Latest news with #economist
News.com.au
6 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Houses for auction decrease as winter season emerges
REA Group Senior Economist Anne Flaherty discusses the property market and the auctioning happening this weekend. 'We have seen the number of homes coming up for auction decrease in line with winter,' Ms Flaherty said. 'We are around 10 per cent below the same levels we were seeing this time last year. 'We are still seeing very strong levels of buyer demand."
NHK
6 hours ago
- Business
- NHK
Expert: Tokyo inflation to slow slightly
As Japanese consumers face the G7's highest inflation rates, an economist expects the Tokyo Consumer Price Index for June to show increases are slowing very slightly. He also sees prices continuing to rise at a high pace this year.
News.com.au
8 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Crocodile tears': Home loan change could add to worsening housing crisis
It's now easier for Australians to buy a home, but a key change to credit limits could push up the price of housing, a leading economist warns. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) announced on Thursday that Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debts would be excluded from the credit limit for prospective homebuyers from September 30. Independent economist Saul Eslake told NewsWire that the change's two most obvious effects would be to 'allow some people who'd buy a home anyway to buy a more expensive one and (to) allow some people who wouldn't have been able to buy a home because of their student debt' to do so'. 'The net effect of those two factors will be to increase the demand for housing,' he said.
 'The likely result is that it will, along with other things that governments are doing, put further upward pressure on the prices of property.' Mr Eslake said the change meant some people would be able to enter the housing market more quickly than otherwise but 'it would come at the expense of others'. 'The primary beneficiaries of this change will be those who will already own property will be able to sell it to people at higher prices than otherwise,' he said. 'That's consistent with the 60 years of evidence that we have, going back to the first homeowners grant scheme introduced by the Menzies government in 1964 that tells us that anything that allows Australians to pay more for housing than they'd be able to otherwise results in more expensive housing and a smaller proportion of the population owning it.' Mr Eslake added it was 'obvious' the money saved on HELP debt cuts would now be going towards a more expensive house. 'The reason that governments keep doing these things despite the evidence and despite all of the crocodile tears they routinely share about the difficulties faced by would-be first-home buyers is because they know that there actually aren't very many of them,' Mr Eslake said. 
 'On average, 110,000 a year, whereas there are 11 million people who own their own home. There are 2¼ million who own at least one investment property. That's an awfully much bigger number of votes for policies that keep house prices going up than there are for policies that might restrain the rate at which house prices keep going up.' Mr Eslake said the reason the housing crisis continued to worsen was 'because a majority of the population do not want it to be solved and politicians know that'. 
 'Until enough people my age, either out of an altruistic concern for the ability of their children and grandchildren to be able to do what they did, or perhaps more likely out of being pissed off at having to be the bank of mum and dad, until enough of them really want that to change, it isn't going to change.'
Bloomberg
9 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
APAC Economic Update: Global Macro, Tariffs & Strategic Tools
As global markets continue to navigate uncertainty driven by shifting tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and diverging central bank paths, understanding the macroeconomic landscape has never been more critical. That's why, throughout July, Bloomberg is hosting a range of events focused on clarifying the global and regional macro landscape—and we're thrilled to invite you to the flagship webinar. Join our top economic minds and product experts as they break down the key themes shaping the outlook across the U.S., China, and Japan—from trade policy and election cycles to monetary divergence and regional spillovers—all grounded in Bloomberg's data-rich economic research. This session will be conducted in English with AI subtitle support in various languages, including Simplified Chinese and Japanese. Reserve your place now. Speakers Chang Shu Chief Asia Economist Bloomberg Chang Shu is Bloomberg's Chief Asia Economist, based in Hong Kong. She leads a team to research into China, Japan, Australia and other major economies in the Asia-Pacific. She previously worked as a senior economist at the Bank for International Settlements and Hong Kong Monetary Authority. In those capacities, she researched widely into the global and Chinese economies. She was also closely involved into policy work including renminbi internationalisation. Prior to these, she also worked at the Bank of England. She is also a director at the Chinese Financial Association of Hong Kong. She edited Currency Internationalisation: Global Experiences and Implications for the Renminbi' and 'Cross-border Financial Linkages in Asia and the Pacific: Implications for Systemic Risks'. She has written extensively on the Chinese economy, renminbi internationalization and financial spillovers from China. She holds a PhD degree in Finance from the Birmingham University, UK. Hyosung kwon Economist, Korea Bloomberg Hyosung is the Korea Economist for Bloomberg Economics. He is responsible for macroeconomic forecasting and researching various economic sectors including monetary and fiscal policy, foreign exchange, property markets, and geo-economic developments. With a 20-year tenure at the Bank of Korea as s senior economist, he formerly headed the Monetary Policy Analysis team. He played a key role in formulating monetary policy strategies, economic forecasts, and building macroeconomic models at the Bank. He holds a PhD in economics from Boston University.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Crocodile tears': Warning over key change
It's now easier for Australians to buy a home, but a key change to credit limits could push up the price of housing, a leading economist warns. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) announced on Thursday that Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debts would be excluded from the credit limit for prospective homebuyers from September 30. Independent economist Saul Eslake told NewsWire that the change's two most obvious effects would be to 'allow some people who'd buy a home anyway to buy a more expensive one and (to) allow some people who wouldn't have been able to buy a home because of their student debt' to do so'. 'The net effect of those two factors will be to increase the demand for housing,' he said. 'The likely result is that it will, along with other things that governments are doing, put further upward pressure on the prices of property.' Mr Eslake said the change meant some people would be able to enter the housing market more quickly than otherwise but 'it would come at the expense of others'. 'The primary beneficiaries of this change will be those who will already own property will be able to sell it to people at higher prices than otherwise,' he said. 'That's consistent with the 60 years of evidence that we have, going back to the first homeowners grant scheme introduced by the Menzies government in 1964 that tells us that anything that allows Australians to pay more for housing than they'd be able to otherwise results in more expensive housing and a smaller proportion of the population owning it.' Mr Eslake added it was 'obvious' the money saved on HELP debt cuts would now be going towards a more expensive house. 'The reason that governments keep doing these things despite the evidence and despite all of the crocodile tears they routinely share about the difficulties faced by would-be first-home buyers is because they know that there actually aren't very many of them,' Mr Eslake said. 'On average, 110,000 a year, whereas there are 11 million people who own their own home. There are 2¼ million who own at least one investment property. That's an awfully much bigger number of votes for policies that keep house prices going up than there are for policies that might restrain the rate at which house prices keep going up.' Mr Eslake said the reason the housing crisis continued to worsen was 'because a majority of the population do not want it to be solved and politicians know that'. 'Until enough people my age, either out of an altruistic concern for the ability of their children and grandchildren to be able to do what they did, or perhaps more likely out of being pissed off at having to be the bank of mum and dad, until enough of them really want that to change, it isn't going to change.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
