Unconventional Economist

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also Chief Economist and co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.

Australian house prices gather momentum

Weekend reading and MB media releases

Young Kiwis flee to Australia

The latest official labour force survey showed that New Zealand’s unemployment rate lifted to 5.2% in Q2 2025, the highest rate since Q4 2016.

The March for Australia, identity politics and immigration

Below is another brilliant guest post from MB reader Erin Rolandsen, CEO of Angelassist.

Housing affordability csar refuses to mention the obvious

The chair of the government’s National Housing Supply and Affordability Council (NHSAC), Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, who is a former chief executive of property developer Mirvac, has warned that Australia faces a generational housing crisis.

Australia will remain a productivity wasteland

Earlier this week, Alan Kohler penned an article at the ABC arguing that immigration was the key issue missing from the federal government’s productivity roundtable held last week in Canberra.

Australia doesn’t need a bigger housing bubble

According to Cotality (formerly CoreLogic), the average home in Australia is now valued at around $1,020,000.

Australia is a public sector economy

Australia’s economy has become overly reliant on public sector spending (not to mention high immigration) to grow the economy. Consider the following facts. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, around 60% of Australia’s job growth has come from the non-market (effectively government-funded) sector of public administration and safety, education, healthcare, and social assistance.

Aussie capex remains soft as jelly

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released private capital expenditure (capex) data for Q2 2025, which remained incredibly soft.

Australian housing supply indicators crumble

The National Housing Accord is an Australian government initiative aimed at addressing housing supply and affordability by committing to building 1.2 million new homes over five years, starting from 1 July 2024.

Advertisement