Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

As the election approaches, I wanted to underline again the dramatic issues renters are facing across the country. I will be publishing my latest household surveys for April tomorrow, but Anglicare Australia just released their Rental Affordability Snapshot report for 2025, based on a survey of over 51,000 rental listings across the country using data … Continue reading "Renters Thrown Under The Bus… By Design!"

Well superficially, headline and trimmed mean inflation are both finally back inside the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target band based on the latest data from the ABS today. Annual CPI inflation was 2.4 per cent in the March quarter, unchanged from the December quarter. Trimmed mean annual inflation was 2.9 per cent, down from 3.3 … Continue reading "We (The Tax Payer) Saved The Inflation Day; Or Did We?"

This is an edit of a live discussion as I explore with Chris Bates the pressure to get onto the property ladder, and how people manage to stay on, in the light of the current election campaigns, and expected market dynamics ahead. We will also explore the role of a broker and future of property … Continue reading "DFA Live Q&A HD Replay: Getting And Staying On The Property Ladder With Chris Bates"

As we count down to the election, we look at the latest property news with our insider Edwin Almeida. Markets are slowing ahead of the winter season, though are still tracking ahead of last year in terms of listings, if not auctions. We also look at some of the underlying currents in the markets, from … Continue reading "Its Edwin’s Monday Evening Property Rant!"

Despite the call for even more new building across Australia to meet the current demand for somewhere to live, it is worth noting that compared to many other countries we have been building more per 1,000 than almost all other countries. And we have talked before about the pressure on builders due to higher construction … Continue reading "The New Build Property Con…"

This is our weekly market update, where we start in the US, cross to Europe and Asia, and end in Australia, covering commodities and crypto on the way. I am minded this week of a 1930’s novel called Things Fall Apart, because it seems to me we saw a shattering of the Trump reform wave … Continue reading "Markets Rejoice On Trump Turnarounds But… Are Things Falling Apart?"

The data does not lie, housing is more out of reach for more Australians than ever before, whether renting, or purchase via a mortgage. The gap between incomes and home prices have gone through the roof, and households are spending more than ever on trying to house themselves. Over the past 20 years, property prices … Continue reading "Forget Affordable Housing: For Generations!"

Despite the slow fall in inflation, Australian households are paying through the nose for their insurance. Indeed, rising insurance premiums have been a notable contributor to Australia’s cost-of-living crisis. They have also placed upward pressure on CPI inflation. The Climate Council says that Australians are paying $30 billion more on insurance than they were a … Continue reading "Dumb Planning And The Rise In Insurance Costs: Costs Us All…"

Here we go again. Just yesterday, markets fell on Trumps comments concerning Fed Chair Jerome Powell, and by threatening to sack the head of the world’s most important central bank. Then the IMF came out with an economic update which slashed its US and global economic forecasts, warning that tariffs were ushering in a new … Continue reading "Markets Jump On Trump’s Latest Change Of Tune!"

This is my edit of a regular segment with Nuggets News, as we look at the latest market, finance and property news. This month we dwell on the question of the financial system, in the light of Trump’s tariffs and calls for the Fed Chair to cut rates. As a result, investors are leaving the … Continue reading "Economic Update: April 2025"