep you debt free and comfortable during your retirement. 

Have you ever got to the front of the queue at the supermarket with a week full of groceries only to have your card declined? What if you were an entire bank with a week ‘worth of customers withdrawals’ waiting at the checkout, only to be declined?

When our card fails, we get embarrassed and promise the store that we really did think we had money when we went in the store but somehow the technology failed. We get a bit upset and often jump on the phone to our partner or family so they can share our pain.

The recent bank failure(s) in the US are the result of the bank having assets but not being able to access them to meet all the withdrawals due right now. The official reason, “Insufficient liquidity”.

Put simply, the term ‘liquidity’ refers to the ability to raise funds or convert assets into cash in order to meet bills as they become due.

To reduce the risk of everyone withdrawing their funds at once, banks have a range of deposit accounts which include different types of accounts.
– ‘Term deposit’ (deposits locked in for a ‘term’)
– ‘Bonus savers’ (extra interest to deposit cash in the account)
– ‘Offset accounts’ (attached to loans which reduce our interest)
The aim is to only have a few customers will make a withdrawal at any one time.

In an emergency, the reserve bank can also offer liquidity funding as a backstop. ‘the lender of last resort’.

Houses are very illiquid and require us to pay money to the government each year for the privilege of living in our own home or pay a fee to a lawyer and most likely a commission to a realtor in order to be able to sell.

So how do we make property generate cash? It is this huge asset that we know is worth a lot but doesn’t pay for our groceries.

Our Leg Up helps make property, often our most valuable asset, generate some cash. Or in banking speak, ‘improve asset liquidity’, without needing to take out an interest bearing loan.

That said, Our Leg Up cannot turn your home into a deposit account. Fundamentally, it remains a large illiquid asset. So, although your home equity isn’t cash that can be accessed, OLU has designed a way to generate income from it without having to invest cash or rent out your home.

Typically, you would only consider using the equity in your home for an OLU equity investment if you are prepared to remain for at least 3 years.

A bank failure deeply impacts people. Even people who are not customers of the bank. We need to learn lessons where we can. We need to ensure customers know the terms of their investments. For some investments, they are not available immediately, we should expect to wait to get a return. If you have set up a cash account to pay for your groceries you expect your bank to make sure you never get a “declined” when you are at the register.

Australian house prices have grown substantially since 1973. The 7 city combined Australian median house value was $21,400 in 1973. 50 years later, in February 2023 the same combined 7 city median house value has increased to $914,750.

The nominal dollar value of housing has increased by approximately 43 times since 1973. Any analysis would be disingenuous if the comparison was made in nominal dollars. Clearly, inflation, or changes in the prices of goods and services, is a big part of the overall change in house prices.

Inflation over that same 50 years has increased overall prices by approximately 12 times. So what is the ‘real change’ in house prices? If we inflate 1973 house prices by the value of the average price of goods and services, the median value of a house across the combined capitals would be approximately $250,000. This means the real value of houses has increased by approximately. 3.6 times across the last 50 years.

What about during periods of inflation? Examining time periods of inflation with annual growth of more than 7% (last year’s threshold) 1973-1981 and 1985-1989. In all of these years, annual inflation in the year to December exceeded 7%.

House prices grew from $21,400 in 1973 to $54,500 in 1981. However, once we adjust for prices, the real value of 1973 house price in 1981 dollars would have been $51,300. A real growth of 6%.

In 1985, house prices were $60,750, and increased to $103,750 in 1989. If we adjust 1985 prices by inflation, they increase to approximately $82,750. A real house price growth of approximately 25% over the high inflation environment. 

So history tells us house prices do tend to at least keep pace with or exceed inflation during periods of inflation similar to what we are experiencing now. History is not a guarantee of growth in house prices but a guide that it may perform well as a hedge during periods of high inflation. Visit Our Leg Up to find out more

The government encourages retirees to downsize by allowing you to sell your home and place the proceeds into your superannuation account. These are aptly named “Downsizing contributions into superannuation”. Now, they will charge you 30% on any investment earnings once your super balance eclipses the threshold.

