Has property gone cold?

I'm not sure what your question is Mark;
are you wondering if the market is flat, or experiencing a correction etc, or are you asking why you can't borrow more than $300k?

The answer to the first part is ; it depends where you look. There are several places around Aus that are booming, despite what the media says.

The answer to the second part may lie in the fact that you are recently self-employed and have a short history in that work. Banks are a bit nervous of these scenarios, especially on the tails of what has happened over here in the USA, so the Aus banks may be a little nervous about their exposure due to many borderline qualifiers for loans over recent years. They don't want to have the same finance industry implosion like is happening here. Based on this, I am sure the Aus Banks will adjust their lending policies a bit, making it harder for people without long finance histories to get lots of finance.

$300k is more than enough to get started with an I.P – how much do you want to spend? Where are you looking? If this is your first I.P you may want to consider starting off a bit smaller anyway. Keep in mind that higher priced properties (most properties over the average and median price) struggle to get decent rent returns. Cheaper properties quite often out-perform more expensive ones for rent returns and cap growth (in percentage terms).

There are various ways and means that you can borrow more, but once you move outside the "traditional" loan methods, you are exposing yourself to higher risk in my opinion. There is nothing wrong with this, but the returns need to much higher to offset this risk.

The banks don't lend people more money usually because they perceive the investment to be too high exposure for THEM FIRST, and you second; so you have to ask yourself; if they say no, maybe I should be cautious.

If you are looking to buy a PPoR, then you may need to look for a cheaper neighborhood, wait a bit longer and save like hell, or look at one of those No Doc or Lo Doc loans.

The market certainly has not gone flat I would say that you change of employment status is the reason why you capacity to borrow has been reduced. If you have been self employed for a short period of time then it is unlikely that the average lender will take into consideration your income at all and therefore you serviceability will be calculated on that solely of your partner.

Some lenders will allow you to self declare your income again dependant on the date your ABN was registered.

The longer the better.!!