The PBOC first quarter survey is a doozy. Below is a summary of the main conclusions I drew from the surveys. According to PBOC bankers’ poll, loan demand increased in the first quarter, and banks anticipate more supportive monetary policy in the following one. The Q1 2024 business conditions worsened, according to a study of
Rental inflation remained hot across the major capital city markets, according to SQM Research’s latest asking rents series: This surge in rents comes amid the sharp decline in rental vacancy rates following record net overseas migration: Research from CBA shows that rental inflation correlates directly with the ratio of population increase to apartment construction: So
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) may have increased official interest rates by less than other advanced nations: However, this hasn’t stopped Australian households from experiencing one of the sharpest increases in mortgage repayments in the world: Australian households have seen their principal and interest debt repayments soar over the past two years: Only Norwegian
With the FOMC meeting absorbed without much fanfare overnight, equity volatility was limited in today’s session here in Asia with closed Chinese markets helping smooth out the wobbles on Wall Street overnight. The lack of change in the Federal Reserve direction on interest rates still saw a reversal in USD with all the majors lifting
The Albanese government’s fairy-tale target of building 1.2 million homes over five years, or 60,000 homes per quarter, keeps getting crushed. Dwelling approvals data for March, released on Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), revealed that dwelling approvals fell by another 1.1% in March in trend terms to their lowest monthly level since
The Queensland Government has announced a $1000 energy bill discount under a $2.5 billion government package to ease the cost of living relief. Premier Steven Miles said it was the biggest contribution a state has ever made to help households with their energy bills. The rebate will apply to bills from July, with many Queenslanders
Australian gas producers are calling for an immediate policy reset due to Labor’s market interventions and regulatory uncertainties, which are undermining investor confidence and delaying new supplies. They are also calling for the Energy Minister to support further gas investment and boost supplies via the north-south pipeline, despite the possibility of extending the mandatory gas
I argued last week that Australia’s universities had turned into greedy profit-maximising corporations. To cut a long story short, the federal government and Australian universities devised a framework to encourage huge volumes of full fee paying overseas students by: The Australian government offered the carrot of generous student visa work opportunities and permanent residency chances.
The situation facing working Australian households is bleak. Australian real per capita household incomes collapsed by 6.0% in 2023, the sharpest decline in the world: The world’s sharpest increase in mortgage and tax payments was the primary cause of this decline in Australian household incomes: Tenant households across the major Australian capital cities are also
Since the pandemic started, Australia’s rents have experienced extreme growth as a result of record net overseas migration. The surge in rents has pushed PropTrack’s rental affordability index to a record low: It has also pushed the share of household income spent on renting to a record high of 32.2%: Recent research from the Australian