Australian new car sales dived 8.1% year-on-year in November on the back of the supply disruptions, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI). Only 80,639 new cars were sold in November compared with 95,205 in November 2020 and 84,708 in November 2019. The next chart plots new car sales in rolling annual terms
This weekend marked the second biggest weekend of auctions since CoreLogic began tracking the market in 2008, with a whopping 4136 homes going under the hammer. Australia’s preliminary auction clearance rate fell further to 69.9% from 71.4% last weekend – a figure that will likely fall into the mid 60s once all results are counted:
Below is a briefing note that I prepared for Sustainable Population Australia (SPA), which is a non-partisan, special advocacy group that seeks to establish an ecologically sustainable human population. Is there a shortage of skilled workers? Summary Recently there have been calls for a large increase in the skilled migrant intake as borders reopen. This
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Australia’s auction market continued to fatigue after a record week of listings: Last weekend’s final auction clearance rate was 68.5%, down from 70.3% the prior weekend off 4,251 auctions (up from 3,720 the prior weekend): As noted by CoreLogic: This week saw Canberra, Adelaide and the combined capital cities all recording their busiest auction weeks
Previously I have published data showing that Sydney house prices are trading at close to all-time highs relative to the other capital cities: Now Cameron Kusher has posted similar data on Twitter showing how Sydney house prices are tracking against the other major capitals. According to Kusher, “in 2007 median house prices in Sydney and
Below is an article that I wrote this week for News.com.au: This week, CoreLogic recorded another strong 1.3 per cent rise in Australian dwelling values, with values up an astonishing 22 per cent annually, led by extreme growth in Sydney (25.8 per cent), Brisbane (25.1 per cent) and Adelaide (up 21.4 per cent). This marked
MB has long argued that Australia’s skilled visa program is poorly targeted with the majority of visas granted to professions experiencing an oversupply of workers. According to the federal government’s own historical skills shortage data, engineering has not been in shortage. Yet, the federal government has kept engineers on the skills shortage list, thereby ensuring
Developers have fronted the parliamentary inquiry into housing affordability and admitted that simply rezoning land won’t lower property prices: CHAIR: Is it not your view that, if we increase the amount of supply, prices will go down? Mr Helmers: I don’t think that’s the case. Like Richard, I think what we would expect to see
Wednesday’s national accounts release for the September quarter posted another 4.2% quarter-on-quarter increase in company profits, which hit a fresh record annual high of $579 billion: By comparison, total compensation of employees only rose by 0.5% over the quarter. The divergence between workers and bosses since the pandemic began is stark and illustrated in the
Anybody denying that Australia is the property equivalent of a Narco state only needs to read the comments from the AFR Property Summit with respect to immigration: “All property sectors for the past 50 years, [were] driven by overseas migration, whether it be the population [or] the talent that’s coming in,” [Dexus chief executive Darren
In the week ended 2 December, the CoreLogic daily dwelling values index increased another 0.20%: All major markets except Perth recorded rising values, again led by Brisbane and Adelaide: Quarterly price growth remains strong but slowing at 3.91% across the five major capitals. Brisbane (7.43%) and Adelaide (6.53) lead the way, followed Sydney (4.31%), Melbourne
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A new report from the Migrant Workers Centre claims that 65% of temporary visa holders have experienced wage theft: Based on interviews with 700 temporary visa holders in Australia, the report – released this week – found a clear link between workplace exploitation and temporary visa status… The report revealed many migrants were encouraged to
When the Morrison Government’s HomeBuilder subsidy was announced last year, I argued that land developers would be the major beneficiaries since they would be able to inflate the cost of their house-and-land packages, while also clearing their inventory. Shortly afterwards, we witnessed developers mark-up the cost of house-and-land packages by the amount of the grant,
Back in May, New Zealand’s Ardern Government vowed to end low-skilled, wage crushing migration via a “once-in-a generation” reset for New Zealand’s immigration system. It flagged a significantly smaller migration intake post-Covid that focuses on highly skilled, highly paid and productive migrants that fill genuine skills shortages. This means abolishing the current low-skilled system, which has
The Australian mortgage market fell again in October, according to new data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The total value of new mortgage commitments fell by a seasonally adjusted 2.5% in October 2021 to be up 32.2% year-on-year: As shown above, owner-occupiers had driven mortgage demand this cycle, whereas investor demand
If you want bonafide evidence that property developers manipulate the market to ration supply and maximise their profits, look no further than ‘Highrise’ Harry Triguboff’s testimony today in The Australian: Harry Triguboff, Australia’s richest property developer, will make $400m from building and keeping apartments for investment this year… The documents showed a 15 per cent
The Herald-Sun has published a spruik piece on how Melbourne’s suburbs will enjoy a “jobs and high-rise population boom” following the construction of the Suburban Rail Loop: The Suburban Rail Loop project linking middle-ring suburbs will spark a jobs and high-rise population boom, helping to ease Melbourne’s “unsustainable” urban sprawl. Suburbs such as Cheltenham, Glen
The AFR View has taken a shot at critics of a ‘Big Australia’ (yours truly). Below are the The AFR’s key arguments alongside my rebuttal: Critics of a “big Australia” tend to dismiss such calls to reboot the nation’s immigration program as quickly as possible as simply returning to some population Ponzi scheme that benefits
Victoria has recorded another 1419 new COVID cases and 10 deaths: By comparison, NSW has recorded 271 COVID cases and zero deaths: As shown in the next chart, it was Victoria’s highest daily case count since 1 November: Active cases have also rebounded in Victoria, from a low of 9,420 on 23 November to 12,728
This year has witnessed one of the most largest and broadest booms in the Australian property market’s history. Australian dwelling values have risen by an extraordinary 20.9% so far in 2021, with every capital and region experiencing strong growth: There are several factors behind this strong price growth. Record low mortgage rates and an acute
Yesterday’s national accounts for the September quarter showed that Australian households are bulging with savings. The hard lockdowns experienced across NSW, Victoria and the ACT over Q3 prevented households from spending at the same time as billions of dollars of additional income support was provided to households (chart from Deloitte): The inevitable result was that
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Spare a thought for New Zealand, where CoreLogic today recorded 1.8% growth in November, with values up an extraordinary 28.4% year-on-year: The average property value in New Zealand is now an eye-watering $978,401, with Auckland ($1,402,845) and Wellington ($1,114,979) both topping one million dollars. Over the year to the end of November, the average value
Europe is scrambling to regain control over a resurgent COVID as Christmas approaches, even in countries with high vaccination rates. Despite generally high rates of vaccination: COVID cases across Europe have surged to record highs: With even highly vaccinated nations like Belgium, Netherland and Ireland experiencing an explosion of cases: The data on hospitalisations is
A new report from Findex suggests “The Great Resignation” has arrived in Australia with one quarter of SMEs experiencing higher than usual staff turnover: The Great Resignation is “no longer looming but very much here”, according to new data from financial services firm Findex which has found one in four SMEs are already experiencing a
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today released the national accounts for the September quarter, which registered a 1.9% fall in real GDP over the quarter and a 3.9% rise through the year. On a per capita basis, real GDP fell by 2.0% over the quarter to be up 3.5% over the year. The fall
CoreLogic has released rental data for November, with rental growth continuing at its strongest pace since 2008: The trend in rental growth has held reasonably firm since April, with the monthly change in national rents holding between 0.6% and 0.7%, well above the decade average monthly movement of 0.2%. Every capital city and rest-of-state region
