Australian home values hit their highest level on record in May. The Westpac Consumer Sentiment index, released on Tuesday, showed that Australians have turned bullish on house prices, expecting significant appreciation in the period ahead. As illustrated below by Alex Joiner from IFM Investors, house price expectations have surged to a cyclical high. “With strong
One year ago, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver estimated that Australia’s cumulative housing shortage was in excess of 200,000 dwellings. The chart from Oliver showed that Australia’s housing undersupply began in the mid-2000s when the federal government more than doubled net overseas migration. However, the shortage was almost eradicated when immigration turned negative during the
According to Westpac, financial markets have now priced a 97% chance that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will reduce the official cash rate (OCR) at its monetary policy board meeting in July. The case for more rate cuts was strengthened by the Q1 national accounts released last week, which showed that aggregate GDP growth
The NAB survey yesterday was a shocker. There is nothing good on that table. Worse, the Aussie economy is supposed to be going through a hand-off from fading government spending to a rising consumer. Somebody forgot to tell the latter as retail fell off a cliff. In other words, the economy has reverted to a
DXY weak but holding. The AUD tractor climbs on. Lead boots have stalled. Machines are chasing oil, expect up, then down again. Metals no bueno. Miners are terrible. EM trying but tied to DXY. Yields sliding a little again. Stocks to the moon! I still think we’re headed into a combined US/China slowdown. I do
The Department of Redundancy Department is Albo’s core portfolio. From The Australian. Business leaders will push for holistic tax reform, cuts to red tape and faster approvals for major projects as Anthony Albanese lays the groundwork for a second-term economic agenda by holding a productivity roundtable in Canberra months after his thumping election victory. With
Another light news session overnight as speculation mounts of potential trade deals and tariff pullbacks with US-China talks progressing. Wall Street took any positive news as good news and was bid strongly while European shares pulled back on some not so good unemployment data and increased concerns over defence spending. Currency markets are in a
Last week’s Q1 national accounts release from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that Australia’s economy remains on life support, driven by historically high population growth and public spending. Australia’s aggregate GDP grew by only 0.2% in Q1 2025, less than half the 0.45% growth tipped by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in
On Monday, I reported how the Q1 national accounts, released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), showed that Australia’s manufacturing sector shrank to a record low 5.1% share of GDP: As you can see, Australia’s manufacturing sector has collapsed over the past 45 years, from around 14% of GDP in the mid-1970s.
Asian share markets are having a mixed session across the region given the poor lead from Wall Street overnight with no news about trade deals between the US and China (or Japan, or anywhere else – too much going on in LA? ) Currency markets are pushing back against recent USD strength as most undollars