In my stress surveys I have been calling out the pressures on renters and property investors, especially in the Centre of Melbourne and other inner-city areas across the country. The math is obvious. Despite rental increases, there is a limit on how much property investors can lift them, as renters are under pressure already. And … Continue reading "Property Investors Are Quitting Like Lemmings!"

US stocks mostly finished lower on Friday as tech shares fell and volatility surged, despite earnings from three major banks – JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup helping to offset some of the negative sentiment. Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson sees a rebound in earnings in the latter half of 2024 but for now, his message to … Continue reading "Things Are Going To Get Worse Before They Get Better…"

Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower on Thursday after a U.S. Treasury auction sent bond yields higher while investors were already digesting data that showed consumer prices rose more than anticipated in September. After the data, the S&P 500 spent the morning zig-zagging between red and green. It turned decisively lower after a 1 p.m. … Continue reading "More Evidence That Inflation Is Not Playing The Game"

Growing difficulty entering the housing market has led to the most first home buyers tapping into the federal government’s Home Guarantee Scheme since its inception four years ago, according to the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation. The scheme, which offers three types of guarantees, allows first home buyers to purchase a home with a … Continue reading "More First Home Buyers Tap The Government To Enter The Property Market…"

Today I want to dissect some the latest data from New Zealand. In summary, inflation and costs of living continue to bite, more households are in financial distress, inward migration is at a record high, but the property market remains in the doldrums. Worth thinking about ahead of the general election at the weekend. http://www.martinnorth.com/ … Continue reading "The New Zealand Economy In A Nutshell"

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) Assistant Governor (Financial Markets), Christopher Kent, gave an Address to Bloomberg on Wednesday where he expressed why the RBA is reluctant to lift the official cash rate further. https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2023/sp-ag-2023-10-11.html The RBA is in its “third phase” of monetary policy tightening as it assesses the impact of interest-rate rises to … Continue reading "The RBA’s Third Phase Of Tightening, And What Happens Next…"

Today I want to dissect some the latest data from New Zealand. In summary, inflation and costs of living continue to bite, more households are in financial distress, inward migration is at a record high, but the property market remains in the doldrums. Worth thinking about ahead of the general election at the weekend. http://www.martinnorth.com/ … Continue reading "The New Zealand Economy In A Nutshell"

A deep dive into the thorny question of the economics of extending the loan term, something which the Bank of England highlighted in its latest report. Who wins (let you guess….) http://www.martinnorth.com/ Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/ Today’s post is brought to you by Ribbon Property Consultants. If you are buying … Continue reading "The Banks Are Winners, And Households The Losers!"

Elevated inflation means central banks may have to keep policy rates higher in a way that stretches the capacity of borrowers to repay debt said the IMF in its latest Global Financial Stability Report. And the Bank of England warned in their latest Financial Policy Summary that simply extending the term of mortgage loans is … Continue reading "Higher-for-Longer Interest Rate Environment is Squeezing More Borrowers"

This is an edit of a live discussion using data from our core market model. We look at the latest mortgage stress data, and answer viewers questions. Which post codes are most impacted, and what are the implications? Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/ Please consider supporting our work via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DigitalFinanceAnalytics … Continue reading "DFA Live Q&A HD Replay: Household Finances And Mortgage Stress Update"