Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBNZ’s tightening bias is on borrowed time The Reserve Bank of New Zealand handed down another hawkish hold at its meeting today. However, with inflation on track to return to its 1-3% target by mid-year, we still expect the Bank to start... 28th February 2024 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Inflation will fall into target band this year Non-labour input costs are now moderating which should soon result in a more rapid slowdown in consumer price inflation than most are anticipating. 15th February 2024 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBNZ will continue to watch, worry, and wait With activity and inflation both softer than it had expected a few months ago, the RBNZ will likely stay put at its meeting at the end of the month. However, with a still-tight labour market fuelling... 14th February 2024 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBA pours cold water on the prospect of early rate cuts With the Reserve Bank of Australia still striking a hawkish tone at its meeting today, we’re pushing back our forecast for the Bank’s first rate cut from May. But we still think that incoming data... 6th February 2024 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Australia CoreLogic House Prices (Jan.) Although house price gains remained firm in January, we still expect them to soften in the months ahead. While rate cuts are on the horizon, they will do little to improve homebuying capacity. 1st February 2024 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Regulatory changes won’t affect house price outlook The Reserve Bank of New Zealand launched a consultation on changes to its macroprudential framework last week. In our view, the proposed tweaks are unlikely to have a meaningful impact on the housing... 30th January 2024 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Case for tighter macroprudential measures is weak While Australian households are as indebted as ever and mortgage payments have hit fresh record-highs, lending standards continue to be sound, loan defaults remain subdued and banks are well... 23rd January 2024 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Is the low saving rate an accounting illusion? Australian household finances are in better shape than the plunge in the household savings rate would suggest. While we still think that GDP growth will slow more sharply than expected over the coming... 4th January 2024 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update CoreLogic House Prices (Dec.) We are resending this publication because it was incorrectly sent as an Australia and New Zealand Rapid Response. Australia’s housing market showed signs of life in December. However, we still think... 2nd January 2024 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Australia Housing Watch Although house prices in Melbourne have started to fall anew, we doubt that they are the canary in the coal mine. A persistent shortfall in housing supply should ensure that house prices across most... 21st December 2023 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update How greedy is Australia’s taxman? While the income tax cuts due next year are widely seen as necessary to reverse bracket creep, the income tax burden isn’t particularly onerous by historical standards. However, Australia taxes income... 20th December 2023 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update How much cushion do excess savings provide? Australian households have built up more excess savings than those in other large, advanced economies and we estimate that those savings will only be depleted by the end of 2025. Even so, we still... 18th December 2023 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Another fiscal surplus is in sight Today’s budget update showed that the government now expects a balanced budget in 2023/24, as opposed to the modest deficit it had projected a few months ago. With revenue likely to outperform the... 13th December 2023 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update What to make of the RBNZ’s new framework We doubt that the removal of the RBNZ’s employment objective would make much difference to economic outcomes, but forcing the Bank to achieve its inflation target within too short a period of time... 11th December 2023 · 3 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update RBA is done hiking rates Given the high bar for further rate hikes, we’re more confident than ever that the Reserve Bank of Australia is done tightening policy. That said, there is a good chance that the cash rate will remain... 5th December 2023 · 3 mins read
Global Economics Update Key risks for 2024 In this Global Economics Update, we describe eight of the biggest risks to our economic forecasts for 2024. The unusual nature of this cycle and uncertainties surrounding the transmission of monetary... 30th November 2023 · 6 mins read
