First home buyers pass the baton to upgraders

Posted by Infochoice 0n 11/9/09

The big worry for lenders in the housing finance market has been that when the strong push from first home buyers came to an end the market would lose its momentum and be back in the doldrums.

Housing finance figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics  this week suggest that first home buyer demand has indeed peaked.  After rising steadily in response to low rates and government stimulus first, home buyer share of all dwellings financed peaked at 28.5 per cent in May and fell back to 27.1 per cent in June and 25.7 per cent in July. Read More »

The recession and interest rates – breakfast with the economists

In Sydney on 26th August a group of Economists joined together in front of 1500 delegates to discuss the current state of affairs in the global and Australian economies. These Economists were:

Stephen Koukoulas: Global Strategist, Currency & Fixed Income Research, TD Securities
David Wyss: Chief Economist, Standard & Poor’s
Dr Subir Gokarn: Chief Economist, Standard & Poor’s, Asia Pacific
Warren Hogan: Head of Australian Economics & Interest Rate Research, ANZ
Bill Evans: Global Head of Economics, Westpac
Rory Robertson: Interest Rate Strategist, Macquarie
Sally Auld: Interest Rate Strategist, J.P. Morgan Australia Limited Read More »

Interest rate put on hold for fourth month in a row

Interest rates were left on hold for the fourth month in a row and signalled the end to its recent rate cutting cycle, economists said after the RBA decision to leave the cash rate at 3% on Tuesday.
RBA governor Glenn Stevens indicated monetary policy was now on a neutral footing.  Here are some of his comments:

“The board’s judgment is that the present accommodative setting of monetary policy is appropriate given the economy’s circumstances,” Mr Stevens said. Read More »