RBA Leaves Cash Rate Unchanged; Again.

At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 2.5 per cent. “Monetary policy remains accommodative. Interest rates are very low and for some borrowers have edged lower over recent months. Savers continue to look for higher returns in response to low rates on safe instruments. Credit growth has picked … Continue reading “RBA Leaves Cash Rate Unchanged; Again.”

Australian Household Loan To Income Ratios Are Worse Than In The UK

As we highlighted recently, the Bank of England is supporting the imposition of loan to income (LTI) ratios on banks in the UK, as a way to manage risks in the housing sector. So today, we start to explore loan to income data in Australia, captured though our rolling programme of household surveys. We start … Continue reading “Australian Household Loan To Income Ratios Are Worse Than In The UK”

Care In The Community Growing

The Australian Bureau of Statistics today released some important data on how many people are being cared for informally in the community. They showed that in Australia, 12 per cent of people provide informal care to an older person or to someone with a disability or long-term health condition. There were 2.7 million people providing … Continue reading “Care In The Community Growing”

Super Fees Are Way Too High In Australia

In an interesting speech yesterday Dr David Gruen Executive Director Macroeconomic Group presented some startling data to the assembled company at the CEDA State of the Nation 2014 event. Citing the Gratton Institute report he said “in 2013, Australian superannuation fees ranged from approximately 0.7 per cent to 2.4 per cent of mean fund size, … Continue reading “Super Fees Are Way Too High In Australia”

How Household Property Buying Intentions Have Changed Since 1995

Today we continue our series on the latest results from our households surveys. Following our recent posts, we had several people ask about trends around some of the metrics we use. We have been running these surveys since 1995. So in this post we present a summary of trends from 1995 onwards. It provides an … Continue reading “How Household Property Buying Intentions Have Changed Since 1995”

Trading Up and Trading Down – Latest Survey Results

We continue our series on the results from our latest household surveys. Today we look at those seeking to trade up, and trade down. These are important segments, as they are both shaping the market. Looking at up-traders first, these are households looking to sell to buy a larger property. Over one million households fall … Continue reading “Trading Up and Trading Down – Latest Survey Results”

Property Inactive Households Rise Again, As Market Outlook Slows

Today we start a series on our updated household surveys, which will in due course feed into our next edition of the Property Imperative, due be released later in the year. The current edition, is still available, but there are some significant changes in household intentions since then. We run our surveys continually, and so … Continue reading “Property Inactive Households Rise Again, As Market Outlook Slows”

Australia’s New Payment Platform (NPP)

Following on from yesterdays discussion about current consumer payment trends, today we will look at the current status of the New Payments Platform. “The proposed centralised infrastructure and real-time nature of the system, combined with the flexibility of payment messaging, ability to carry additional remittance information and the easy addressing capability, will mean that payments … Continue reading “Australia’s New Payment Platform (NPP)”

Latest DFA/JP Morgan SME Report Launched Today

The latest report, volume 7 of the SME Report series was released today. As well as over-viewing current industry trends, this time we focus on sectoral rotation, with SME’s in the construction industry feeling more confident, whilst other sectors remain patchy. We do not see a significant rise in demand for credit anytime soon. JPM … Continue reading “Latest DFA/JP Morgan SME Report Launched Today”

RBA Holds Rates Again At 2.5%

The RBA have kept rates on hold today, and are indicating a period of rate stability. “Monetary policy remains accommodative. Interest rates are very low and for some borrowers have edged lower over recent months. Savers continue to look for higher returns in response to low rates on safe instruments. Credit growth has picked up … Continue reading “RBA Holds Rates Again At 2.5%”