ANZAC Day Australia's temporary visas hit a new record high in March of 2.83 million. Nothing more to add today. --- Lest we forget, today is ANZAC Day ..read more

Collier Homes collapses Another major builder collapsed in Australia today. This time it was Collier Homes, a 60-year old business founded in the 1950s, and another huge scalp for this increasingly devasting market cycle for the sector.  That's now 2,349 construction and development firms that have collapsed over the past year - some of which were to be expected, of course, especially after the effective moratorium on insolvencies through the pandemic period - but this one was a shock to the sector, being such a large and generally well-managed industry player.  In other economic ..read more

2GB Money News I joined Scott Hayward (from 4:30) on tonight's Money News to discuss Lambie and Pocock's proposed property tax reforms and more. Tune in here from (4:30) or click on the image below: --- P.S. Whenever you’re ready…here are 5 ways I can help you manage your own money and go next level wealth: Boom or Bust – 20 minute online workshop for investors Register for my next free online training - Boom or Bust? How to change your investment plan - book in here You also download a free copy of my e-book The Only 6 Ways to Become Wealthy here.    &nb ..read more

Labour supply mushrooms Overall, the jobs market in Australia has held up pretty well...to date. However, the chronic labour shortages experienced in 2021 and 2022 are now passing as the economy slows and as immigration continues at record highs. According to Australia's population clock, the estimated resident population on the country has blazed through 27.2 million. Recall that we only went through the estimated 27 million a few months ago, with the population growing by one extra person every 46 seconds, or 1,878 per day. Source: ABS Extrapolating that out points to population grow ..read more

New book & podcast Catherine adds a few insights into our new book and podcast project here (or click on the image below ..read more

2-Sense podcast This week on the pod, Batesy and I talked about the latest US data which is spooking the horses a bit, how higher interest rates have impacted Aussie borrowers far more so than in most countries, and wealth property investors returning to the city. Tune in here (or click on the image below): You can also watch the video version here:  --- P.S. Whenever you’re ready…here are 5 ways I can help you manage your own money and go next level wealth: Boom or Bust – 20 minute online workshop for investors Register for my next free online training - Boom or Bust? How ..read more

Cranewatch Some cracking analysis from RLB in its brilliant crane index for the March quarter of 2024. 869 cranes were on sites nationally, not too far off the previous record high for Australia of 882.  Source: RLB The number of residential market cranes fell by 13 over the March quarter, but there have been some offsetting increases, largely due to Amazon's new fulfilment centre construction in Melbourne's Craigieburn The facility will be Australia's largest at more than 200,000 square metres in size across four levels, and will house more than 25 million of Amazon's sales items ..read more

Labour market easing Everyone was watching closely to see if last month's unemployment rate 'shock' to the downside was an anomaly. In March, the unemployment rate did increase, but only fairly moderately in the end from 3.71 per cent to 3.84 per cent, on a seasonally adjusted basis.  Employment fell modestly over the month, down by -6,600, but the total number of employed persons held close to a record high, at above 14¼ million.  The number of unemployed persons, seasonally adjusted, increased by +20,600, to a still modest 569,900. Overall, the lower participation r ..read more

Higher for longer Canada's inflation rate edged up from 2.8 per cent to 2.9 per cent in March. New Zealand saw some ongoing progress, with the inflation rate falling from 4.7 per cent to 4 per cent over the course of the March quarter, though core inflation was a little stickier than hoped for. The UK's inflation rate fell from 3.4 per cent to 3.2 per cent, which was also a little higher than expected, though it was at least a 2½ year low.  You could certainly make the argument that over approximately the past 6 months New Zealand and Canada have seen inflation rates running at ..read more

ausbiz TV I joined Juliette Saly at ausbiz TV to discuss the latest property market themes here (or click on the image below ..read more