Lawyers are a ‘highly desirable client’ within the property market

Speaking on a recent episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, produced in partnership with Distinctive Finance, the pair discussed ongoing interest rate cuts, what these might mean for lawyers looking to enter the property market, and the value of engaging a debt adviser.

In May, the Reserve Bank cut rates for the second time since November 2020. After cutting the cash rate by 25 basis points at its February 2025 meeting, the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to hold the cash rate at 4.10 per cent in its second cash rate decision in April.

Banks are also predicting future cuts throughout the year, added Lobb.

“Now they meet every six weeks, the RBA. So, things could change, but based on current markets and especially what’s happening with the upcoming election, then Donald Trump and his tariffs in the States, things could change. But at the moment, they are predicting further rate cuts as well,” he said.

Recent inflation figures, according to Goodall, are also the lowest they’ve been “since 2021”.

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“We really believe that if you’re a professional at the moment, you should be ready to take advantage of when those things start to move inside the marketplace,” he said.

“With rates coming down, consumer confidence will improve. And typically, if you look back over Australia’s history, when rates go down, property prices tend to improve and increase and that will then have a knock-on effect. It’ll bring investors back into the market, in particular in New South Wales and Queensland.

“You’ll certainly see consumer confidence improve with rates coming down, borrowing capacity increases for individuals, and if you’re not going to look to borrow and you’re an existing mortgage holder, your repayments should hopefully come down. Or if you can afford it, we’d always recommend that you keep your repayments at the higher amount so you can clear your mortgage as quickly as you possibly can and save some interest along the way.”

Rates coming down also impact property prices, giving consumers expanded borrowing capacity and, consequently, increasing property prices.

“If we look at interest rates coming down, what that will do is it will allow people to have further capacity to go and borrow more money, which then stimulates the market. At the moment, as a business, we’ve got significant clients that are already pre-approved looking to get into the market. The thing that’s probably been holding them back is a little bit of confidence [in] where the rate’s going to go, what’s going to happen,” Goodall said.

“When people come back into the market and they start to buy property, that naturally has a knock-on effect, creates demand supply, and then we should probably see prices start to increase again.”

In particular, legal professionals who are time-poor should have their financials to be able to “pull the trigger” on purchasing a property when the time is right, according to Lobb.

“Things that you should be considering is obviously having tax up to date is very important. We have that conversation a lot, and it’s good that these days, with tools available to legal professionals, it’s getting better and better in terms of having your tax returns done and completed,” he said.

“And that’s where having a trusted advisor is also important; we can take some of that time back off. Legal professionals working with their trusted group of people, whether it’s accountants, associates, that sort of thing, and liaising with them.”

As such, if lawyers “do their homework up front”, a broker or debt advisor will be able to take any additional burdens off them, agreed Goodall.

“Time’s a critical factor for professional people. And lawyers are in a unique position. They’re a highly desirable client to all of the banks. And because of that and because of their capacity to generate income, they are allowed to obviously borrow at a higher threshold. So, you will have heard in the past that lawyers can borrow 90 per cent of the property price with no lenders mortgage insurance involved, which is one of the unique things that they’ve got access to,” he added.

“So, they should be reaching out to their trusted advisers, in particular their debt advisory partners, and come to us and talk to us about how we can actually assist them along their journey of bearing, purchasing properties, and upgrading.”

To listen to the full episode with Christian Goodall and Mitchell Lobb, click here.