Blogotariat

Cotality has released alarming data illustrating the sharp deterioration of rental affordability over recent years following record net overseas migration. The following chart plots the percentage of median household income spent on renting the median dwelling at the national level: Rental affordability nationally was tracking at its most favourable level in 15 years in Q4

The post Australia’s rental crisis deteriorates appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Asian equity markets are fairly buoyant today but Japanese markets are closed while the risk complex ponders the next stage of the Ruzzian/Ukrainian peace “talks” amid a shortened trading week due to US Thanksgiving.  Currency land was fairly stable without any large gaps as traders digest the Fed talk from Friday night that may support

The post Macro Afternoon appeared first on MacroBusiness.

The company behind a proposal to turn a shuttered coal fired power station into a biomass-burning facility is taking its planning rejection to court.

The latest batch of lending data from the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that investor mortgage lending has surged to decade highs. Recently, Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro posted the following chart showing that Google searches for “investment property” had surged to their highest level in at least two decades:

The post Aussie property investors face regulatory action appeared first on MacroBusiness.

The iron jaws refuse to shut. Despite the collapse of steel mill margins. They have tried to lower prices. MySteel. Imported iron ore inventories at Chinese steel mills fell to a two-month low of 12.4 million tonnes this week, down 2.9% from the prior week, as high prices dampened restocking interest.  Inventory Coverage now stands at 20

The post Iron ore does the opposite appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Viktor Schvets’ Convergence of Storms is not a good outlook for Australia. Schvets’ “Convergence of Storms” sees five converging revolutions. The first storm is demographics: ageing populations, below-replacement fertility, and shrinking workforces reduce long-term growth potential, raise dependency ratios, and put enormous strain on pension systems and public finances. With fewer workers supporting more retirees,

The nature of time has plagued thinkers for as long as we’ve tried to understand the world we live in. Intuitively, we know what time is, but try to explain it, and we end up tying our minds in knots.

St. Augustine of Hippo, a theologian whose writings influenced western philosophy, captured a paradoxical challenge in trying to articulate time more than 1,600 years ago:

The outlook Australians hold for the future has been deeply sub-par for a long while now, with the ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index sitting dramatically below the post-1990 level and roughly where it was during the Global Financial Crisis. While elements of the index have undergone a recovery, the forward-looking subindexes remain in deeply concerning

The post A Christmas spending recession? appeared first on MacroBusiness.

The policy process in Canberra is broken. The government of the day refuses to budge on any national interest reform that threatens vested interests. As the polity grows increasingly agitated due to this inaction, the vested interests realise that their social license to operate is under attack. Over time, it is a risk they cannot

The post And now for fake gas reservation appeared first on MacroBusiness.

On Wednesday this week, the ABS will finally release a full monthly CPI series that will ultimately replace the quarterly measure. Nowcasting measures suggest inflation is already falling back from the recent energy shock. As we know, the RBA pause has kicked the consumer in the teeth. And other measures are also weakening. Energy has

The post Aussie inflation is falling back appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Big solar takes advantage of early morning sun to take record share of grid power, before being overrun by rooftop PV. No wonder new solar has batteries included.

The Security Council’s backing of the Trump plan for Gaza ignores international law, punishes the Palestinians, and rewards those responsible for genocide.