CBA published the following chart last week, showing that Australian residential construction costs have soared by between 30% and 40% since the beginning of the pandemic: Independent economist Tarric Brooker posted the following chart on Twitter (X) showing the average construction cost of new homes across Australia: The average construction cost across Australia was 395,000
A rocky start to the trading week with most stock markets in Asia losing significant ground in response to the escalation in conflict across the Middle East, with the spike in USD on Friday night seeing some undollars clawback their losses. Commodities and bond markets are still high in volatility while traders await tonight’s US
David Chaston from Interest.co.nz believes that the Reserve Bank has been placed in a difficult position on interest rates, caught between a recessionary economy and stubborn services inflation. Chaston notes that New Zealand’s economy faces a “severe slowdown”. The economy is already experiencing a technical recession: And per capita outcomes are much worse given New
Everything must learned the hard way by Jim “chicken” Chalmers: Treasurer Jim Chalmers regards a second surplus in the May budget as “still our goal”, but has revealed Treasury analysis showing a recent fall in iron ore prices will punch a $9 billion hole in the nation’s books over the next four years. Appearing on
Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood has expressed concern about the federal government’s Future Made in Australia Act, claiming it risks entrenching industries that would always be dependent on government subsidies for their survival. Former Commission chairman Peter Harris agrees with Wood that “this is a slippery slope and most times the investment fails”. Bill Scales,
Challenger chief economist Jonathan Kearns believes Australia will be the last advanced nation to cut interest rates because the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) didn’t lift them as high as other nations. “Monetary policy was less tight in Australia than it was in other countries, and so therefore the disinflationary impetus coming from monetary policy has
The Department of Home Affairs reported that there were a record 713,144 international students in Australia at the end of February 2024: It was reported last week that more than 80% of international students in Australia reside in the private rental market: “Universities have built enough dorm rooms to accommodate only 40,000 students nationally –
In the year ending September 2023, Australia’s population increased by a record 660,000 people, owing to a record high net overseas migration of 549,000. In percentage terms, Australia’s yearly population growth rate of 2.5% was the highest since 1952. Anyone living in Australia is aware of the implications, with the country dealing with the biggest
I made the point last week in responding to local propagandists that Chinese urbanisation was on the verge of collapse: This is a simple case of demographic arithmetic, but the local’s livelihood prevents them from seeing the oncoming truck, so here are a few more charts from Dragonomics that make the same point. The recent
Goldman with the note. While the geopolitical situation and the potential Israeli response remain highly uncertain, we provide early thoughts on how Iran’s attack on Israel may impact the oil market in Q&A format. Q1. What are the key factors driving any potential reaction in oil prices to the events over the weekend? The medium-run