Australia’s superannuation system is too costly and inequitable. The Australian Treasury estimated total superannuation tax expenditures at around $60 billion in 2024–25, with contribution concessions being the most expensive at $37 billion, growing to $36,750 billion by 2027–28. Most of these concessions go to high-income earners, as illustrated below. In 2021-22, 91% of the benefit
Property market softened in April: The latest batch of property market data show some weakening in both price and activity. The official NBS 70-city average new home prices declined by about 2% mom annualized in April, with prices in lower-tier cities falling more. The Centaline existing home price indices for top-tier cities posted renewed declines
At the end of 2024, Australia’s mortgage affordability was the worst on record, with households required to sacrifice a record share of their incomes to repay the median-sized new mortgage. There was also a record gap between the median home price and borrowers’ capacity to pay, assuming traditional affordability metrics. So far this year, the
Steel in pancaked an iron ore hoping. Channel checks are showing that damage is creeping up the supply chain but it’s not disastrous. Goldman. Feedback from producers as of mid-May suggests end-user orderbooks were flat MoM, softer than past seasonality. Infrastructure recovery paused, reflected in lack of funding for new project starts and weak cement
Last year, prominent immigration propagandist and managing director of the Australian Housing and Research Institute, Michael Fotheringham, blamed the nation’s housing shortage on ‘greedy’ households consuming too many homes. “We are consuming more houses for the number of people we have. That is a bigger driver for shortfall in housing than migration”. “The number of
Deutsche on stablecoin regulation in the US. 1. Stablecoin legislation cements USD supremacy The GENIUS Act mandates that all stablecoins be backed 1:1 by high-quality, lowrisk liquid assets – specifically, US Treasury bills with maturities under 93 days, insured bank deposits, or physical US coins and currency (including Federal Reserve notes). Issuers must disclose their
Mark Scott is one of Australis’s greediest rent-seekers. Every year, Scott plunders $1.2m from Sydney University as its vice-chancellor. It’s no wonder he remembers Harvard so well, hobnobbing with the Great Gatsby. Three decades ago, I embarked on an exciting adventure to Harvard to complete a graduate degree, accompanied by my wife and two young
South Australia is touted as the mainland’s leader in renewable energy. According to AEMO, South Australia generates over 70% of its electricity from renewable sources, with significant contributions from wind and solar power. As shown above, wind farms are the largest source of electricity in South Australia, generating 6,651 GWh in the 2022-23 reporting period.
Or, at least I think it’s Launch Week. I’ve got a couple of new books out this week, which I wrote about on ASB last Friday. They’re very different (Romance!), but also the same (SPLODEY!) I’ll post an essay here about it later this week.
If you didn’t read the Boob on Friday and want a sneak preview, I’m building a new stack over here to help run this new project, which I’m working on with my daughter while she travels through Europe. (Anna is my official location scout.)
Recall leading apartment developer Tim Gurner’s warning that Australia’s rental crisis could last another 15 years due to a lack of supply relative to the nation’s strong population growth. “If you look at the vacancy rates, it’s pretty simple, right? We have vacancy around 1% in every single state, construction supply is the lowest it’s
One of the big stories of 2025 has been the rise of independents. There was a notable increase in the number of independents who stood at this election, but that in itself is not the most important factor. There is a tremendous range in how well an independent might poll, and how serious their campaign might be.
So for this post I wanted to track how high the independent vote has reached, how that vote breaks between a number of categories of different types of independents, and how that has translated into victories or close calls.
Another late night tariff threat dump by a senile Trump on Friday upset risk markets across both sides of the Atlantic which will result in increased volatility on the open here in Asia. Following the passage of the Trump regime’s new “Tax” Deal (aka blowing out the deficit forever) this will also embolden volatility on
The post Macro Morning appeared first on MacroBusiness.