The Albanese government’s changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax (CGT) are designed to make housing more affordable for first home buyers (FHBs) by reducing investor participation in the market.

Australian new car sales have hovered above 1.2 million annually since late 2023, albeit having retraced from their June 2024 peak.

As expected, the bond crash is triggering rising turbulence for tech.

In November 2025, Alan Kohler presented an excellent explainer video for the ABC, arguing that the surge in net overseas migration from the mid-2000s, driven in part by international students, is a key reason behind the nation’s housing shortage.

According to Sarah Hunter, assistant governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, the RBA anticipates that inflation will rise more than previously anticipated due to rising oil prices brought on by the Middle East crisis.

My biggest problem with the federal budget’s changes to the capital gains tax was that they could discourage the formation of new businesses and venture capital, thereby stifling entrepreneurship, investment, and productivity at a time when business investment is already near historical lows.

Gas cartel central is freaking out.

The Murdoch press is in panicked meltdown about the Budget.

Dated Brent was stable overnight. HSBC explores how oil will balance. If refined product flows remain constrained, the market cannot rebalance through stock drawdowns alone indefinitely. Product demand (not just crude demand by refineries) will have to eventually adjust through a mix of adaptation, price response, and rationing.

As the political debate surrounding the right level of migration into Australia enters its latest chapter, the now increasingly prevalent claim that “net overseas migration can’t be controlled” is once again being trotted out.

The federal budget’s changes to investor property taxes are designed to reduce market demand, lower home prices, and boost first-homebuyer participation and the homeownership rate.

Tonight I will be appearing on DFA Live with Martin North from 8.00pm AEST, where we will examine the impact of the budget and other economic factors, such as the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, on the Australian property market and the broader economy.

John McGrath, CEO of McGrath Estate Agents, says the Sydney property market is very quick to react to incentives, such as the extension last year of the 5% deposit guarantee scheme, or disincentives like the budget changes.

It’s been a busy week in the wake of the Federal Budget, and the 2026 CGT shake-up is easily the biggest topic in my inbox.

“The Australian economic story is still overwhelmingly a positive one,” he said.

Not that it matters much.

New Zealand experienced one of the world’s largest house price booms during the COVID-19 pandemic, only to see one of the largest busts.

WA’s gas reservation policy is effective for one simple reason.

Australians are experiencing the perverse situation whereby they have seen the sharpest decline in real wages in living memory, a trend not forecast to improve in the forward estimates.

Those are some nasty misses in Chinese growth.

As the war in the Persian Gulf continues to throttle traffic through the Strait of Hormuz down to a relative trickle compared with pre-war levels, it’s striking that oil prices have not risen more sharply despite around 13 million barrels per day of supply being taken off the table.