Let’s start with some numbers. There were 717,000 new home loans across Australia over the last twelve months. This excludes refinancing. This is up by 31% from the year before. Around half of these loans were to owner residents who have bought a dwelling in the past. These borrowers are what the real estate industry…
Wondering what’s happening in our rental markets? Let’s start with some helicopter numbers. Table 1 outlines the current housing rental vacancy rates across the larger urban areas in Australia. Most locations have a vacancy rate under 1%. Weekly rents for detached houses have risen by 15% over the last twelve months. It now costs, on…
It seems that everywhere you turn these days some talking head is prattling on about regional population growth. This post aims to provide further clarity to this conversation. I have included two tables and two charts to help explain why I think it is a load of poppycock and that the regions aren’t growing that…
This week I want to cover the Australian economy. Well, my take on things economic. And in particular, I want to put a final nail in the ‘wage growth is coming’ palaver. I will try to Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS), not for you so much dear reader, but for my dull intelligence. Eight charts…
Supply and demand has always been a major factor driving our property markets So let’s start with some numbers. These figures are for Australia and cover the 2021 calendar year. Detached houses Annual demand (sales): 425,000 Supply (Listed for sale): 158,000 (as of January 2022) Supply in months: 4.5 Annual price growth: 25% Attached dwellings…
So, will inflation raise its head and lead to higher-than-expected interest rates? Five reasons for low inflation 1. Unionised labour is now a fraction of what it used to be. Large collectively negotiated annual wage increases appear to be a thing of the past. This is turn has led to lower inflation. 2. The world…
When thinking about a missive I often ask quiz myself about the topic. ‘Questions to myself’ so to speak. I also think that Q+A webinars and presentations work much better than the typical ‘I deliver, you listen’ approach. Anyhow, here are five questions and my answers to the current APRA move in an attempt to…
There is quite a range of conjecture at present when it comes to the number of people working from home and whether this trend is going to retain some permeance once we return to some form of normality. I wrote about working from home in the early days of Covid and you can revisit that…
This week’s post is about population growth. I usually don’t post about population stuff until December each year as I like to use the stats for the full financial year, but the recent ABS release warrants some commentary as it represents the first full year of Covid-affected population growth. And affected it was. Australia’s population…
There is a clear relationship — a causation not a correlation — between the annual change in housing finance (when brought forward by six months) and the annual movement in house prices. These two charts help explain the short-term future direction of Australian house prices. Chart 1 suggests that house prices are likely to surge…
