Statistics New Zealand’s latest migration data showed that only 13,066 net overseas migrants landed in the country in the year to July 2025.

I have just returned from a rock-n-roll thunder tour of the world that took in Tokyo, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome.

With the release of the latest data from Statistics Canada, it was revealed that Canada’s fertility rate had fallen to just 1.25 children per woman.

The Market Ear on the bubble.

In this week’s podcast, we are taking a look at the crushing weight of Australia’s housing market—why affordability is being flattened under rising prices, what’s driving the squeeze, and what comes next for buyers, renters, and investors.

A national interest policy process is one in which a well-informed government determines its policy settings via a specialist area of the bureaucracy.

A new report from Oxfam claims that the capital gains tax (CGT) discount and negative gearing are “disproportionately” benefiting Australia’s wealthiest, fuelling the housing affordability crisis and inequality, and harming the federal budget.

It appears that the government-funded jobs printer of the Albo era is slowing faster than the crushed private sector economy of the Albo era can catch up.

This week’s consumer sentiment survey from Westpac revealed that Australian house price expectations are at their highest level in 15 years, following a 2.1% rise in October. Westpac also noted that “expectations are stronger still in Queensland (184)”.

In last week’s monetary policy decision, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided to keep the official cash rate on hold, citing resurgent inflation risks.

The ferrous complex remains paralysed by too much versus too much hope.

What we are seeing in many markets today is exactly what I expected to see when I made my 40 cents AUD call a few years ago.

The NSW government has been criticised for blocking Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for access to taxpayer-funded reports on the likely impact of closing down coal-fired power stations on electricity prices.

New Zealand’s economy is in a deep hole.

One of the often repeated tropes of social media discourse or backyard BBQ political debates is the idea that the election victories that Labor has won in Victoria and federally are indicative of the public holding a high level of support for their leadership.

There is a commonly held economic narrative that Indian demand for commodities will compensate for the reduction in Chinese demand as China’s economy slows and rebalances toward a consumer-focused model.

In a speech to the National Press Club, BlueScope CEO Mark Vassella warned that Australia risks following the UK’s industrial decline if the federal government fails to fix the gas market.

The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) has consistently flagged high loan-to-valuation ratio (LVR) mortgage lending as a risk area. For example, in December 2014, the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) released guidance stating that “ADIs should not undertake large volumes of, or increase their share of, higher-risk lending.

In the popular imagination, Australia is often viewed as a sophisticated 21st-century economy, comparable to any number of advanced developed economies.

From the Market Ear: Losing momentum?

Former Prime Minister and architect of the Snowy Hydro 2.0 pumped hydro scheme, Malcolm Turnbull, has hit back at critics following a 900% blowout in the mega project’s costs.

Cotality’s daily dwelling values index shows that capital city value growth is tracking at around the fastest pace in two years.