Amid frequent lockdowns and the rise of remote work, the number of empty shops across Australia’s CBDs has soared, according to new CBRE figures, published in The Australian: “A range of CBD retailers, mainly those in the clothing and soft goods industries, have closed their bricks and mortar stores and moved to a more online-centred
I have been bullish on Brisbane property for some time. The main reason is that Brisbane dwelling values are exceptional value in a relative sense when compared to its larger East-Coast counterparts, Sydney and Melbourne, as illustrated clearly below: The other reason is that net internal migration into Brisbane has remained robust throughout the pandemic: After
You know we’ve reached Bizarro World when real estate agents complain because property prices and rents are soaring too quickly. Well that’s exactly what the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania (REIT) has done via the ABC: The Real Estate Institute of Tasmania’s (REIT) latest report shows that in the past year the median cost to
As noted earlier, Australia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in at 0.8% in the March quarter – slightly above market expectations of a 0.7% rise: Annual CPI surged 3.8% in Q2. However, this rise was driven by the ‘base effect’, since CPI fell by 3.7% in the corresponding Q2 quarter of 2020 (as shown above).
Just over a week ago, as UK COVID cases soared to 50,000 a day, an open letter in The Lancet medical journal from more than 1000 doctors labelled Britain’s ‘Freedom Day’ opening up a “dangerous and unethical experiment”. As residents inundated nightclubs, pubs, bars and music festivals, experts warned that COVID cases could soar to
The ABS has released Q2 CPI data, which shows that inflation rose by 0.8% over the quarter and by 3.8% over the year – basically in line with analyst’s expectations of a 0.7% quarterly increase and a 3.8% rise year-on-year. The large annual increase in CPI was driven by the ‘base effect’, since CPI fell
NSW Health has recorded another 177 locally acquired COVID cases over the past 24 hours: NSW recorded 177 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/UPgvzflhFm — NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 28, 2021 Of these locally acquired cases, 74 are linked to a known case or cluster –
This may seem like a cheap shot. But optics is everything in politics. Only a day after Labor dumped the negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms taken to the past two elections, leader Anthony Albanese sold his Marrickville investment house for $2.35 million, banking a $1.2 million gross profit: From the article: [Albanese] and
The AFR’s Joe Aston has done a terrific job highlighting the widespread rorting of the JobKeeper scheme, which saw $12.5 billion of taxpayers’ money paid to entities that did not ultimately satisfy its eligibility criteria in only the scheme’s first 12 weeks, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO): In the total 24 weeks of
I am currently pulling property-related data for an upcoming subscriber special report on the property markets of English-speaking nations. Yesterday I uncovered a treasure trove of data on Ireland, which has managed to successfully deleverage from one of the world’s biggest property bubbles leading into the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). The below charts tell
Global Macro / Markets / Investing: Universal Basic Income Now or Never – Martinhies Boeck.com A Key Gauge of Future Inflation Is Easing – WSJ Why are used cars insanely expensive right now? – The Hustle Stock futures decline amid renewed virus, growth concerns – Yahoo Competition from online platforms and the impoverishment of newspapers
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has issued a media release cheering Labor’s decision to axe the negative gearing reforms taken to the prior two federal elections, claiming it will boost dwelling supply and affordability: “[The] announcement by the Australian Labor Party to drop plans to increase taxes on housing through changes to negative gearing and
CoreLogic has released its Quarterly Auction Market Review, which reveals that Australian auction volumes were the busiest since 2017 over the June quarter of 2021; although this drove the auction clearance rate down from the March quarter’s record high: There were 31,605 homes taken to auction across the combined capital cities over the three months
One year ago Sweden was lambasted far and wide for carelessly failing to implement COVID restrictions and ‘letting the virus rip’. Sweden’s Nordic peers each implemented lockdowns, resulting in much lower infection numbers: And lower deaths: But at the cost of reduced freedoms and liberty. One year on and Sweden is enjoying the near lowest
NSW Health has recorded a record high 179 locally acquired COVID cases over the past 24 hours: NSW recorded 172 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. Of these locally acquired cases, 85 are linked to a known case or cluster – 66 are household contacts and 19
