Filtered by Subscriptions: Australia & New Zealand Economics Use setting Australia & New Zealand Economics
The decision by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to lift its official cash rate by 50bp, to 5.25%, came as an upside surprise, but we still think the end of the hiking cycle is approaching. In any case, the Bank’s aggressive tightening confirms our view …
5th April 2023
The Reserve Bank of Australia kept open the possibility of further tightening when it decided to leave its cash rate unchanged at 3.60% today. As such, we do still expect the RBA to deliver one final 25bp rate hike in May before bringing its tightening …
4th April 2023
The surge in credit card spending over the past year hasn’t been any larger than the increase in overall consumer spending. And with personal credit accounting for a small share of overall credit, a surge in business loan defaults would pose a far greater …
27th March 2023
While the Credit Suisse rescue might draw a line under that particular institution’s problems, it is clear that confidence in the financial sector overall is still extremely fragile. So regardless of whether more financial institutions run into trouble, …
20th March 2023
Australian banks are unlikely to experience the same valuation losses that resulted in the demise of Silicon Valley Bank. The biggest risk is that a freezing up of overseas bond markets shuts down funding avenues for the major banks, but the Reserve Bank …
14th March 2023
The Reserve Bank of Australia signalled that further tightening will be needed when it hiked the cash rate to 3.60% today and we’re sticking to our forecast that the Bank will lift the cash rate to 4.10% by May . The RBA’s decision to lift the cash rate …
7th March 2023
With labour productivity falling the most on record over the past year, unit labour cost growth has surged even as hourly earnings growth has remained sluggish. While we expect productivity growth to rebound, we also expect hourly earnings growth to …
6th March 2023
Although the fall in house prices slowed significantly in February, we are not convinced that Australia’s housing market is out of the woods yet. Even so, there are growing indications that dwellings investment will take less of a hit than we had …
2nd March 2023
House prices bounced back in February, led by Sydney. While leading indicators point to an improvement in housing market activity, the RBA’s determination to raise interest rates further means that affordability will remain extraordinarily stretched. …
24th February 2023
Even though the Reserve Bank of New Zealand slowed the pace of tightening at today’s meeting, it still signalled a peak in the overnight cash rate of 5.50% by the middle of this year. Our more pessimistic forecasts for economic activity and wage growth …
22nd February 2023
Rent inflation is set to approach 10% as the surge in net migration coupled with lower home completions has pushed rental vacancy rates to record low. But that rise will be overwhelmed by the slowdown in new dwellings purchases, underlining that the …
20th February 2023
The RBA raised interest rates by another 25bp and signalled that further tightening will be needed. We’re sticking to our forecast that the Bank will lift the cash rate to an above-consensus 3.85% by April. The Bank’s decision to lift the cash rate from …
7th February 2023
The shortage of new housing caused by the government’s HomeBuilder grant is showing signs of easing. That means that the housing downturn should soon start to weigh on homebuilding in earnest and that new dwellings inflation will continue to slow. The Q3 …
18th January 2023
The full impact of the RBA’s aggressive tightening cycle on household finances hasn’t been felt yet because one-third of all mortgages have fixed-rates. Around 60% of those will expire next year and the impact on household finances will be equivalent to …
13th December 2022
The RBA today hiked the cash rate by 25bp as widely anticipated and while the statement was marginally less hawkish, we’re sticking to our view that the Bank will lift the cash rate to 3.85% by April. The Bank’s decision to lift the cash rate from 2.85% …
6th December 2022
The proposed caps on domestic prices of thermal coal and natural gas are unlikely to be a major drag on mining investment because the bulk of coal and gas production is exported. And by helping to reduce inflation, they will allow the RBA to keep monetary …
5th December 2022
The proposed multi-employer wage agreements risk further fuelling inflation by disruptive industrial action. And while employers could circumvent them by striking traditional enterprise agreements, there’s a risk that this locks in strong pay growth for …
24th November 2022
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked the overnight cash rate by 75bp as most had anticipated but signalled a much higher peak in the OCR than in August. We’re now forecasting another 75bp hike in February followed by a final 50bp hike in April, but we …
23rd November 2022
The proposed price caps on thermal coal and natural gas would knock off around one to 1.25%-pts from overall inflation though the full impact would only materialise in the second half of next year. Wholesale gas and thermal coal prices have surged in …
8th November 2022
The Reserve Bank of Australia hiked rates by 25bp today and the upward revision to its inflation forecasts are consistent with our view that rates will peak at an above-consensus 3.85%. However, we still see a good chance that policy will be loosened …
1st November 2022
The Treasurer resisted the temptation to spend the tax windfall from high commodity prices in today’s Budget. But with high inflation lifting payments by at least as much as receipts, the government now expects a larger structural deficit. The resulting …
25th October 2022
The continued strength in inflation will encourage the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to hike the overnight cash rate by 75bp in November and to 5.0% by mid-2023. And with the financial markets sharply repricing the peak in the cash rate, a further surge …
20th October 2022
Australia’s record housing downturn may not result in dwellings investment falling quite as sharply as we’re anticipating. However, the largest wealth destruction in Australia’s modern history poses downside risks to our forecast of a 2.5% rise in …
17th October 2022
We expect the aussie and the kiwi to weaken further against the US dollar and trough around mid-2023. And while we don’t expect the aussie to outperform the kiwi as it has recently, we think it will largely cling on to its recent gains and expect the …
12th October 2022
Central banks have the tools to deal with liquidity crises arising from rising interest rates and falling asset prices. Instead, the bigger threat is that higher interest rates produce large and simultaneous falls in asset prices that threaten the …
