We have written about McDonald's not being in the hamburger business but rather the property business before. Forget the two all-beef patties, special sauce, pickled onions on a sesame seed bun: they are taking things to a whole new level by partnering with Stockland to develop one of their sites into 350 apartments, 1,565 square [...]
The RBA has met again this month and unsurprisingly has left the official cash rate at 1.5% p.a. Recent data from the US have shown payroll numbers surprising to the upside. Combined with Trump’s corporate tax cuts, the expectation of higher inflation has resulted in increased yields on US bonds and a sell-off in [...]
You’d have to be living under a rock not to have heard of the extraordinary gains made by a variety of cryptocurrencies during the latter half of 2017. Despite the earliest forms of cryptocurrencies being created in the mid-nineties, the recent mania has seen an explosion in cryptocurrencies totaling almost 50 by my last count. [...]
The Reserve Bank Of Australia (RBA) has met again today and — once again! — has left official interest rates on hold at 1.5% p.a. As we have said for most of 2017, official rates are unlikely to move in a hurry, as the world suffers from sluggish inflation and high asset prices in a [...]
To see what’s coming in 2018 and prepare ourselves in the best possible way, we’ve got to understand the context. So as this year comes to a close, let’s take stock of 2017 with a view to look ahead at the year to come. Perhaps the biggest single global economic event to happen in 2017 [...]
Finally! Someone else has come and said what we have been saying for years: Australia's housing markets are not operating on a level playing field. On Tuesday, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia found that Australia’s worsening housing affordability is unlikely to improve for 40 years under current policies. Driven largely by population [...]
Unsurprisingly, the Board of the RBA has decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 1.50%. As we have said since late last year, we don’t expect conditions in Australia, or globally, to push the RBA off the fence anytime soon. Unfortunately, in Australia, rising property prices in Sydney and Melbourne, fueled in large part [...]
First Steps for First-Time Homebuyers to Get Easier from 1 July Victoria’s Labour Premier Daniel Andrews has recently announced 7 new policies in a little under a week to attempt to address the issue of housing affordability (or rather lack thereof). This included announcing that from 1 July 2017, Stamp Duty will be abolished [...]
Unsurprisingly, the RBA has decided to leave the official cash rate on hold at 1.5% p.a. at its meeting today, Tuesday, 7 March 2017. In fact, we would not be at all surprised to see rates stay on hold for the rest of 2017, given the current macroeconomic picture. Low global growth, inflation figures, [...]
According to the latest Corelogic data, in 2016 Australian property prices recorded an annualised median price growth of 10.9% p.a., the highest annualised growth for a calendar year since 2009. When we add in the yields from rentals, the total combined capital city returns become 14.7% p.a. Compared to cash, bonds, and other fixed [...]
In its final meeting for 2016, The Reserve Bank Of Australia surprised no one by keeping the official cash rate unchanged at 1.5% p.a. The RBA was probably quite happy to see Donald Trump heading into the White House after his surprise November election win, which has seen the Aussie dollar drop – from [...]
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of this months’ R.B.A rates decision to CUT the official cash rate down to a record low of 1.5% p.a. as no doubt there would have been some interesting discussions at the meeting. Before the rate cut, just over half (23 of [...]