NAB’s Q2 2021 survey of residential property professionals, released yesterday, reveals that the share of Australian homes sold to foreign buyers has fallen to its lowest level since records began in 2010, at only 2.3% of new home sales and 2.0% of established home sales: All major states experienced falling foreign demand for new homes
In mid-June, RBA Governor Phil Lowe stated that the Council of Financial Regulators (CFR) – i.e. RBA, Treasury, APRA and ASIC – are actively examining macroprudential tools to curb the mortgage/property market in the event that credit accelerates, and that these tools would come into effect before the RBA considers lifting interest rates. In this
The Victorian Department of Health has reported another 10 locally acquired cases over the past 24 hours. However, like the prior three days, all cases were linked to existing outbreaks and were in quarantine throughout their infectious period. Thus, they pose minimal risk to the community. The next chart shows that new locally-acquired cases in
Labor announced yesterday that it will not make changes to the stage three income tax cuts if it wins the upcoming federal election. It also abandoned the negative gearing and capital gains tax reforms taken to the past two federal elections. Shadow cabinet formally signed-off on these policy positions yesterday. Earlier this year, Labor also
NAB has released its residential property survey for Q2, with its Residential Property Index reaching a new survey high of +71 points in the second quarter: The rebound in NAB’s index is universal, although WA, SA and TAS have begun to turn down: NAB has also ramped-up its dwelling growth forecasts for 2021 from 14.1%
Global Macro / Markets / Investing: Stuck in the Smoke as Billionaires Blast Off: Climate inaction was never really about denial. Rich countries just thought poorer countries would bear the brunt of the crisis. – The Intercept The crypto market’s volatility cuts both ways giving both bulls and bears an opportunity to make a killing,
The Grattan Institute has released a new report entitled “Gridlock: Removing barriers to policy reform”, which argues that Australia’s prosperity is at risk from a decade-plus of decay across our political institutions. Below is the Overview, combined with some key graphics: Australia’s governance has deteriorated over recent decades. The formal institutions and the informal norms
A new Roy Morgan poll has federal Labor’s two-party preferred lead increasing to 52.5% (up 2%) over the Coalition’s 47.5% (down 2%) following lockdowns imposed across Sydney, Victoria and South Australia: If a Federal Election were held now the ALP would be easily elected with a substantial majority similar to that won at the 2007
The NSW government will formally request the federal government reinstate the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme, amid expectations that the COVID-19 lockdown of Greater Sydney will be extended for at least another month. The state government is also believed to have sought financial modelling on a number of scenarios, including extending the lockdown until 17 September:
NSW Health has just reported another 145 locally acquired COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours: NSW recorded 145 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night. pic.twitter.com/TUUIDvd6SP — NSW Health (@NSWHealth) July 26, 2021 Of these locally acquired cases, 66 are linked to a known case or cluster,
In the six days following ‘Freedom Day’, which saw all remaining COVID restrictions lifted across the UK, new case numbers have fallen dramatically: Only 29,173 new cases were recorded on Sunday, down significantly from the 48,161 registered one week earlier on 18 July. New case numbers also fell for the fifth consecutive day for the
Here we go again. A new federal inquiry into ‘housing supply problems’ will be launched by the Morrison Government to examine the contribution of property taxes and restrictive planning and zoning regulations [my emphasis] Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has approved a parliamentary committee inquiry into housing supply to be led by Liberal MP Jason Falinski, chairman
Victoria’s Department of Health has recorded another 11 locally acquired COVID cases over the past 24 hours; however all were already in isolation throughout their infection period: Reported yesterday: 11 new local cases and 1 new case acquired overseas (currently in HQ). – 13,953 vaccine doses were administered – 25,404 test results were received More
NSW’s COVID outbreak went from bad to worse over the weekend with another 163 new local infections recorded on Saturday followed by 141 on Sunday – both the highest number of daily cases this outbreak. Dozens of these cases were also infectious in the community. Sadly, a women in her 30s with no pre-existing illness
With both Sydney and Melbourne still in hard lockdown, the nation’s auction market continues to hold up well. CoreLogic record a preliminary national clearance rate of 74.8%, down only slightly from the prior weekend’s 76.3%. Sydney’s preliminary clearance rate softened to 74.8% from the prior weekend’s 77.1, whereas Melbourne’s also softened to 71.9% from 76.1%.