11th October 2022
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked the overnight cash rate by 50bp to 3.5% as widely anticipated and the hawkish tone of the statement is consistent with our forecast that rates will peak at 4.5% by mid-2023. However, that aggressive tightening will …
5th October 2022
The Reserve Bank of Australia slowed the pace of monetary tightening by delivering a smaller 25bp rate hike to 2.60% this month, but we still expect rates to peak a touch higher than most anticipate. And the financial markets are now coming round to our …
4th October 2022
Despite incurring a record loss last year and now having to operate with negative equity, the RBA has not requested a recapitalisation from the government. But given that it did receive a capital injection in 2013 and that it may well record further …
21st September 2022
The RBA lifted rates by 50bp today and dropped some hints that further tightening will be less aggressive . Even so, we still expect the Bank to hike rates more aggressively over coming months than most expect, which will weigh heavily on activity and …
6th September 2022
If the slump in China’s property sector continues for much longer, Australia’s export revenue would take a hit as iron ore prices tumble. But there are good reasons to think that the impact on aggregate demand would be smaller than many anticipate . Our …
24th August 2022
The RBNZ lifted the overnight cash rate by 50bp to 3% today as everyone had anticipated and signaled that it will deliver another 50bp hike in October. We now expect the Bank to hike rates to a peak of 4% instead of our previous forecast of 3.5%, but we …
17th August 2022
An increase in the permanent migration programme will help to alleviate labour shortages. But the rapid tightening of the labour market in recent months has been driven by strong labour demand rather than a shortfall in supply. The upshot is that the RBA …
16th August 2022
The extent to which neighbouring countries would be affected by an escalation of tensions between China and Taiwan would depend both on which sides they take and on the nature of restrictions imposed by the West and China. ASEAN countries are most reliant …
10th August 2022
The Reserve Bank of Australia revised up its inflation forecasts sharply when it lifted the cash rate by 50bp today and we expect it to hike rates more aggressively over coming months than most anticipate. However, we expect the Bank to start cutting …
2nd August 2022
Our view that GDP growth will slow below potential next year assumes one of the sharpest falls in dwellings investment in Australia’s modern history. However, this Update explains why dwellings investment could hold up better than we’re anticipating. In …
25th July 2022
We doubt that the upcoming review of Australia’s monetary policy framework will result in a change to the RBA’s 2-3% inflation target. But the Bank could be forced to put more emphasis on house prices, reduce the frequency of Board meetings, and …
20th July 2022
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand hiked rates by 50bp in July but emerging worries about the health of the economy are consistent with our view that rates will peak around 3.5% rather than the 4% predicted by the Bank and financial markets. And we’re …
13th July 2022
The RBA sounded a little more cautious about the outlook for the economy when it hiked rates by 50bp today, but we suspect that further upside surprises to inflation will encourage it to eventually lift the cash rate to around 3.5%. However, we expect the …
5th July 2022
The 5.2% increase in the minimum wage announced by the Fair Work Commission will directly lift the Wage Price Index by around 0.7%-pt. But the increase will also contribute to upward pressure on wage growth and inflation more generally. On that basis, the …
15th June 2022
With the RBA set to hike the cash rate to 3% by early-2023, we now expect house prices to fall by 15% from their April peak. While the economy has considerable momentum from reopening in the near-term, plunging house prices will weigh on consumer spending …
8th June 2022
The 50bp hike in the cash rate today is consistent with our view that interest rates will peak at higher levels than most anticipate and we’re expecting additional 50bp hikes in July and August . That 50bp hike was anticipated by just a handful of …
7th June 2022
The rapid improvement in the public finances means that the government can provide financial support to households struggling with high energy bills without raising taxes. But if it did decide that more revenue is needed, a windfall tax on mining profits …
31st May 2022
House prices in New Zealand are tumbling and all signs point to a further deterioration in the months ahead. On that basis, we are revising up our forecast for the peak to trough decline in prices from 10% to 20%. That’s why we expect the RBNZ’s hiking …
30th May 2022
The RBNZ sounded hawkish when it hiked rates by 50bp today, and we now think rates will rise to 3.5% by the end of this year. But the Bank endorsed our long-held non-consensus view that rate cuts will be required in the years ahead. We think the Bank will …
25th May 2022
House prices are starting to fall across Australia earlier than we had anticipated. While we still expect the RBA to hike rates until early-2023, the experience from previous housing downturns points to an earlier end to the current tightening cycle. …
24th May 2022
A Labor government will probably keep fiscal policy looser than the previous Coalition government, putting more pressure on the RBA to hike interest rates. But while a Labor government will make greater efforts to decarbonise the economy, the bulk of …
23rd May 2022
While the government’s Budget was focused on equipping households to withstand surging living costs, by adding to demand we think it will cause inflation to be higher over the next year. That’s all the more reason for the RBNZ to continue hiking rates …
20th May 2022
The 6% rise in the minimum wage will help lift wage growth further this year. But a loosening labour market and smaller minimum wage hikes in the years ahead will facilitate a slow down in wage growth from next year. In Q1 the unemployment rate remained …
11th May 2022
The sharpest fall in real incomes since the 1990/91 recession won’t prevent a strong rebound in consumption this year and next. But with the tailwind from reopening the economy set to fade, consumption and GDP growth will fall below trend in 2024, …
9th May 2022
The RBA started hiking the cash rate today and sounded hawkish for the first since the start of the pandemic. Our forecast that interest rates will reach 2% by year-end is far above the analyst consensus of 1%, but the risks are tilted to the upside . The …
3rd May 2022