Tuesday, 2 April 2024

Inflation hits 2-year low at 3.8pc

Inflation flat over recent months

Melbourne Institute's inflation gauge has recorded headline inflation of -0.1 per cent for February, and +0.1 per cent for March...basically flat over two months.

The core inflation reading hasn't yet made it back down the desired levels, but over the year headline inflation declined to the lowest level in 23 months at 3.8 per cent (from 4 per cent in the preceding month).

CommSec with the graphics:

Job advertisements also fell -1 per cent last month to be down -10.6 per cent from a year earlier, according to ANZ-Indeed. 

CommSec with the graphics once again:


Job ads are thus above pre-pandemic levels, but not actually by all that much now when you consider the growth in the Aussie population and the labour force over that time (and the economy wasn't in all that good a shape in early 2020 in any case).  

This is all in keeping with the generally softening trend in the economy observed by the Reserve Bank of Australia, and the latest monthly Board Minutes reflected a generally less hawkish tone.

Gareth Aird of CBA sees the first interest rate cut occurring in September 2024, with 75 basis points of cuts penciled in accordingly for the 2024 calendar year. 

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SQM Research recorded a rise in total property listings in March, driven by Sydney and Melbourne.

Overall, total listings at about 250,000 remain pretty tight, and certainly well down on the 375,000 or so we saw in 2012, at a time when the population was still a good deal smaller. 


Source: SQM Research

Brisbane and especially Perth remain tight markets. 

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