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Australian Economy

March retail figures finds reverse gear

Has the consumer finally ran out of money, or more precisely credit? The Age reports : MYER has admitted surprise at how quickly consumer sentiment has turned in March. Chairman Bill Wavish says comparable-store sales at the department store chain have actually gone backwards in the month as interest rate

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United States Economy

US Home prices fall a record 10.7% in past year

Home prices in 20 major U.S. metro areas have plunged a record 10.7% in the past year as prices continued to decelerate, Standard & Poor’s said Tuesday. The 20-city Case-Shiller home price index fell a record 2.4% from December to January, the 18th consecutive decline in prices. For 10 major

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Australian Economy

1/3 of residential property in Melbourne & Sydney has lost value

Property Analyst Residex, has reported just over 1/3 of residential properties in Melbourne and Sydney has taken a dive, while over in Perth the number is closer to half. Some 34 per cent of Sydney homes declined in value, Melbourne 35 per cent and Perth 55 per cent. Outside of

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United States Economy

U.S. Home Defaults, Foreclosures Rise 60% in February

March 13 (Bloomberg) — U.S. home foreclosure filings jumped 60 percent and bank seizures more than doubled in February as rates on adjustable mortgages rose and property owners were unable to sell or refinance amid falling prices. More than 223,000 properties were in some stage of default, or 1 in

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Australian Economy

Now Sydney’s affluent hit

The first signs of mortgage stress caused by higher interest rates and the fall in the stock market are beginning to be seen in the more affluent suburbs of Sydney. Homeowners in suburbs such as Bondi, Chatswood and on the northern beaches are feeling the pinch as their net worth

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Australian Economy

Consumer Confidence Plumets to 14 year lows

Australian consumer sentiment slumped to its lowest in more than 14 years in March as rising interest rates fanned worries over the economy, a survey showed on Wednesday. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index dropped 9.1% in March to 88.6, the lowest reading since September, 1993. That was the third

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United Kingdom Economy

U.K. Housing Market Slump Becomes Worst Since 1990

March 11 (Bloomberg) — The U.K. housing slump deepened in February and is now the worst since the eve of the nation’s last recession in 1990, a survey of real-estate professionals showed. » U.K. Housing Market Slump Becomes Worst Since 1990 (Update2) – Bloomberg, 11th March 2008.

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Australian Economy

Australia ‘on verge of recession’

THE economy is headed for recession next year, with a 50 per cent plunge in share values and a double-digit drop in house prices – that’s what one analyst says. » Australia ‘on verge of recession’ – news.com.au, March 10th 2008

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Australian Economy

US: Job losses: Worst in 5 years

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Employers made their deepest cut in staffing in almost five years in February, the Labor Department reported Friday. There was a net loss of 63,000 jobs, which is the biggest decline since March 2003 and weaker than the revised 22,000 jobs lost in January. Economists had

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Australian Economy

Billions lent in Australian sub-prime deals

AUSTRALIA’S financial institutions have lent billions of dollars to home buyers who were not subject to basic credit checks and had a history of defaults, putting them in the “sub-prime” category that continues to terrorise world financial markets.The revelation, contained in research conducted by Dun & Bradstreet exclusively for The

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Australian Economy

A Rise Too Far?

The Australian and US economies are not chalk and cheese. They are both suffering the same inflation spike, the same fallout from the credit crunch, the same low levels of unemployment, and while the preliminary figure for US first quarter GDP growth is 0.6%, Australia’s is 0.8%. (The 2nd graph

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Australian Economy

Sydney house prices in landslide

HOMEOWNERS in Sydney’s outer suburbs have been losing as much as $450 a week every week since early 2004 on the value of their properties as the real story of mortgage belt misery begins to emerge. Since the peak of the boom in early 2004, Sydney’s southern suburbs has dipped