New Zealand’s housing bubble has burst after recording one of the world’s largest house price increases during the pandemic. According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, real inflation-adjusted national home values have collapsed to their pre-pandemic level. CoreLogic has also recorded a 17.5% decline in national values from their post-pandemic peak, led by Wellington
Deputy Opposition leader Sussan Ley claims the number of small businesses that employ people in Australia has fallen from around 953,000 to 922,000 since Labor won the federal election in May 2022. Ley adds that the nation appears to be experiencing a small business recession. At the same time, the federal government has hired about
Peter Dutton says he would do a much better job on energy prices. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he hoped the RBA would cut rates, but that alone would not assuage voter anger over the cost of living. “It’s the price of groceries, and it’s the price of electricity, and the price of gas. All
One key measure political parties use to gauge the public’s appetite for change is voter sentiment about whether the nation is headed in the right direction. New RedBridge and Accent Research polling spells bad news for the Albanese Labor government, with 55% of voters in 20 key marginal seats believing the nation is “generally headed in
Roy Morgan’s alternative and unadjusted unemployment number hit an eighteen-month high in January. In January 2025, Australian ‘real’ unemployment increased 78,000 to 1,620,000 (up 0.4% to 10.1% of the workforce) with more people looking for both part-time and full-time work. The Australian workforce increased by 297,000 to a record high of 16,115,000 in January with
Markets never do geopolitics well. That is, they ignore it until shocked. Not this time. The Market Ear has more. Stock market trading peace The Ukraine ceasefire basket is going vertical. Equity traders are optimistic that there will be peace. Source: GS No quick ending Polymarket odds that Trump ends Ukraine war in first 90
Statistics New Zealand has released net migration data for December, which showed that annual net permanent and long-term (PLT) migration inflows fell to 27,000, the lowest level since December 2022 and well below 135,600 in October 2023. Annual arrivals continued to slow and annual departures hit record highs. The annual net PLT inflow of non-NZ
Policymakers want to force Australians to live in high-rise apartment towers, assuming it will improve affordability. Their assumption is incorrect, as data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that building a shoebox apartment is more expensive than building a detached house. Michael Matusik’s chart highlights the problem. “Whilst all building costs have risen
The Aussie terms of trade shellacking is taking a breather, but the trend is intact and will get much worse. The last Commodity Price Index from the RBA was enjoying a dead cat bounce. But the two coals have continued their collapse. Metallic coal is grinding lower. My target price in 25/26 is $100. It
DXY took a breather. AUD is poised for more. Plenty of room in the Chinese jaws. Oil and gold firm. Copper bubblet bursts. Yawn. Miners stuffed. EM deepsucking. Junk breaking out? Yields down. Stocks up. I can’t remember an RBA pile-on of such intensity. Both hawks and bulls are so politicised that the central bank