Australian home prices hit a fresh record high in July, with more growth expected following the latest interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The Westpac Consumer Sentiment Index, released on Tuesday, suggested that Australians have become extremely bullish on house prices, expecting significant increases in the months ahead. As illustrated below
Since the pandemic first arrived in Australia at the start of 2020, the confidence level of the nation’s households has been an absolute rollercoaster ride. Confidence fell to the depths of the lows seen during the 1990s recession, then skyrocketed to decade highs as pandemic-driven stimulus boosted the fortunes of households and the broader economy.
The Australian recently published Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) data showing that there is an abundance of applicants per job. This suggested that concerns surrounding labour shortages are overblown. At the aggregate economy level, there were 29.3 applications per vacancy, 9.4 qualified applicants per vacancy and 4 suitable applicants per vacancy: As illustrated below by Justin
It took Melbourne 165 years to hit a population of 3.5 million at the turn of the century. Over the first 25 years of this century, Melbourne’s population has grown by nearly 2 million, causing immense strain on housing, infrastructure, services, law and order, and overall living standards. The state government has also been buried
Geopolitics again dominated the newsflow overnight, although the latest Canadian CPI print gave off a bit of a reverberation across currency markets with the USD pushing most of the majors down slightly as the Loonie almost went back to its recent monthly low. European stocks rallied while Wall Street pulled back on mixed home sales
DXY is warming up. AUD was pounded with risk. CNY is fine. Gold shaky. Metals warning. Mining bear fully intact. EM rolled. Junk is fine. Yields too. Stocks were hit. There wasn’t much going on to explain the sudden nerves. I put it down to the approach of Jackson Hole. Societe General. The title
The solution to the rental crisis is being played out across Australia’s two most similar nations: Canada and New Zealand. Canada experienced a record rise in rents in response to the largest surge in immigration in the nation’s history. Last year, the Canadian government announced that it would freeze population growth for three years in
Asian share markets are flat or slightly down across the board in another very quiet session as macro news remains dominated by the farcical White House talks between Europe, Ukraine and the Trump regime. The moves to watch this week will be the Jackson Hole conference on Friday with Fed Chair Powell expected to make
New Zealand’s economy continues to face severe challenges. As illustrated below by Justin Fabo from Antipodean Macro, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s GDP growth nowcast is pointing to a 0.2% decline in real GDP in Q2 2025. New Zealand’s labour market is also in dire straits, with unemployment and underutilisation rates soaring to near-decade
At the end of 2024, CoreLogic (now Cotality) reported that the national dwelling value to income ratio and the percentage of income required to service a new mortgage were tracking at a record high. Cotality’s July housing report showed that the median dwelling value across Australia’s capital cities was $926,854 at the end of July.