Over the past week, we have seen multiple articles like the following from The West Australian complaining about the decline in housing affordability, which has left residents struggling to pay mortgages or rent. These articles are based on the latest Housing Affordability Report from the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, which blames a ‘lack of supply’
Westpac with the note. The Westpac-DataX Card Tracker Index* has firmed over the last two weeks after a very volatile period through Mar, Apr and May. The latest weekly read of 140 is up 2.3pts from the end of May, the last two weeks recording the strongest average read outside of the post-holiday rebound in
The monthly growth in Seek advertised salaries has shown hints of stabilisation but is still trending lower. I expect the fade to continue as the immigration-led labour market expansion economic model does its thing. I do not expect we’ll get back to last cycle’s lows because the Labor government is forcing more wage rises via
DXY is holding on. AUD is breaking down somewhat. Lead boots are getting heavier. The Trump fool has unleashed oil. Metals no bueno. Miners far to fall yet. EM meh. Junk still OK. US markets were closed but the European tell is heading south fast. War is not complex. Credit Agricole. Investors remain on tenterhooks
Another night dominated by central bank decisions contrasted with indecisions around the Israeli war on Iran with the Swiss bank cutting rates to zero while the BOE held fire, just after the Fed a few days ago, while the Trump regime again goes to the TACO truck when talking about non-existent negotiations with the Iranian
In September 2024, the Housing Industry Association (HIA) labelling the federal government’s failure to control immigration a “systemic policy failure” that “compounds the challenge of delivering sufficient housing”. “The underestimation of population growth is a systemic policy failure that compounds the challenge of delivering sufficient housing”, HIA chief economist Tim Reardon said. On Thursday, the
The Rudd/Gillard Labor government made the disastrous decision in the early 2010s to authorise LNG exports from Gladstone, Queensland, without forcing gas producers to first serve the domestic market. As a result of this policy blunder, East Coast Australia became the only gas exporting jurisdiction in the world without a domestic gas reservation policy. We
The Israel-Iran war continues to dominate risk markets as the TACO-in-Chief threatens to join in with bunker busters over the weekend to eliminate the Iranian nuclear facilities. The USD is gaining strength against most of the undollars with the Australian dollar losing ground on a relatively weak unemployment today, heading back below the 65 cent
Liberal MP Garth Hamilton has called for sweeping changes to the tax system, arguing that it needs to be inclusive and support modern families. His suggestions for reform include introducing lifetime deductions on tax rates for mothers, in recognition of the fact that they often have lower salaries when they return to the workforce. Hamilton
ANZ with report. Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions declined 1.2% in the year ending March 2025, according to the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. This follows a flat annual result over the year to December 2024. Excluding the land use, land use change and forestry4 (LULUCF) sector, annual emissions fell 1.0% in the year to March