We discuss the latest from the RBA, via the new press conference and the Statement On Monetary Policy.
In short, the RBA Governor Michele Bullock says she is yet to be convinced inflation is on a sustainable path back to target and further interest rate rises could not be ruled out as the bank seeks to curb price rises stoking the nation’s cost-of-living crisis.
“Domestically, there are uncertainties regarding the lags in the effect of monetary policy and how firms’ pricing decisions and wages will respond to the slower growth in the economy at a time of excess demand, and while the labour market remains tight,” the board statement said.
This translates into higher rates for longer, which was not what the market wanted to hear!
Do not expect a rate cut soon. Plan accordingly.
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Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
Another week shoots past, so Edwin is back for another property update. The chaos continues with talk of “pre-war”, home price rises, and more Government support for property. What could possibly go wrong?
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Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
If you are buying your home in Sydney’s contentious market, you do not need to stand alone. This is the time you need to have Edwin from Ribbon Property Consultants standing along side you.
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Edwin understands your needs. So why not engage a licensed professional to stand alongside you. With RPC you know you have: experience, knowledge, and master negotiators, looking after your best interest.
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We walk through the latest from our surveys and modelling ahead of our live show which will be on 13th February 2024 at 8pm Sydney where we will look at specific post codes in more detail.
Household financial stress continues to bite, and is spreading into many different types of communities.
Ahead, we do not expect cash flow to improve for many, as mortgage rates will not be falling very soon, the costs of living continue to rise and income growth in real terms is muted, at best.
If you want data on a specific post code, put it in the comments and I will either cover it Tuesday week, or via a separate show.
If you want to get the full data set, this is available via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DigitalFinanceAnalytics
Our One to One Service is also available: https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/dfa-one-to-one/
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An important discussion with Robbie Barwick from the Australian Citizens Party, about democracy, the role of the Reserve Bank, and use of cash, as some are now calling for a significant change in the balance of power.
Who will win? Will un-elected technocrats dictate the future direction of the country, or will electable politicians step up and weald their accountable power?
This is a battle for the future.
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The ABS released the quarterly inflation read today, together with the monthly update. Overall the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.6 per cent in the December 2023 quarter, lower than the 1.2 per cent rise in the September 2023 quarter and 4.1 per cent annually, This was the smallest quarterly rise since the March 2021 quarter. The RBA’s preferred measure of underlying inflation (the trimmed mean), which strips out irregular or temporary price changes, rose 4.2 per cent annually, down from 5.1 per cent in the September quarter.
Remember of course this still means that prices continued to rise for most goods and services, though annual CPI inflation has fallen from a peak of 7.8 per cent in December 2022, to 4.1 per cent in December 2023.
Markets reacted by pushing the ASX 200 to a new all-time high, closing at 7,680.70 on Wednesday, 50 points higher that its previous peak set in August 2021 on the assumption that this CPI result will mean the RBA holds interest rates when they meet next Tuesday. Falls however are not expected until later in the year, or into 2025, depending on which economists you chose to listen to.
Money market traders are now fully pricing the first 0.25 of a percentage point cut to the 4.35 per cent cash rate in August, from September before the inflation data. A second rate cut is fully factored in by December.
Westpac chief economist and former RBA assistant governor Luci Ellis said the RBA was “unlikely to raise rates further this cycle”.
there is certainly some more positive news in these numbers, though of course real felt inflation is way off the official reported average numbers for some households.
But that said, domestic-generated inflation remained firm due to strong price rises for new dwellings (5.1 per cent), rents (7.3 per cent after extra rent assistance), insurance (16.2 per cent) and electricity (6.9 per cent after bill subsidies).
The inflation for so-called non-tradable goods and services, which are mostly influenced by domestic factors, rose 5.4 per cent, down from 6.2 per cent.
ANZ economist Catherine Birch said non-tradables inflation was “still very strong” and could make the RBA retain its “hawkish” tone on monetary policy at its meeting next week.
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This is an edited version of a live discussion as I explore the latest trends in population, home prices and productivity with Leith van Onselen, Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also Chief Economist and co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith writes as the Unconventional Economist. Leith has previously worked as an economist at the Australian Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
Original live stream and chat here: https://youtube.com/live/eclazIUDbz8
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More from our Property Insider, Edwin Almeida as we look at the low listings, and rentals, and the reasons why markets are not behaving as some (who should know better) said they would.
Edwin referred to this post: https://www.tiktok.com/@shallowchal/video/7326805682114645255
We also look at trends in Western Australia, as well as our normal East Coast analysis.
Things, as they say are getting interesting…
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Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants.
The Australian’s Judith Sloan recently debunked KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne’s spurious claim that a “short-sighted”, “kneejerk” cut to immigration would damage productivity and the economy.
So what are the latest figures telling us?
In the Financial Year 2022-23 we saw a record high net overseas migration of 518,000, while the federal government’s latest forecast is for a fall to around 375,000 which by the way would still be the second-highest annual read on record.
Such high volumes are driven in part by the student influx post pandemic.
Ahead, CBA expects a slowdown rate of population growth. “Using net overseas arrivals data for certain visa types till December 2023 suggest net overseas migration for 2023 was ~370k, roughly in line with government estimates for FY24″…
Now while the total number might be down, because the student element is the one moderating and most sensitive to rental demand, it might just help to cool rental growth a little – it is still way too high… many of those coming into the country still are cashed up and ready to buy property. So net, net given the limited supply of new property, due to falling building approvals, this will probably not help to ease under-supply.
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On Wednesday Statistics New Zealand released consumer price index (CPI) data for the December quarter. The data showed that New Zealand inflation slowed in the final three months of 2023, despite indicators of domestic price pressures remained stubbornly strong, which came in below the Reserve Bank’s expectations. As a result, it appears that policymakers are likely to hold until there’s a clearer picture of the economy.
“While this is the smallest annual rise in the CPI in over two years, it remains above the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s target range of 1 to 3 percent,” consumers prices senior manager Nicola Growden said.
The OCR currently stands at 5.5%. While Investors are betting the RBNZ will start cutting the Official Cash Rate in the second quarter and will lower the benchmark to 4.75% by year’s end. But as I discussed recently, policymakers remained concerned about sticky core prices and most economists expect the RBNZ will delay a rate cut until the second half of 2024. In November, the central bank projected that inflation would drop below 3% in the third quarter of this year.
“Inflation continues to move in the right direction,” said Jarrod Kerr, chief economist at Kiwibank in Auckland. “The current state of play and the outlook should be sufficient to see the RBNZ pivot away from rate hikes. Rate cuts are not too far away.”
However, others remain more sanguine. “The divergence between the domestic and imported components of inflation helps to illustrate the big concerns that the RBNZ is trying to balance,”said Satish Ranchhod, senior economist at Westpac Banking Corp.
“Inflation is coming down. That will be important for stabilizing inflation expectations and means that the RBNZ will feel more comfortable keeping the OCR on hold for now.”
Westpac believes the CPI print will keep the Reserve Bank of New Zealand on hold through 2024 because inflation is “still uncomfortably high”.
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Another dose of charts and common sense from Tarric Brooker, as we look at the latest data and explore the implications for Australians on Australia Day. Houses and Holes, mate, Houses and Holes!
See the charts here: https://avidcom.substack.com/p/dfa-chart-pack-26th-january-2024
And Tarric’s article on the Houthi Strikes, The Closure Of The Gate Of Grief And The Sea Of Economic Consequences https://avidcom.substack.com/p/houthi-strikes-the-closure-of-the
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