Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

UK house prices fell at their sharpest annual pace since 2009 after soaring mortgage rates curtailed how much buyers could afford, Halifax, one of the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders said today. https://www.halifax.co.uk/media-centre/house-price-index.html Halifax said the average value of a home fell 1.9% in August alone to £279,569, the sharpest monthly pace since November. It left … Continue reading "UK Property Prices Fall The Most In 14 Years!"

Superficially, Australia’s economy maintained its momentum in the three months through June, with the expansion underpinned by exports and sectors less impacted by the Reserve Bank’s 12 interest-rate increases. That said, key themes from the accounts are: ongoing weakness in consumer spending; slowing growth in employee compensation; rapid deterioration in productivity; offset by boosts from … Continue reading "OZ GDP: Didn’t We Do Well (No Not Really)!"

I caught up with Peter Marshall from Mozo to talk about the current trajectory of interest rates for mortgages, savings and cards, following the RBA’s decision to hold the cash rate at 4.1% on Tuesday. https://mozo.com.au/authors/peter-marshall The point is, more than ever before perhaps, its important to shop around for the best available rates, as … Continue reading "Interest Rates And How They Are Impacting Households: With Peter Marshall"

This is an edit of my live discussion with Damien Klassen, Head of Investing at Walk The World Funds And Nucleus Wealth. September is often a bad month in the markets. How have events in China been impacting the current dynamics, will interest rates and bond rates go higher still, and has AI still further … Continue reading "DFA Live Q&A HD Replay: Investing Now: With Damien Klassen"

My latest chat with our property insider Edwin Almeida, as we look at the latest in the rental crisis, more demand from certain groups for property which can be subdivided, and more horror pictures of property gone wrong. http://www.martinnorth.com/ Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

New Zealand’s house price slump has given first-time homebuyers a welcomed leg up in their quest to purchase a property, but it may be a short-lived opportunity. For a certain segment of the nation’s would-be homeowners — those armed with sizable deposits and solid incomes — 2023 has been a heartening year, with first-time buyers … Continue reading "Kiwi First Time Buyers Getting A [Brief?] Look-In?"

Central Bankers have been at pains to say they are being data dependant in setting monetary policy. But the problem now is markets are chasing every new scrap of news, and then trying to react, ahead of the Central Bankers, creating an uncertainty monster. So an awful August gives way to an uncertain September, investors … Continue reading "The Problem With Being Data Dependant, Is Being Data Dependant!"

Another Friday chat with journalist Tarric Brooker, and slides as we look at China and the impact on the Australian economy. Slides are available here: https://avidcom.substack.com/p/dfa-chart-pack-your-australia-and Send us your questions for future shows! http://www.martinnorth.com/ Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

The Bank of England, like other Central Banks, is a weird entity, in that it can, if it wants create money. We saw that through the QE programmes, through which it acquired large portfolios of Government Bonds – known as guilts. The program ran from 2009 to 2022 and was designed to improve financing conditions … Continue reading "Is The Bank Of England Broke – And Does It Matter?"

Almost one in three Australians are struggling to make ends meet, as cost-of-living pressures push more people to renegotiate bills, cut back on groceries and access their superannuation early. And one in five hit up friends or family as times tighten. About 30 per cent of Australian adults find it difficult or very difficult to … Continue reading "More Households Buckle Under The Strain…"