Many Australian homes are very valuable, sufficient to tip over the threshold by itself. After saving for decades to buy it, the government wants to squeeze more from your well located properties in cities or our picturesque coastlines.

Why not give yourself more options?

Our Leg Up allows you to continue to live in your property, watch that property value grow tax free and earn extra income at the same time. 

The RBA has increased interest rates by 350 basis points (3.5%) despite its own minutes in February 2021 stating, “Members affirmed that the cash rate would be maintained at 10 basis points… will not increase the cash rate… The Board does not expect these conditions to be met until 2024 at the earliest.”.

Many households are yet to feel the full force of this blunt monetary policy stick as they have remained on a fixed interest rate.

Unbelievably, the interest rate you will be asked to pay once your fixed period ends may be even more than 3.5% higher than what it was. Many people negotiating a fixed rate in 2021 would have received an interest rate below 2%. The rate mortgages revert to once the fixed period expires could be far higher than 5.5%. To make matters worse, refinancing is more difficult, much more difficult.

In order to qualify for the best rate you need all the help you can get. Our Leg Up can help you gain access to the cheaper interest rates applied to low loan to valuation ratio (LVR) loans.

Are you being cooked by your interest rate increasing faster than it should? Many banks sign new homeowners at competitive interest rates. They ‘lock in a discount for the life of the loan’ making it seem like you always have access to the best possible rate. Do you really?

Slowly but surely, the standard variable rate increases, meaning those homeowners that locked in a discount years ago no longer receive the same rate as new loans. People refer to this as the ‘loyalty premium’. Is that fair?

The only way to ensure you get the same rate as new lending is to negotiate a better deal. Unfortunately, if your loan to value ratio (LVR) exceeds 80% of the value of your property, you will likely be asked to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) again. Then, if you need to move again, you pay again.

Our Leg Up helps you get the best deal possible. Not only can you access the same rate as a new loan when you refinance but you can access the rate given to loans with LVR <80%. Take control of your loan, don’t get slowly cooked by an unfair deal.

Are your homeloan repayments rising as a share of your income? This is commonly referred to as mortgage stress. It is the biggest worry for many Australian households. Getting a better deal to lower your repayments is a way to stretch the budget further.

There are a range of measures being used by banks to reduce your mortgage repayments under hardship provisions. Unfortunately, most of these involve increasing the amount of interest you pay. Measures include extending the term of your loan, or switching your loan to interest only.

Some of these can also increase the interest rate on your loan making the problem worse. All of these methods extend the term of your loan and increase the total amount of interest you pay to the bank. Why don’t you decrease the amount of interest you pay to the bank?

Our Leg Up can help you get a better interest rate. Most banks are offering large discounts to loans with higher deposits, common discounts are 0.6%-1.0% lower interest rate than for new loans with less than a 20% deposit. Our Leg Up can help you get this discount now. Our Leg Up supports your loan, supports you to negotiate with the bank to get you the same rate as people with a 20% deposit.

There is a huge amount of building activity going on right now. ’Work done’ estimated by the ABS is near record levels. How come I still can’t find a house to rent?

The ABS National Accounts for the growth in dwelling stock (excluding changes in prices), shows there is no housing boom. In fact in 2022, growth in housing stock was only 1.6%, compared to 3.5% during the last big housing boom in 2004.

Part of the story is the Australian government’s response to the pandemic, HomeBuilder grants gave up to $25,000 for people to undertake renovations not just to build new homes. The long term problem is land is just harder to find so people seeking to build new homes are knocking down existing homes.

The number of rebuilds were at a record in 2021 with 25,000 demolitions compared to 21,000 in the year 2020 and 19,000 in 2019.

Rebuilding homes after damage from bushfires in 2020 and floods in 2021 and again in 2022 have also contributed to construction which hasn’t added to the housing stock.

If young singles, couples and families want their own home, purchasing their own home continues to be a challenge but the only sure way to secure a place to live for the rest of their lives. Visit Our Leg Up to find out how we can help.

