The Valor Group

🌟 What a night! The Australian Premiere of AKAAL was a powerful celebration of culture, courage, and community.

The Valor Group is proud to have supported this landmark event alongside Humble Motion Pictures, Dharma Productions, and MFD Renewable Energy.

Set in the 1840s, is more than a period drama — it’s a story of warriors, legacy, and the unyielding spirit of Punjab.
This premiere wasn’t just about cinema — it was about honouring our roots and bringing Punjabi stories to the global stage.

🙏 A special thank you to Mr. Sippy Grewal , whose selfless dedication over the years has made moments like these possible. Your love for storytelling continues to inspire.

Together, we celebrated: 🎬 A cinematic movement
🕊️ A tribute to our ancestors
📍 And a milestone in global Punjabi cinema

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this historic night.

May the New Year bring you happiness, peace, and prosperity. Wishing you a joyous 2022

Wishing you and your family health and happiness this Christmas🎄

TOP WAYS To PREVENT A GRANNY FLAT DISASTER

For an ageing parent, offers of “come live with me Mum” or “I’ll look after you Dad” might sound like great solutions to the question of where to live. Many families enter into granny flat arrangements so that generations of family members can support each other, with the potential for Centrelink advantages and financial benefits.

It is important for anyone entering into an arrangement to enter with eyes wide open and good advice from a lawyer and a financial planner who have experience with granny flat arrangements. The decision should consider carefully the family dynamics and everyone involved should access independent advice to fully understand the implications.

Granny flats are often perceived as small flat in the backyard, but they can take many forms. Social security legislation uses the term “granny flat right” to define a transfer of property or money, in exchange for a promise of accommodation for life.

Normally, a gift over $10,000 in a financial year (or $30,000 over a five-year period) would continue to count as an asset for Centrelink purposes, but if property or money is gifted in exchange for a right to accommodation for life, the gifting rules may not apply.

If properly set up, the parent might reduce assessable assets and increase age pension entitlements or reduce future aged care fees. It may also provide advantages for estate planning. But the rules can be complicated.

The money can also be at risk if the child faces their own financial difficulties resulting from a divorce, bankruptcy, legal action, gambling problem or other addiction. And in some situations.

A legal document might provide some peace of mind, and clearly outline expectations to minimise misunderstandings, but tax law as it currently stands, bring its own sting, with capital gains tax implications for the child receiving the money or property.

In last year’s budget. the government announced an intention to change the legislation to remove this penalty, but as yet, amendments have not been made.

🔒 Lockdown to slow Sydney’s housing market momentum

Sydney house prices jumped 8.2 per cent in the past three months, and posted the highest annual growth in nearly 30 years, but the disruptions caused by the lockdown could take some heat out of the market in the coming months, experts say.

New Domain data showed house prices rose rapidly across the country during the June quarter, with Melbourne and Canberra breaking the million-dollar median house price for the first time.

Median unit prices jumped to a record $601,482, up 6.7 per cent compared to a year ago.

Westpac economists Bill Evans and Matthew Hassan wrote that while prices posted a solid gain in July, momentum “already appears to have slowed somewhat with repeated ‘mini-lockdowns’ across several states and the more prolonged closure in NSW starting to impact activity.

“Coronavirus disruptions are likely to take some heat out of markets in coming months,” they wrote.

“Price growth may stall altogether, particularly in Sydney where restrictions look set to last for some time yet. However, any slowing is very likely to be transitory, with easing restrictions and a national economic rebound driving a subsequent re-acceleration.”

Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury in Sydney’s north-west notched up 20 per cent in just three months, the largest quarterly house price gain in the country.

Over the year, Sydney house prices rose by 24 per cent and Melbourne by 16.2 per cent.

All the other capitals posted double-digit annual gains, with Canberra posting the largest at 29.2 per cent, followed by Hobart at 28.4 per cent.

RENTAL MARKETS TIGHTEN AS LANDLORDS LOOK TO SELL 💰

Rental markets in Sydney’s outer south-west, Blacktown and Baulkham Hills are set to tighten with landlords selling about 3500 investment properties or 9 per cent of the total rental stock, to take advantage of the strong buyer appetite.

