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GE Money announced to the broker network at the beginning of October that it would no longer be funding its prime mortgage products.  Next came the news that it wouldn’t pass on any of the 1% rate reduction announced by the Reserve Bank.  Now GE has announced it will stop funding home loans through third party introducers altogether.

As part of the $10.4 billion economic stimulus package unveiled on 14th October the government has tripled the First Home Owners Grant to $21,000 for new homes and doubled it to $14,000 for existing homes.  This is expected to provide a much needed boost to the housing industry and make it easier for first home buyers to enter the market.

By the end of trade on Wall Street Monday 29th September the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell the most since the 1987 crash.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 778 points, its largest point drop ever and the MSCI World Index, an index of 23 developed markets slid 6.9 percent, the most in 21 years.  All of this the result of US congress failing to agree on a US $700 billion rescue plan to bail out failing financial institutions.