Economic Updates

Interest rates remained on hold today. Inflation is now sitting at 3.6 per cent, higher than hoped, but still showing a decline from 4.1 per cent recorded in December.

It has been a tough four years for renters. Since the start of the pandemic, rents have risen on average $200 per week across Australia.

Perth is now the strongest property market in Australia when it comes to house price growth. Like the rest of Australia, many of the expensive suburbs are leading the charge.

Inflation continued its painfully slow downward trajectory in October, resulting in rates remaining on hold in December.

It was a great year for mining, we were all travelling again and population growth surged.

New listings finished just shy of their October peak, and were down on where we would have expected given strong mid-year results.

Prices accelerated in November despite a rate rise as population growth hits its highest level on record.

Despite rapidly rising interest rates and strong population growth, a lack of homes coming to market and overall housing shortages led to big increases in both prices and rents across Australia in 2023.

It is hard to find a capital city suburb that is not recording price growth. In regional Australia however, the direction of price movements is far more mixed.

An interest rate rise will mean more headaches for renters and mortgage holders.

The rental crisis, soaring house prices despite much higher interest rates and being one of the least affordable countries in the world could be solved if we built more homes.

Is your house earning more than you? Ultimately it depends on where you live. But on a macro-level, the answer has been “no” over the past 12 months for the two thirds of Australians that own their own homes.