“Some are seeing the opportunity in the market with short supply available and others are looking to free up cash.”

The landlords who couldn’t sell during the last four years because we had a pretty significant market downturn, so they rented them out while waiting for the market to recover. So we had that pent-up stock that was always going to come back into the market when the market got better, and now that’s happening.

“If investors are in their late 50s or 60s and have been in the market for a long time, they know that these sorts of property booms don’t come along very often, so they sell up,” said Peter Koulizos, program director-master of property at University of Adelaide School of Architecture and Built Environment.

“I’ve sold two of my rental properties already and may sell a couple more, depending on the tax implications.

“This is a great time to sell because even though property prices won’t go backwards, these levels will become the new norm.”

Despite the heat in the housing market, a pragmatic long-term approach will withstand shifts in personal, market and social circumstances.

There isn’t a lot of room for hesitancy in the residential property market. Tax incentives, low interest rates and the lack of supply are culminating to drive frenzied demand and surging prices.

In the 12 months to the end of May, 218 areas joined the million-dollar club. There’s no sign of a significant slowdown, with CoreLogic’s national home value index up 2.2 per cent over May, following a 2.8 per cent rise in March – the fastest rate of appreciation since 1988.

It’s little wonder then that fear of missing out (FOMO) is running strong among property investors.
While it’s important to be nimble, it’s also vital that property investors don’t throw due diligence to the wayside amid feverish market demand.

The majority of buyers have to take on some level of debt. That’s par for the course, but it’s crucial that home loans are manageable over the long term.

There are signs that FOMO is resulting in an increasing number of buyers taking on risky levels of debt, with Australia’s Council of Financial Regulators recently writing to banks to flag signs of increased risk-taking as eager home buyers rush to secure loans.

It’s a difficult predicament for buyers when technical market values, based on historical sales statistics, are rendered irrelevant by the fast-moving market sentiment that sees property values jump tens of thousands of dollars in a matter of weeks.

Nevertheless, borrowers must leave themselves wriggle room and cash reserves for changing market and personal circumstances. These could include interest rate increases, unforeseen property-related expenses, job loss or ill health.

Meanwhile, there’s no doubt some sales agents can use strong market demand as increased leverage in negotiations with buyers.

As a result, we’ve seen growing reports of under quoting as well as blind bidding, where buyers are being asked to put forward an offer without any knowledge of their competition or, worse, if they even exist.

📢 Big banks offer loan deferrals, fee relief to lockdown Sydneysiders 📢

Major banks said they will consider deferring loan repayments and waiving fees for customers who can prove hardship as a result of Sydney’s COVID-19 lockdown.

Banks said they are open to tailoring assistance packages suiting individual customer circumstances rather than offering broad-brush repayment deferrals.

Westpac, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank said customers who came under income pressure due to forced business closures as the virus spreads in Sydney could have repayments rescheduled. The banks said business customers could ask for various fees to be reduced or waived.

CBA calls interest rate hike in late-2022 📢

The strength of the economy will force the Reserve Bank of Australia to normalise monetary policy and lift the cash rate in late 2022, Commonwealth Bank head of Australian economics Gareth Aird says.

The CBA prediction is in line with futures market expectations and follows Westpac chief economist Bill Evans, who brought forward his prediction to early 2023 after a “phenomenal” jobs figure in May.
“For the past six months CBA’s economic forecasts for the Australian economy have been at odds with the RBA’s ’2024 at the earliest’ forward guidance on the cash rate,” Mr Aird said.

“Our central scenario has the RBA delivering the first hike in the cash rate in November 2022. We have pencilled in an increase of 15 [basis points] which would take the cash rate to 0.25 per cent.”

The CBA is also predicting a further 25 basis points increase in December 2022, followed by a further three 25-point increases in each of quarters one, two and three in 2023.

“That would take the cash rate to 1.25 per cent, the level at which we assess the cash rate to be neutral,” Mr Aird said.

“That would take the cash rate to 1.25 per cent, the level at which we assess the cash rate to be neutral,” Mr Aird said.

The RBA has become increasingly isolated in its thinking rates will not lift until “2024 at the earliest”; however, the central bank has started moderating its language in recent weeks.

