If Liberal Party senator Andrew Bragg had his way, he would pump the biggest housing bubble in history. Bragg has already lobbied for Australians to use their super to buy a home while still working rather than waiting until they reach the super preservation age to pay off a mortgage. Bragg also suggested that people
With adjustments for seasonality, the number of job ads in March 2024 rose by 0.2%, or 400, to 249,000. With almost half as many ads in the job market as there were on average for the month of March 2019, the number of available positions remains high. The point I wish to make is that
On Wednesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its cost-of-living indices for the March quarter, revealing that employee households are the hardest hit. Employee household costs of living increased by 6.5% in the year to March 2024, easily exceeding the 3.6% increase in CPI inflation. The rise in employee cost of living also easily
Join us in this week’s investment podcast as Nucleus Wealth’s Chief Investment Officer Damien Klassen and Chief Strategist David Llewellyn-Smith discuss the following: Why is Aussie inflation sticky? Will the RBA pivot back to hikes? Investment implications Can’t make it to the live series? Catch up on the content via Podcasts or our recorded Videos. Damien Klassen is Chief
Several holidays across the region plus a closed Europe tonight is not helping volatility as we head into tonight’s Federal Reserve meeting as speculation mounts as to what is going to happen to interest rates. The USD remains strong after building overnight, with the Australian dollar still in the doldrums below the 65 cent level.
Ross Gittins writes that Australia’s economy is expected to be hit by a meteor within a decade or two, with the world stopping buying fossil fuels and declaring it worthless. This means that Australia’s greatest comparative advantage is in the process of ceasing to exist. Australia has much more sunlight than most other countries and
Westpac credit card monitor is a quite useful leading indicator for retail and consumption. The Westpac Card Tracker Index has declined 2.2 points to 131.4, moving 3.2 points below its March month read. Card activity momentum has stalled, transitioning from modest expansion in Q1 to near-flat in late-April. A choppy path for card activity persists
New Zealand’s economy is sliding into a deepening recession. Overall GDP growth is falling, while per capita outcomes are collapsing amid a 2.7% surge in New Zealand’s population in 2023. Per capita retail spending in New Zealand has collapsed, while forward-looking growth indicators point to further falls over the first quarter of 2024: New Zealand’s
Australian rental inflation remains hot, according to CoreLogic’s rental index for April. Nationally, rents rose by 0.8% in April, which was a slightly lower rate of growth relative to February and March when the national rental index rose 0.9% and 1.0% respectively. Most cities’ quarterly rent growth remains above 2.0%, with Perth leading the pack
The Future Made in Australia Act, a key element of the government’s budget centrepiece, will see changes designed to attract foreign capital and boost economic prosperity. The Act will also allow foreign investors to buy established build-to-rent properties to drive demand and construction. Treasurer Jim Chalmers will reveal the changes on Wednesday as part of