You have been building savings buffers in your home loan. You are making it safer so shouldn’t you get a better deal? According to the RBA, you are keeping the banks stable. Don’t you deserve a reward? Banks publicly say how low risk most of their home loans are. The RBA goes further to say the stability of the banking system is due to households with lower loans to valuation ratio (LVR). From their own 2020 financial discussion paper: “the sensitivity of consumption to severe shocks appears to have increased over the past decade or two, as indebtedness has risen. However, our analysis finds that the banks would likely be resilient to such a scenario because of the significant amount of collateral backing their mortgage lending (that is, the moderate loan-to-valuation ratios on most outstanding mortgages).” So if households with low LVR loans are keeping the entire banking system resilient, why do they pay the same interest rate? With Our Leg Up, you can give yourself a discount. Make use of the equity in your home to lower your interest rate.

Jim Chalmers latest suggestion is for super funds to respond to systemic risks around affordable housing. “If we fail to act… we will face the prospect of an economy that won’t sustain the growth that we need, and this will all be to the detriment of a good, dignified retirement for as many Australians as possible”. Surely helping young Australians provide their own secure housing option must be the first best policy. Why have unelected, union appointed, faceless board members of super funds decide where you can live? Our Leg Up is trying to help young Australians help themselves into a home to provide their own dignity in retirement.

34 cliches can’t all be wrong! Reap what you sow, chickens come home to roost, get out what one puts in, …

Put simply, we need to continue to invest if we want to keep lifting our living standards. Total investment across the economy is well below the peak of the mining boom.

The same is true looking at housing investment share of the economy. Across 2022 investment was approximately 5% of GDP, near the record lows since the turn of the century.

We have consistently struggled to keep annual investment in housing at the long term average since the GFC. It is not surprising that we have a housing crisis.

To improve living standards we need more private business investment, public investment in infrastructure (roads, rail, schools, hospitals) and private investment in housing of all types. Visit Our Leg Up to find out more

The government is looking for ways to utilise this pool of savings for greater social benefit. Super funds love regulated returns but they have to be high enough to make sense.

Housing assets have a high level of costs (fees paid by members). Management of the assets must be conducted by the funds themselves, they are directly owned after all. These are often a special vehicle that has its own governance and reports to multiple super fund investors.

Direct costs of housing assets can be in excess of 2%. In addition, Housing also has high maintenance costs to keep buildings to the high standard expected by tenants, even higher in buildings with many communal facilities. In addition, government taxes such as rates and land taxes (only the ACT and NSW so far but others will follow) eat into returns. Corporations are also subject to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) if they sell the properties for a gain which do not apply to owner occupiers.

Many of these costs are either non-existent or far lower when the home is directly owned by the occupant. Think of how much it costs an owner to change a washer in a leaking tap compared with a call out for a plumber, and fees for an agent.

Even assuming a solid long-term capital return of 4-5% per annum, gross rental returns must exceed 6% in order to close to earning a target of 7-8%. This would require significantly higher rents than the current market. This may be possible for niche developments but is unlikely to be widely adopted.

Further, most of this hypothetical return is tied up in capital gains which aside from being unrealized, also further exacerbates the liquidity problem for funds as members draw down during their retirement. In short, there are far more attractive infrastructure investments for super funds and no shortage of opportunities across the globe as the world seeks to decarbonize. A rapid process over the next 2 decades which will require trillions of dollars of fresh capital investment. Visit Our Leg Up to find out more.

Company or investment vehicles which own multi-unit buildings are being touted as the next housing solution. They offer a secure tenancy for prospective tenants to remove the fear of being evicted out of signing a lease. This is a great option for those tenants who have suffered this fate, sometimes more than once. Companies also benefit from longer term tenure. Companies like the security of long term leases just as much as tenants.

What about the price?

So far there are limited numbers of properties but generally they fall into two categories. First, government subsidised properties which have strict conditions, usually income tests similar to social housing. The second type, often owned as unlisted equity vehicles achieve a high rate of return through higher rents.

So far it is this second type which is getting the most excitement. Large developers are offering new ‘experiences’ and ‘lifestyles’ through their communities, including yoga studios, on-site dining, office spaces and wellness centres. All of these facilities require constant cleaning and maintenance to match the ‘highest standards’ set out in the marketing material. Also offered are ‘bolt on’ services which don’t require dedicated spaces. Laundry services, dog grooming, walking, baby sitting, handyman services beauty services, car hire, along with many others.