Last month, deputy governor Guy Debelle said the timeframe for when the cash rate would begin to increase would be based on the “state of the economy ... not the calendar”.

Economists also noted a shift in language from governor Philip Lowe last week – from rate increases were “unlikely” until 2024 “at the earliest”, to them being “still some way off”.

“If the likelihood of a move in 2024 is increasing, then a move earlier is also more possible,” ANZ head of Australian economics David Plank said. “So we do think the shift in Lowe’s wording around forward guidance is deliberate.”

Bank watchers will be analysing every word of Dr Lowe’s press conference following the RBA’s July 6 meeting.

Futures markets brought forward expectations for a hike to September 2022 last week after May’s labour force data showed 115,000 jobs were added over the month, driving the unemployment rate to 5.1 per cent, a level last seen in February 2020.

“The economic backdrop today is so much more conducive to higher wages and inflation than it was pre‑COVID,” Mr Aird said.

The RBA is determined to generate wages growth above 3 per cent and inflation sustainably between 2 per cent and 3 per cent, before normalising monetary policy and lifting interest rates above current historic lows.

Bank bill futures now imply a cash rate of 0.25 per cent by September 2022, which would equate to a 15 basis point increase in the next 15 months.

The market expects the rate to increase to about 1.2 per cent by June 2024, which would equate to about four 0.25 percentage point hikes from the current 0.1 per cent.

However, there are risks to a 2022 hike date, according to the CBA, primarily from an acceleration in labour market supply when the international border reopens.

“We believe that the RBA cannot achieve their objectives of full employment and inflation ‘sustainably in the target’ without the assistance of the Commonwealth,” Mr Aird said.

“More specifically, fiscal settings need to remain stimulatory and net overseas immigration cannot catapult back to strong pre‑COVID levels if wages growth is to remain at 3 per cent per annum or above.”

CBA announced on Friday it had increased the interest rate floor on which it assesses the borrowing capacity of new home loan customers to 5.25 per cent, from 5.1 per cent.

The Greater Sydney Megaregion is facing a severe shortage of greenfield land that will blow out to an undersupply of more than 25,600 sites by the 2030 financial year unless the NSW government changes its approach, a new report from the Urban Development Institute of Australia reveals.

UDIA (NSW) president Stephen McMahon has called for an end to the bureaucratic “backflipping” that is resulting in “inexcusable” planning delays of eight years in some cases.

He said the existing multi-department approach is not working and has resulted in chronic undersupply of land, forcing up prices for new homes in some greenfield areas by up to 45 per cent this year.

Mr McMahon told attendees at a UDIA lunch in Sydney on Thursday, attended by Planning Minister Rob Stokes, it “beggars belief” that key decisions must be signed off by up to nine different government agencies.

“A lot of you will be familiar with a lot of the backflipping that goes on in some of the agencies in terms of their decisions. It’s incredibly difficult to work around that,” Mr McMahon said.

He welcomed an announcement from Mr Stokes that zoning will be fast-tracked in south-west Sydney, potentially resulting in 18,000 new lots, but said it would not make much of a difference.

“It was a relatively good start [but] the impact it will have is probably relatively minor,” said Mr McMahon.

Mr Stokes told attendees he agreed with a key UDIA recommendation that government takes a co-ordinated high-level approach to ensure land supply across Sydney, the Hunter region, Central Coast and Illawarra-Shoalhaven keeps up with demand.

“Given the urgent need to address the housing supply issues across our State, there will now be a regular standing item on agenda for the Delivery and Performance Committee (DAPCO), which is a cabinet sub-committee,” Mr Stokes said

The UDIA (NSW) report estimated that demand for new homes across the Greater Sydney Megaregion will run at around 14,000 a year through to mid-2029

But supply is already lagging by several thousand a year, the report said, and will blow out further in the years ahead with slow delivery of sewer and water infrastructure a major factor.

“Given the very strong demand for lower density product after COVID-19 and the significant decline of multi-units supply, there will be the possibility of much more demand for greenfield housing over the next two to three years,” the report said.

“This is a serious challenge, meaning a business as usual approach will be devastating for our future as housing becomes increasingly unaffordable, ultimately with the potential to create an enormous burden on taxpayer-funded housing.”