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Australian Economy

The Scam of the Century

The Christmas and New Year period is traditionally a time to sit back and reflect on the year. Generally a quiet news period, the newspapers will run finance articles on the best and worse performing stocks for the year and have bold and radical predictions for the next year. Unfortunately

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United States Economy

US house prices continue to tumble with no end in sight

Back in October 2006 we first reported US new home prices were plunging at the fastest pace in 36 years. Two years later, prices are still continuing to fall with no recovery in sight. Last night it was reported new home sales fell 5.2% in October 2008 to an annual

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Australian Economy

NZ: 1 in 5 owes bank more than house is worth

Falling house prices mean one in five homeowners with a mortgage now owes the bank more than their house is worth. And with a grim economic outlook for 2009 thousands of people are set to lose their jobs and house prices are expected to keep tumbling experts say a cocktail

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Australian Economy

Australian Household Wealth down 25%

The Australian has today reported an estimate from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showing Australian Households have lost 25% of their wealth since the start of the global financial crisis. It suggests the data is conservative as it only covers losses up to the end of September and markets have

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Australian Economy

US and Japan reduce rates to virtually zip.

On Tuesday the US Federal Reserve surprised markets and slashed interest rates by 0.75% to a range between zero and 0.25%. One day later, the world’s 2nd largest economy saw rates get cut to 0.1% by the Bank of Japan. This now means the world’s largest two economies have interest

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Australian Economy

Jobs ads experience biggest fall in 30 years

According to an ANZ survey, job ads have had the biggest fall in the 30 year history of survey. Job advertisements fell 8.6% in November with a year on year decline of 18.6%. Today’s drop is the seventh month the number of Job advertisements have contracted. This data doesn’t paint

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Australian Housing

Housing construction in freefall

Figures released from the ABS today show new home approvals are continuing to plummet. Despite Real Estate bodies sounding like a broken record that we have a shortage of houses and hence it is different here, only 10,700 homes were approved in October. This is a fall of 5.4% for

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Australian Economy

Car sales dive 20pc

New car sales have had their biggest annual decline in more than 20 years as consumers steer clear of big ticket items. Figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show just under 72,000 vehicles were sold in November. » Car sales dive 20pc – The ABC, 4th December 2008.

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Australian Economy

Farmers hold off Aussie recession, for now.

Official figures show the farming sector helped save the Australian economy from falling backwards in the September quarter. The National Accounts show the economy expanded by 0.1 per cent in the quarter. But if the impact of farming is not included, the economy shrank by 0.3 per cent. » Farmers

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Australian Economy

China Property Slump Threatens Global Economy as Growth Slows

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) — House prices in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou are plunging, and the global economy may grind almost to a halt next year because of it. Construction of homes, offices and factories fell at least 16.6 percent in October after rising 32.5 percent a year earlier, according to

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Australian Economy

RBA slashes rates again

The RBA has today cut interest rates by another 100 basis points in desperate bid to stimulate an economy hurtling towards recession. The official cash rate as of tomorrow will be 4.25%. While the sheer depth of previous cuts came as a surprise to the markets, the market had priced

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Australian Economy

It’s official – The USA is in recession

The US National Bureau of Economic Research has released data confirming the USA is in recession. The peak of the cycle was a year ago in December 2007 and the US economy has been crumbling ever since. Confirmation the US is in recession saw the Dow Jones shed almost 7%

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Australian Economy

UK Government finds cheaper option to keep housing bubble afloat

While the Australian Government spends millions of dollars in grants trying to keep the housing bubble afloat, the UK Government is pioneering a much cheaper alternative to keep confidence strong within their falling housing markets. It has been found the UK Government has not been including repossessions in their official

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Australian Economy

Property price fall worst in 25 years

THE once booming Perth property market has recorded its third consecutive quarterly fall in the median house price – a phenomenon not seen in 25 years – as talk of a recession eats into consumer confidence. Real Estate Institute of Western Australia president Rob Druitt said the Perth market was

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Australian Economy

ASX losses fall through 50%

Today seemed like just another “normal” day on the market. The All Ords fell 150.6 points to close the day down at 3332.6. However the significance of today’s close is that the market is now down 51.4% from its peak of 6853.6 points recorded just a little more than a

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Australian Economy

End of easy credit over as banks tighten lending standards

The New’s reports today that the CBA has banned no-deposit loan, while the ANZ has moved to tighten eligibility requirements. JP Morgan banking analyst Brian Johnson says “The era of getting very easy credit to buy a house is over”. John Symonds of Aussie Home Loans said the change signals

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Australian Economy

House prices “shouldn’t” crash: RBA chief

Australia’s house prices will soften but should not crash because of the world economic crisis, Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens says. Answering a question from the floor at a business dinner in Melbourne, Mr Stevens said the ratio between house prices and household income was historically “very high”, partly because

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Australian Economy

It’s never a better time to buy

With falling Interest rates and the increased first home buyers grants, many real estate experts are saying it is never a better time to buy. Actually, when you come to think of it – when isn’t it the right time to buy? My stock broker will give buy and SELL