Clearly, these lifestyle communities are desirable for those seeking convenience but at what cost? So far the corporates are offering these communities are high but competitive prices for such apartments, in the range of $750p.w. – $850p.w for 2 bedroom apartments $1,000 p.w.+ for 3 bedrooms. A 1 br property is slightly more affordable in the range $600-$650 p.w. Even for a couple earning $200,000, a 2 br apartment will absorb 30% of your take-home salary, the threshold that is broadly considered affordable.

What about the future?

The more important question people need to ask is, ‘What happens if we stop earning $200,000?’ and, ‘What will I do in retirement?’. Using your super probably won’t cut it. A lifetime annuity for a 65 y.o female to cover the rent will set you back more than $950,000 – just for the rent. This is assuming the rent doesn’t increase between now and when you retire. Visit Our Leg Up to find out more.

Many young Australians choose to spend more years in education which delays the time before they can get their first job and buy their first home. Education debt is something we don’t think about until there is an unexpected hole in our pay. To our surprise, the government keeps up to 10% of every dollar of our income.

Expenses seem to pile on, electricity, tolls, health insurance, rent and of course, tax. What seems like a straightforward task, save $100,000 for a deposit, seems like trying to run in quicksand. The longer it takes, the more costs keep going up, the longer it takes.

Keeping your deposit an achievable goal will help get you out of the quicksand.

Our Leg Up can help you get a great loan from major banks with a deposit as low as 5%.

Australians are facing a new paradigm. Australians are better educated, earn more and have more flexible employment options than ever before. Despite this, getting and then keeping a secure rental is getting harder.

Tenancy laws have been changed in many states in an attempt to provide renters with security. Sadly, tenants dread receiving a letter from their agent. Too often, the letter informs tenants that the owner wants to resume residing in their property or that the owner wishes to sell.

An increase in interest rates makes purchasing a property more difficult for first home buyers but is also contributing to pressure on investors. Some investors may buckle under the debt strain and choose to sell their property. This increases the chance of housing insecurity even for good tenants that have never missed a month of rent.

Break the rental cycle of crisis. Secure your property sooner. Our Leg Up can help you secure your own home.

Rents in cities are beginning to lift at an alarming rate. The CoreLogic estimate increase in median rents for houses is 13.5% across the 5 major capital cities in the year to December 2022. Growth in the price of unit rents is even higher, 15% across the 5 major capital cities over the year.

Will the growth in rent moderate? The latest report from Domain shows national vacancy rate at 0.8%, the lowest on record. This is easy to understand with an increase in migrants flowing back into Australia, both temporary (tourists and students) and permanent (skilled workers).

There is hope of some relief from new dwellings, with the ABS reporting 245,000 dwellings currently under construction, a high for the series. Unfortunately, relief may be short lived as there is a disturbing drop in new dwelling commencements to 45,000. This is well below the typical longer term rate of 55,000 each quarter.

Low vacancy, high demand and a poor outlook for new dwellings in the pipeline create a toxic brew for renters. House price affordability may have become difficult for many households trying to enter the market but is it any better to be at the mercy of the rental market?

Our Leg Up can help people saving for a deposit to get out of the rental crisis.

We all deserve a reward for our hard work. Now more than ever we don’t want to put off that important trip we have been planning.

What if you could take that year long trip around Australia?  According to Tourism Research Australia, Australians took 13.9 million trips exploring our great country in the year before COVID struck. What if you could join them?

What if you could rent your house out and earn extra income from the equity?

Our Leg Up doesn’t discriminate against retirees (at any age) from renting out their primary residence while also generating income from the equity.

Rethink your decision to downsize. Keep the home you love while you explore new places to fall in love with. Visit Our Leg Up

Many Australians struggle to leave the workforce. For some, they are keen to keep connections with the work they love or the colleagues they enjoy mentoring. This should be on your terms, not the banks.

