Home values rose 0.4% in January and rents increased 0.8%, but the housing market remained varied around the country
The Australian housing market upswing continued in the first month of 2024 with property values rising another 0.4%.
As house prices rose, renters continued to feel pain, with the national rental index recording its biggest monthly rise since April. Rents were up 0.8% in January, after a 0.65% rise in December.
Continue reading...Banks say tax tweaks approved by Anthony Albanese’s cabinet may slow pace of RBA interest rate cuts and further reforms are needed to fill budget shortfalls
The Albanese government’s changes to the stage-three tax cuts won’t reignite inflation, although they may slow the pace of Reserve Bank interest rate cuts and more reforms are needed to close future budget gaps, economists say.
Cabinet has approved a revision to the cuts, legislated in 2019, that extends tax relief to those earning less than $45,000 a year to be paid for by reducing the benefit to higher-income earners, with full details still be formally released.
Continue reading...GDP rises by 0.3% in November after October decline, with car leasing and video games fuelling bounceback
The UK economy returned to growth in November after a recovery in consumer spending driven by Black Friday sales, with shoppers hunting for bargains as the key Christmas shopping season got under way.
Gross domestic product rose by 0.3% on the month, after a decline of 0.3% in October, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). City economists had forecast more modest growth of 0.2%.
Continue reading...Price trends are unlikely to be straightforward in 2024, even if the RBA’s next move is a rate reduction
Australia’s “rollercoaster” real estate market faces fresh peaks and troughs in 2024 as the prospect of falling interest rates contend with a recent slowdown in price increases.
Renters, meanwhile, are experiencing smaller increases in payments but the share of income going to rent remains at near-record levels with little relief in sight.
Continue reading...UK economic prospects are bleak but an agenda-setting fiscal event such as sweeping tax cuts in March offers another roll of the dice
To grasp the nettle, or wait in the hope that things somehow miraculously improve. This is the choice Rishi Sunak will be weighing for the next general election, as the Conservatives limp towards the finishing line of another challenging year.
After Jeremy Hunt announced the government would hold an earlier than anticipated budget, with a date set for 6 March, the possibility of a poll in May, in the afterglow of some electioneering tax cuts, is clearly being given considerable thought.
Continue reading...Food prices were 29% higher last month than in September 2021, leaving many households still under pressure
At last, UK inflation has fallen far and fast enough to start to match countries such as France, where the annual rate of price rises has reduced at a faster pace this year.
At 3.9% last month, the headline figure remains almost double the 2% target set for the Bank of England but significantly lower than the 11.1% peak in October last year and below the 5.3% target Rishi Sunak set for the end of 2023.
Continue reading...Interest rates will need to stay high for sufficiently long to return inflation to 2% target
The Bank of England has said Britain is facing a tougher job to crush persistently high inflation than other advanced nations, as it kept interest rates on hold at the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
Pushing back against expectations in financial markets for a deep round of interest rate cuts next year, the central bank said there was still a long way to go before it could declare victory on inflation, despite a worsening outlook for the UK’s stagnant economy.
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Education review due
Education minister Jason Clare spoke to ABC News Breakfast just earlier about the much-anticipated review into Australia’s education system, released today.
You talk about entrenched disadvantage in our schools, this report tells us we’ve got one of the most segregated school systems in the OECD, not by the colour of your skin but the size of your parents’ pay packet. Children are more likely to fall behind at school if they’re from a poor family and from the bush, but if they’re at a school where a lot of people are experiencing disadvantage it’s even harder to catch up. There’s a number of things we need to do to turn that around.
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Palaszczuk made decision ‘in the interest of the state’, Swan says
ALP national secretary Wayne Swan has spoken to ABC RN about Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s resignation announcement yesterday.
That’s always ever present for any leader at any time but I think she made the decision in the interest of the state and I think in her own interest as well.
I think people are sensibly discussing what the options are and if one candidate has a pretty clear majority then I think it would be unlikely that you’d see a battle, because it would simply be very difficult for the government over a period of time when they need to re-establish a leader in the job.
