The Spectre of
Rising Interest Rates

Posted on 08. Feb, 2011 by Chris Lang.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is not seeing the Australian flood disasters as having a prolonged effect upon the national economy.

It certainly expects the March quarter GDP to decline by 0.5%. But it is then projecting a 4.25% surge, over the remainder of this year.

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September Growth Figures
Just a Pothole in the Road

Posted on 08. Dec, 2010 by Chris Lang.

Relax, it hasn't all come to an end. Sure, the Australian economy may have grown by only 0.2% in the September quarter. And retail sales might have actually fallen by 1.1% for October. However, the overwhelming consensus is that this is merely an aberration. And the underlying growth projections remain very favourable — with the [...]

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Most Economists Agree ...

Posted on 24. Nov, 2010 by Chris Lang.

Which, when you think about it, is quite an achievement in itself! About a fortnight ago,Treasurer Wayne Swan was crowing about the Labor government's achievements during his Mid-Year Outlook.

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Are Offices "The Go"?

Posted on 17. Nov, 2010 by Chris Lang.

Just take a look around your capital city CBD. And tell me, how many cranes to currently see on the skyline? In most cities, you could count them on one hand — as there is minimal speculative development occurring right now.

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Why November?

Posted on 05. Nov, 2010 by Chris Lang.

Most people seemed taken by surprise, when the RBA chose to raise the cash rate to 4.75% on Cup Day this week. However, with Oaks Day being held yesterday, I thought today would be better timing for this post. Sure, the September quarter CPI had fallen to within the RBA's target range. And yes, there [...]

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Will They ... or Won't They?

Posted on 26. Oct, 2010 by Chris Lang.

Last month, the RBA left rates on hold — because of what it saw as mixed signals within the Australian economy. And the rising $A is certainly making its job easier, by generally cooling activity. Growth within the Construction industry appears to have fallen to its lowest level in 18 years. Although turnover for mining [...]

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Global Progress?

Posted on 13. Oct, 2010 by Chris Lang.

The IMF has recently trimmed its overall global forecast — down to 4.2% from 4.3%, for 2011. The emerging and developing economies are tipped to grow by 6.4% (with China's growth being over 9%). Whereas, the various advanced economies are expected to grow by a subdued 2.2%, on average. However, any double-dip recession is considered [...]

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When Should You
Fix Your Interest Rate?

Posted on 17. Sep, 2010 by Chris Lang.

On Wednesday, I put up this post about whether or not to fix your interest rate, when purchasing a Commercial property. Only to find there was a problem with streaming of the Video. Hopefully, that's now been resolved; and so let's try Take 2. The simple answer to the question of timing is ... when [...]

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Interest Rates Looking Forward

Posted on 03. Jun, 2010 by Chris Lang.

... and Commercial Property This week's decision by the RBA to leave the cash rate on hold was an easy one — mainly because the major banks had basically helped it out, by increasing their rates earlier by a greater margin. The RBA's view was that the current rate of 4.5% was "appropriate for the [...]

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Distortion Guaranteed?

Posted on 20. May, 2010 by Chris Lang.

While the Rudd government may have moved quickly to provide guarantees for the major Banks during a financial turmoil ... the impact of doing so has been disastrous for borrowers. Right now, these major Banks seem to account for virtually 80% of all owner-occupier loans for property. As such, the margins they are charging have [...]

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Interest Rate Rises ...
Are they a Good Sign?

Posted on 05. May, 2010 by Chris Lang.

The RBA's decision on interest rates yesterday came about because of what's happening here in Australia, rather than in Europe. It has been made against the backdrop of our exporters having recently extracted massive price hikes for iron or in coal, as a result of China's strong growth. Since the global turmoil started in 2008, [...]

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