The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) reported new car sales for December, which showed a sharp deceleration of sales over the second half of 2024. There were 95,895 new car sales in the year to December, down 19.9% from the June 2024 peak of 119,659 sales. FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber was downbeat, noting
Australian housing values unexpectedly rose over the past two years despite 4.25% of interest rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The rise in prices combined with higher mortgage repayments meant that Australian housing affordability collapsed to an all-time low. “Housing affordability is currently at its worst level since 2008, with 47% of
The first trading session of the week is all about the weekend reaction to what should be strong USD moves but instead King Dollar is rolling over against the undollars except gold with the Canadian Loonie pushing higher on speculation Governor Trudeau (sic) is about to resign. Chinese stocks remain under stress despite promises of
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has cut the official cash rate by 1.25% over the past three monetary policy meetings. Despite the cuts, CoreLogic reported that New Zealand dwelling values continued to fall in December. Home values nationally declined by 0.2% in December, marking the ninth drop in the past 10 months, according to
Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government in Canada is facing an election wipeout, winning as few as 21 seats in the 338-seat parliament at this year’s election. Separate polling by the Angus Reid Institute showed that only 16% of decided voters expressed an intention to vote Liberal in the next election. The figure “represents a low in
Following the Q3 national accounts release last month, Pradeep Philip, head of Deloitte Access Economics, noted that the private sector was being “clobbered” and the economy was “stuck in the mud and spinning its wheels”. Innes Willox, CEO of the Australian Industry Group (AIG), shared a similar opinion, pointing out that the private sector is
In December, Infrastructure Australia warned that Australia’s construction sector will suffer persistent ‘skills shortages and cost escalations’ in the years ahead. “Construction materials on average cost around 30% more than they did three years ago and with ongoing skills shortages we simply don’t have the people power we need to get the job done on time”,
If you want a prime example of why I have little regard for academics, consider the below housing non-solutions from the University of Queensland on “How can we solve the housing crisis?”. Dr Dorina Pojani, Associate Professor of urban planning School of Architecture, Design and Planning Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, says that
New Zealand’s labour market is a mess. The nation’s unemployment rate ballooned to 4.8% in Q3 2024, up 0.9% year-on-year. Filled jobs fell by 0.7% in Q3, the second consecutive quarterly decline. Filled jobs also recorded their first annual decline in more than a decade. New Zealand average earnings growth also declined in Q3, taking
Strategic Property Group managing director Trent Fleskens suggested that prospective first home buyers in Perth will face worsening conditions in 2025 as population growth continues to run well ahead of supply. “Given there has been no change in our immigration numbers and no change in our ability to build houses any faster or cheaper, there’s