For many, the fear of an insufficient retirement nest-egg is a daily reality. Do I really have enough superannuation to retire? Or another common problem, “once I pay all my debts I have very little super left”.

According to the ABS survey, ‘Retirement and Retirement Intentions, Australia’,
“For people intending to retire, the main factor that will influence their decision about when to retire was financial security.”

What if there was another way? Use the equity in your home and top-up your super without incurring debt.

Using Our Leg Up, the equity in your home can generate income without incurring a debt or any interest.

This will help to keep you debt free and comfortable during your retirement.

The gap between a ‘comfortable retirement’ and a ‘modest retirement’ for a couple is estimated to be $23,475, measured in June 2022, according to moneysmart.gov.au and the ASFA Retirement Standard .

An annuity to provide this income would cost approximately $512,000 for a female starting at age 65. What if you don’t have the cash to invest? Do you have to take out a loan to supplement your income?

Mortgages against your home are expensive. Interest rates you are charged are often high. Market rates are usually even higher than for regular home loans, variable rates are over 7% for most providers.

What if there was another way? Use the equity in your home and earn return rather than pay interest?

Using Our Leg Up, the equity in a median house in Sydney can generate an indicative return of $19,000-$28,000 per year without incurring a debt or any interest. A median Melbourne house can generate returns of between $14,500 and $21,500 per year.

This will help to keep you debt free and comfortable during your retirement.

Is your home in need of TLC?

Need help to pay for renovations? Even the best house needs maintenance as it ages. Australians tend to put off maintenance until that annoying leak becomes a waterfall.

Cost of renovations is a major problem. According to the Housing Industry Association ‘Kitchens and Bathrooms Report’, the average Australian bathroom renovation costs around $20,000. It is not surprising we wait until we absolutely can’t wait any more.

Why not let your house pay for its own repairs?

Our Leg Up offers a simple way to generate real returns every year from the equity in your home

Using a shared equity schemes come with a catch.

There are many different forms but most allow you to gain access to a home faster. It is not your home.

Depending on the scheme, when you buy them out, they can take up to 75% of the increase of your home’s value.

Watch out for schemes that have these downsides:
– You might be forced into expensive loans.
– Limited choice of what home you can buy.
– Strict time limit to buy.
– They let you pay for improvements, they profit from your work.

Our Leg Up is simple, it’s your home, your choice, your loan. Have access to the best loan rates from the major banks or other providers if you prefer.

Is the pension enough to live on? Do I have enough super? What if I get sick or suffer an accident?

These are all the common questions people ask themselves.  The most important question is often overlooked. Being a renter doubles your chances of living in poverty.

According to ACOSS (Australian not for profit experts in addressing poverty) and the University of NSW, 33% of private renters in 2015-16 were living in poverty compared with 16% of singles aged 65+.

Don’t give up! Now is the time to start getting together a deposit.

Our Leg Up can help. If you have been paying rent every month for years, you are probably already capable of buying a home. 

Our Leg Up helps put your saving goal within reach! For as little as a 5% deposit, Our Leg Up can help you gain access to the best home loans from major banks.

Visit us to not be left in the cold just because you don’t have a home.

How It Works

Your home is an asset. Usually, the biggest asset you have.

But there’s one big problem with it. Until now you couldn’t use the part of the home that you own to generate investment income.

Now you can. Let me explain.

Your home is made up of two parts. The market value of it and any debts you have against it (usually a mortgage).

If you take the value of your home and subtract any debt you have a number. This number is known as your equity. In simple terms what you currently own.

For example, if you home is valued at $1,000,000 and you have a $200,000 mortgage your equity is the difference between the two.

So, you take $200,000 out of the $1,000,000 and are left with $800,000 of equity.

What Can You Do With Your Equity?

Right now, the equity in your home is like hiding cash under your bed. You do not get any return on it. You only do when you sell the house, but for most people that’s years away.

Wouldn’t it be better if you could invest your equity and make money while you sleep? You will get a decent return paid back to you on it today.

Our Leg Up has an investment vehicle that allows you to do just that.

In fact, you can invest up to 80% of your property value.

