Hi all, A quick note to offer guidance on the new website. As well as the layout changes that make it easier to access content for new readers, it comes with a dramatically improved sign-up and resubscription process, greatly enhanced speed, and a much better mobile experience (since 95% of traffic is now phone!). The
Cotality’s preliminary auction results show that buyer demand continues to wilt in Sydney, where the preliminary clearance rate has fallen to a 12-month low of just 58.1%. “While the reduction in volume is following the typical seasonal pattern, the gradual easing in auction clearance rates, which has been evident since mid-September, has more to do
By Lucinda Jerogin, Associate Economist at CBA The RBA left the cash rate on hold in a unanimous decision that was widely expected. The Statement took a step in the hawkish direction, but it was the Governor’s post meeting press conference that cemented the end of the easing cycle and warned of potential hikes. The
International Reading: Trump Hit With His Worst-Ever Approval Rating on the Economy – Daily Beast Trump Moves to End a Major Student Loan Forgiveness Program – Time U.S. hits $38 trillion in debt, after the fastest accumulation of $1 trillion outside of the pandemic – PBS Fed Chair Jerome Powell Says U.S. May Be Drastically
Asian share markets are doing quite well in the final but relatively quiet session of the trading week with the USD falling overnight on the bad but good initial jobless claims showing a soft US labour market helping supporting the risk taking. The Australian dollar has taken back its recent dip following the poor local
Late last month, Cotality and Proptrack published two critical housing affordability reports. Cotality’s research revealed that the national median home price relative to median household income reached a new high of 8.2 in Q3 2025, up from 6.4 five years earlier in Q3 2020. The amount of income required to service a new mortgage on
From the Market Ear: Big in small Russell extending the break out move. This looks like an inverse head and shoulders formation. Plenty of room to run before we reach trend channel highs. The Russell fear fade Russell volatility, RVX, just closed at the lowest levels since March. Tech volatility, VXN, not so much… Wow
Australia’s elite universities are accelerating their global expansion plans in response to the federal government’s decision to cap foreign student numbers. Concerned about losing revenue from international enrolments, institutions such as the University of Sydney, UNSW, and the University of Melbourne are exploring offshore campuses in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, partnerships, and joint
When Labor was in opposition, then Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers was a strong proponent of a wide variety of metrics that are championed by economists as more accurate indicators of economic performance. This earned him respect, even from his rivals, though only behind closed doors. But since coming to power, his focus has often turned
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will release the official population and migration data for the June quarter of 2025 next week. Ahead of the release of this data, the ABS has released various estimates suggesting that population growth has increased. Thursday’s labour force release for November contains estimates of the civilian population aged 15
In the last four years, expectations for the RBA cash rate have been wildly variable. Back in late 2021, the Commonwealth Bank was projecting a peak cash rate of just 1.25% by the end of 2023. While this estimate may seem low now, it was not alone at the time, as many economists and institutions
Australians experienced one of the world’s largest declines in real per capita household disposable income after the pandemic, reflecting soft nominal wage growth amid high inflation, tax increases, and rising interest payments. Australia’s growth in real per capita household disposable income has also been among the softest in the world over the past decade, according
A wobbly night on Wall Street due to Oracles earnings but also a “normalised” US initial jobless claims print proving the labour market is soft as the Fed claimed in its rate cut the previous session. While tech stocks pulled back, European shares lifted with futures indicating a boost for Asian markets here on the
I reported last week how Chief Executive and Principal Registrar at the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), Michael Hawkins, informed Senate Estimates that the ART was being overwhelmed by an “explosion” of international students appealing their visa rejections. Senate Estimates was told that the ART is struggling to process a whopping 46,590 student visa decisions as
The cost of Sydney housing is insane. According to Domain, the median house price in Sydney was $1,751,700 in the September quarter of 2025, up more than $700,000 from a decade earlier. According to Cotality’s latest housing affordability report, the cost of the median dwelling in Sydney was valued at 10.0 times the median household
Its not been all roses and sunshine following last night’s rate cut by the Fed with Asian share markets mixed at best while commodity and currency markets are moving into risk off mode on the escalation in the Caribbean by the Trump regime’s seizure of an oil tanker and some questioning around AI spending via
Thursday’s labour force release for the month of November handed Victoria another unwanted title: the unemployment state. As illustrated in the next chart, Victoria’s trend unemployment rate was the highest in the nation at 4.7%, significantly above the national average unemployment rate of 4.3%: As illustrated below by Alex Joiner from IFM Investors, if you
From the Market Ear: Inverse HS? Is SPX flirting with an inverse HS formation? A proper close above the 6900 area (futures) and things could get squeezy. If November was just a shake out of weak hands, and the trend channel remains the compass, then we have room to push this substantially higher. Russell roaring
The latest Statement of Monetary Policy from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) forecasts the unemployment rate will remain at 4.4% through to the end of 2027. Today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the November labour force report, which reported that the unemployment rate remained at 4.3% in both seasonally adjusted and trend
In this week’s podcast, Nucleus Wealth’s Chief Investment Officer, Damien Klassen, digs into the great valuation debate — exploring how stretched markets truly are, what’s driving the disconnect between price and fundamentals, and where investors should be most cautious as the cycle matures. Download presentation slides Take us on your daily commute! Nucleus Investment Insights
In much of the rest of the world, the month-to-month moves of interest rates by central banks are not something that rates much of a mention around the proverbial equivalent of the backyard BBQ. Yet in Australia, moves in interest rates are monitored as if they were part of the national sporting pastime and a
Stats NZ released migration data for October, which showed that large numbers of Kiwis continue to leave, mostly for Australia. Net migration was only 11,929 in the year to October, down from a net gain of 35,400 in the October 2024 year. The current net migration inflow is a fraction of the circa 130,000 peak in
Amidst the ongoing debate over the future of Ukraine and whether the United States will force peace terms on the war-weary nation, Europe’s leaders are deeply considering ratcheting up the stakes in their ongoing battle with Washington. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, European governments are considering a drastic step, dumping huge quantities
The Australian dollar – much like most other undollars – made new highs last night on the long expected rate cut by the US Federal Reserve, with the added boost of Fed Chair Powell calling it a “neutral position” not a hawkish reaction as expected: Full statement from the Fed below – the TLDR takeaway
Australia’s Treasurer of propaganda, “Spin” Jim Chalmers, can’t stop spreading misinformation about the state of the economy. A few weeks back, Spin Jim claimed that Labor had delivered the “longest period of consecutive real wage growth in almost a decade” following eight consecutive quarters of annual real wage growth: Spin Jim’s brag came despite a 0.5%
Wall Street loved the rate cut from the Fed last night and the apparently neutral not hawkish future position espoused by Fed Chair Powell. Other risk markets also saw a lift while the USD was poleaxed across the board with Euro up sharply. Oil prices saw a small lift as did other commodities while the