Continue reading...Stubbornly high inflation forces central banks to avoid cuts, but markets expect falls next year
The western world’s largest central banks are poised to keep interest rates on hold this week amid concerns over stubbornly high inflation, despite growing expectations for sharp cuts in borrowing costs next year.
In a crunch week for the global economy, the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England (BoE) and European Central Bank are expected to keep interest rates at their current restrictively high levels to ensure inflation continues to fall back from the highest levels in decades.
Continue reading...The weak economy probably means the next RBA rates move – short of an inflation surprise next month – will be a cut
Philip Lowe used his final speech as Reserve Bank governor to call on fiscal policy to “provide a stronger helping hand” in managing inflation so the central bank didn’t have to carry most of the load – and the ire.
“Raising interest rates and tightening policy can make you very unpopular, as I know all too well,” Lowe said on 7 September, 10 days before many battling borrowers cheered him out the door.
Continue reading...Poll finds 28 of 30 economists expect central bank to keep cash rate steady at 4.35%. Follow the day’s news live
Good morning, and happy Tuesday.
I’m Emily Wind and I’ll be with you on the blog today – many thanks to Martin for kicking things off.
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Chalmers: ‘We are making some welcome progress in the fight against inflation’
Is Jim Chalmers confident that interest rates could fall from next year?
My job is to focus on this fight against inflation. And we saw overnight from the OECD, we saw from Deloitte Access Economics, we saw in the Bureau of Statistics data which came out yesterday, that we are making some welcome progress in the fight against inflation and that will determine the future directory trajectory of interest rates
Continue reading...Consumer price index rose last month at an annual rate of 4.9%, which is lower than economists had forecast
Australia’s inflation rate has eased sharply in October as weak consumer spending made it less likely the Reserve Bank will inflict another interest rate rise on the economy.
The consumer price index rose at an annual clip of 4.9% last month compared with a 5.6% pace in September alone, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. Economists had expected CPI to come in at 5.2%.
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Hostage release essential if truce to last, Paterson says
Rewinding to Liberal MP James Paterson’s appearance on RN Breakfast this morning, wheN he said more needs to be done to free the hostages Hamas is holding in Gaza.
We don’t know how many of them are still alive, and their continued release would be essential for any continuing ceasefire because otherwise Israel continues to have a legitimate military objective.
Continue reading...The 7.5% drop from the April 2022 peak has been recovered, but some cities are faring better than others, CoreLogic analysts say
Australian home prices are back at record levels, recovering all of the 7.5% dip from their previous peak in April 2022, according to the data group CoreLogic.
As of Wednesday, Corelogic’s home value index had climbed 8.1% higher than the recent nadir reached at the end of January this year, defying five additional interest rate rises by the Reserve Bank since then.
Continue reading...Rising interest rates have boosted profitability but are likely to limit demand and increase risk of bad debts, says central bank
The balance sheets of eurozone banks are showing “early signs of stress” after a rise in loan defaults and late payments by customers, the European Central Bank has warned.
Higher interest rates have boosted banks’ income and profits for the time being, the ECB said, but lenders are facing pressures from higher funding costs, worsening asset quality and lower lending volumes.
Continue reading...NS&I, Shawbrook and Tandem among providers to make reductions amid flurry of such moves
Savers have been urged to act quickly if they want to get the best returns on their money after a flurry of interest rate cuts on top-paying accounts.
This week NS&I reduced the rate it offers on its three-year green bonds from 5.7% to 3.95%, while Shawbrook, Tandem and Ford Money were among other providers making cuts.
Continue reading...Wage price index increase in line with expectations as Fair Work minimum wage decision helped pay packets close gap with inflation
Australians’ wages grew in the September quarter as decisions by the Fair Work Commission and a tight labour market helped pay packets close the gap with inflation.
The country’s wage price index rose 1.3% in the quarter alone and 4% compared with the September quarter a year ago, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Many mortgage lenders reporting increased competition, meaning savvy borrowers can negotiate for a better deal
In real estate, everything is negotiable, including your mortgage.
While many lenders have withdrawn cashback incentives in recent months, there are still large discrepancies between the best and worst mortgage offers in the market, which means many borrowers are paying too much.
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