In our example 80% of the value is $800,000. You then take the $200,000 debt out and are left with $600,000 you can invest.

So instead of getting no investment income from your home you can now get an investment income on the $600,000.

What Is Done With My Equity?

This is a great question. Your equity is pooled with other investors and then offered to people wanting to buy their first home.

These buyers get a great interest rate and can avoid having to pay expensive fees normally needed to protect the big banks.

HOW DO I MAKE MONEY WHILE I SLEEP?

Based on current rates your $600,000 investment can generate:
– 1 year cash return of $24,000.
– 5 year cash return of $120,000.

Your return will depend on how much equity you have in your home and the rates of return when you invest.

That’s $120,000 you would never be able to get without this investment vehicle.

What are The Risks?

Sophisticated investors know investing is always a trade-off between risk and return.

We have taken every possible step to reduce the risks to some of the lowest of any investment vehicle.

You already know that property is one of the most stable assets over a long period of time and that is unlikely to change.

Before you commit to this, we give you a complete explanation of all the rules and risks in plain English.

You can then make an informed decision about whether this is right for you.

There’s never any pressure from us. There are more investors available than we can have demand for.

How Do I Get Into This?

In the future this will be widely available but right now it’s only available to sophisticated investors.

You are a sophisticated investor if you:

• Have a property worth at least $2.5 million OR
• Have annual pre-tax income of $250k+

Also, you must have your own home or investment property. You can use the equity in both your own home and your investment property as an investment.

Your next step is to request a FREE Investment Calculation. 

To do this you simply send us your current property address(es) and the value of any debt on the property.

We will calculate your equity and show you what return you can receive.

If you like the numbers and details, then we’ll chat about arranging priority access into the next round of investments.

Unlocking Australia’s hidden source of investment capital.

Saving a deposit is the largest barrier to homeownership, and the number one driver of wealth inequality. Aspiring homeowners with a deposit under 20% must pay lender’s mortgage insurance and a higher interest rate. Our Leg Up creates an attractive alternative. Borrowers pay less fees and secure lower interest rates. Investors enhance return on often inaccessible home equity.

Our solution aggregates established homeowners who have equity in their property and matches them with a pool of aspiring homeowners who have qualified for a prime mortgage but have a low deposit.

Economics

• Our product has limited competition as we offer a return on inaccessible equity.
• An investor’s equity typically remains encumbered for 2-5 years until (80% LVR) but our pooled approach and liquidity buffer can allow investors to exit earlier.
• Property price appreciation increases rate of return for this product .

Low Risk Market

• All home buyers undergo stringent loan serviceability assessments and need to be extended a prime mortgage from our partner banks to qualify.
• Australian residential mortgages amongst the safest in the world, structured as full recourse loans, with low delinquency (less than 0.9%) and foreclosure (less than 0.2%) risk by international standards.

Capital Buffer

• Proprietary risk model and product structure developed to ensure security in a downside event. For $1 guaranteed, the borrower’s fee and our provisions offer over 140% coverage and +15% buffer, able to handle the impact of +10x rise in delinquency (US peaked at 10% delinquency during GFC).
• Risk proportionately diversified across pool of borrowers, no one-to-one risk.

Investors

• Target return greater than 4% p.a. in addition to underlying real estate investment (in cash)

• Base case: Net 4.1% p.a. $1m equity pledge returns $92k in 27 months.
• Total return = 10.9% p.a., comprising 6.8% market return on property + 4.1% from Our Leg Up (in cash).

Engineered to outlast crisis simulations and protect investors

Robust suite of risk mitigating elements implemented to handle +10x increase in Borrowers’ mortgage delinquencies and property forecloses.

Ring Fenced Returns

Fee from borrowers received upfront, later paid as return to investors.

Prime & Diversified

Pledges diversified across borrowers who pass strict dual phase selection criteria.

Additional Coverage

Maintain pool of additional uncommitted pledges, boosts liquidity.

First-loss Bucket

Ability to handle the impact of a +10x rise in delinquency rates (akin to US GFC).

Find out how to bridge the wealth inequality divide by visiting our website, or Apply to Invest now!