Sydney median house price exceeds $1m, new bcu home loan cashback deal & Telstra payphones now free to use: This week’s best banking news

• Sydney median home price exceeds the million-dollar mark
• Score up to $5,000 cashback with bcu’s new home loan deal
• Get through lockdown without breaking the bank
• Telstra makes Aussie payphones free to use
• Aussie consumers are no longer spooked by lockdowns
• Government grants $24.5m to electric vehicle charging stations

All in this week’s best banking news recap: editor’s pick.

Sydney median home price exceeds the million-dollar mark

While Aussie residential property prices have continued to go up over the past month, new CoreLogic data has revealed that its growth rate seems to be slowing down.

According to CoreLogic’s latest Home Value Index, although national home values went up by 1.6% in July 2021, this was less than June’s figures (1.9%) and that of March (2.8%).

Despite this, the recent spike means national house prices have risen by 14.1% in 2021 and a whopping 16.1% in the past year. We also saw Sydney’s median dwelling value go up by 2% in July, taking the median home price in Sydney past the million-dollar mark.

Read full article: Sydney median home value edges above $1 million for all the details.

Score up to $5,000 cashback with bcu’s new home loan deal

Aussie mortgage holders could score thousands of dollars cash back for taking out a new home loan with bcu’s new cashback deal (for both new home buyers and existing owners looking to refinance).

With this unique offer, new mortgage customers could get 0.75% of their loan amount as cashback (capped at $5,000). So if you took out a $400,000 home loan, you’d be looking at $3,000 cashback.

“As a customer-owned bank, we are not here to make profits for third party shareholders and are able to return as much profit as possible through our competitive product offering,” said bcu’s senior retail distribution manager, Adam Cross.

Read the full article: bcu rolls out home loan cashback deal worth up to $5,000 to learn more.

Get through lockdown without breaking the bank

As we enter the month of August, we wanted to wish those in lockdown-affected areas all the best. If you’re looking for something to help pass the time, our monthly financial checklist should do the trick.

In your August 2021 Financial Checklist:

• Stay connected with the right broadband plan while staying at home
• Whip your credit score into shape
• Hacks for keeping your energy bill in check while everyone’s at home
• Get the low-down on digital finance with The Finance Burrito
• Activate your Midas touch this Leo season.

Read the full article: August 2021 Financial Checklist to get you through the month ahead.

Telstra makes payphones free to use

Telstra has just announced that it’ll now be free to make calls from its 15,000 existing payphones to Australian landline and mobile numbers free!

And if you’re reading this from your iPhone, wondering, “who even uses payphones nowadays?” they’re more valuable than you’d think.

According to Telstra’s chief executive Andrew Penn, roughly 11 million calls were made via public payphones in Australia last year, 230,000 of which were for vital services such as Triple Zero.

Read the full article: Why Telstra making payphones free helps to learn more.

Aussie consumers no longer spooked by lockdowns

It appears that Aussie consumers aren’t as phased by the June 2021 COVID lockdowns as they were the first time round in 2020. According to new Citibank data, there’s been a significant increase in online shopping with credit and debit cards since the current COVID restrictions came into effect.

"Last year, lockdown anxieties triggered a drop in consumer spending," said Choong Yu Lum, Citi Australia’s head of cards and loans.

“However, the data for June indicates consumers are no longer spooked by lockdowns, with heightened government restrictions appearing to bear no impact on volumes of monthly spend.”

Read the full article: Online shopping spikes in lockdown - home goods top items for the full story.

Government grants $24.5m to electric vehicle charging stations

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $24.55 million worth of funding will go towards growing Australia’s electric vehicle fast-charging network as part of the government’s Future Fuels Fund.

Five applicants will receive the grants and deliver 403 new fast-charging stations, a sevenfold increase to the current number of stations across the country's most populated regions and cities.

This comes at a great time considering Australia had more than 23,000 electric vehicle registrations as of 31 January this year, a 62.3% increase from last year's numbers.

Read the full article: Government grants $24.5mil to EV charging stations for electric cars for more information.

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