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04 3rd, 2009| 
THE First Home Owner’s Grant may become a $25 billion time bomb and make it even tougher for people to get their first house.
As the development industry called for an extension of the $14,000 grant to all homebuyers to stimulate a dormant market, the RBA deputy governor Ric Battellino has warned the funding could backfire.
Analysts also forecast a potential housing crisis later this year with rising unemployment pushing up to 460,000 households “close to the edge” through mortgage stress.
Mr Battellino said the $21,000 available to first-home buyers could end up being priced into the cost of the home.
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BANKS earned billions of dollars in fees and charges on customer accounts in the weeks leading up to the Federal Government’s move to protect the sector from the global financial crisis.
The Australian reported figures published yesterday showed a strong rise in the charges on everyday transaction and deposit accounts the most popular held by Australian consumers. The banks collected $1.43 billion worth of fees from the accounts in the September quarter, the peak of the world banking crisis with the collapse of Lehman Brothers prompting Labor to guarantee retail deposits.