Posted on Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013 in by Matt Garmony
The Reserve Bank of Australia Board met yesterday and decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 2.5% on the basis that inflation in most countries remain well contained and that commodity prices have declined from their peaks but generally remain at high levels by historical standards. RBA Governor Glenn Stevens stated “changes in the outlook for US monetary policy have increased volatility in the financial markets, but long term interest rates remain very low and there is ample funding available for credit worthy borrowers.” He also stated that “global growth is running at a bit below average this year, with reasonable prospects of a pick up next year” which is similar to the quote of his August 2013 media release.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported on the 12th of September 2013 that Australia’s unemployment rate increased to 5.8% in August 2013 an increase of 0.1% for the month. Other announcements including Telstra advising on the 25th September 2013 they are to slash 1,100 jobs as a part of a major operational restructure may see the unemployment rate edge higher based on the September figures. The RBA went on further to quote “there has been an improvement in indicators of household and business sentiment recently” which could be reflected in reports at major department store chain David Jones advising sales have picked up since the federal election last month which supports an improvement to consumer sentiment.
Data released by Landgate on the 3rd September 2013 indicated that the Perth median house price reached $530,000 in May 2013 decreasing $10,000 from its March 2013 peak of $540,000. The number of transactions per month also declined from 2,395 dwellings in March 2013 down to 2,115 dwellings for the May period.
The valuers at Garmony Property Consultants are of the opinion Perth residential property market is showing signs of slowing in the past 1 to 2 months with real estate agents reporting less enquiries and properties taking longer to sell. Figures released in the next couple of months may show signs of a slight increase in activity due to the state government’s changes to the first home buyers grant however we are of the opinion that the market will remain relatively subdued going forward in the short term.