Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Why the RBA will ease sooner than most expect Although the analyst consensus expects the RBA to cut rates only in September, we're sticking with our view that the RBA will loosen policy as early as May. For one thing, the household cash flow... 5th January 2024 · 7 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 Weekly Australian labour market still set to turn Leading indicators suggest that employment growth in Australia is unlikely to slow meaningfully in the near term. However, even if job creation remains resilient, it is unlikely to keep pace with the... 22nd December 2023 · 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 Weekly Migration curbs won’t adversely dent labour supply The ongoing boom in net overseas migration to Australia is helping to take the heat out of the labour market. With public attitudes towards mass migration souring, the government announced this week... 15th December 2023 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Rapid Response Australia Labour Market (Nov. 23) Even though employment growth remains strong, job creation isn’t fast enough to absorb the surge in the labour force. Accordingly, we expect the unemployment rate to keep rising. 14th December 2023 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Rapid Response New Zealand GDP (Q3 2023) Output slumped anew in Q3, and we suspect it remained in contractionary territory this quarter as well. Accordingly, we think the RBNZ will be cutting rates a lot sooner than it is currently... 13th December 2023 · 3 mins read
Global Economic Outlook Growth, inflation, and rates to be lower than expected We think that global growth will undershoot consensus expectations in 2024 as the lagged effects of monetary policy tightening filter through. Among the advanced economies, the US will continue to... 13th December 2023 · 45 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 Economic Outlook Downturn will prompt policy easing next year We suspect that both economies will narrowly avoid a recession but a prolonged period of below-trend growth will reduce price pressures and allow central banks to ease monetary policy again. We’ve... 13th December 2023 · 20 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 Weekly Rate cuts will be in play sooner than most expect The RBA's revised Statement on the Conduct of Monetary Policy has been interpreted as hawkish by some commentators. However, our view is that the new statement doesn't meaningfully alter the RBA's... 8th December 2023 · 6 mins read
