Australia Consumer House Price Sentiment Could Justify RBA Hold in Feb
By Sophia Rodrigues
Published On 22 Jan 2020 , 11:36 AMConsumer sentiment fell 1.8% to 93.4 in January from 95.1, the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment showed. The fall was in response to the devastating bushfires and while the 1.8% drop was not as severe as one would have expected, Westpac points out this might be because the index was already at a low level.
More interesting in the survey were housing related sentiment, with "time to buy a dwelling" and "index of house price expectations", both rising sharply in January. Westpac said the boost in optimism this time has beem more "dramatic" than in previous cycles, and indicate the current period of positive price action is unlikely to end in the near term.
The question is whether the RBA will take comfort from this continuing impact of easy monetary policy on housing market, and make a case for hold in February?
LATEST SNIPPETS
Moody's warns profits of big four Australian banks under pressure
Profitability of the big four Australian banks is under pressures from low interest rates amid weak credit growt...
Published on : 25 Nov 2019 , 03:35 PMAustralia Oct Labor Data Dovish for RBA Dec Meeting
Australia's unemployment rate rose to 5.3% in October from 5.2%, due to 19,000 fall in employed numbers. This was...
Published on : 14 Nov 2019 , 12:00 AMWhy RBNZ will Hold OCR at 1%
I am a bit surprised with market reaction to RBNZ's inflation expectations survey yesterday. While I acknowledge...
Published on : 13 Nov 2019 , 12:00 AMMarket Pricing for RBNZ Cut --How Much is "Will do"?
In their markets outlook on Nov 11, economists at BNZ wrote, "RBNZ shouldn’t cut this week but probably wi...
Published on : 13 Nov 2019 , 12:00 AMWhat does RBA's Gentle Turning Point Refer to?
RBA Governor Philip Lowe first referred to gentle turning point at the Parliamentary testimony in August when he said...
Published on : 07 Nov 2019 , 12:00 AMExpect Dovish RBA Statement, Refined Forward Guidance
It is very unusual for both market and economists to be strongly expecting a particular outcome (hold) for a RBA boar...
Published on : 05 Nov 2019 , 12:00 AMAustralia: More Reason to Buy vs Rent Dwelling
More reason to buy vs rent? For the first time since at least 2007, gross rental yields for properties in Australia&#...
Published on : 01 Nov 2019 , 12:00 AMWill RBA Debate Further Easing at Nov Meeting?
Even before the RBA Nov board meeting begins, I am curious to find out if there will be a vigorous debate about...
Published on : 30 Oct 2019 , 07:21 AMRBA Should Cut Now to Avoid QE
A few weeks back I wrote an article about how in theory the RBA could avoid QE, but to do so requires continuation of...
Published on : 31 Oct 2019 , 07:15 AMAustralia: Housing Group Numbers Disappoint Most in CPI
The most disappointing numbers in Australia Q3 CPI are the ones for housing group. Rent rose 0.4% y/y (and below 1.0%...
Published on : 30 Oct 2019 , 07:13 AM