Australia’s housing market is an unmitigated disaster on almost every metric.

The news first.

New Zealand experienced one of the biggest house price booms in the world during the pandemic.

Last year, I claimed that the Australian Treasury’s modelling of Labor’s 5% deposit scheme for first home buyers demonstrated that the Treasury had become the federal government’s propaganda arm.

The Great Chinese Depression is in full swing.

The ferrous jaws have to close.

No matter how hard you try.

For as long as I can remember, the date of Australia Day has been a source of controversy, with ‘Invasion Day’ protests taking place year after year.

In 2024, the NSW Productivity and Equality Commission warned that high housing costs were causing a “brain drain” among 30- to 40-year-olds in Sydney.

Gunnamatta.Molva · Deep T Australia Day 2026 final   Ahead of the Australia Day long weekend Deep T spoke about Australian demand and interest rate dynamics, and the relationship of global events to domestic policymaking concerns.

While December itself was weak, the 12 months ending on 31 December were a good year for international stocks.

International Reading: EU Freezes U.S.

Asian share markets pivoted around inflation prints and other macro news as the chaos from Davos dies down although the TACO trade remains in play.

The latest data from Stats NZ reveals that immigration into New Zealand remains historically low, with only 10,691 net migrants landing in the year to November 2025: This level of net overseas migration is well below the decade average of 49,000 and is a fraction of the circa 130,000 peak migration recorded in 2023.

That gold has not come off post-Greenland tells us it is now in the blowoff phase.

This is my fourteenth year of working from home.

Westpac is unmoved by the good jobs report.

China’s population fell for the fourth straight year in 2025, dropping by about 3 million people, as the country recorded its lowest birthrate since 1949.

With the release of the most recent Newspoll revealing that support for the Coalition on primary vote has fallen behind One Nation and to its lowest level on record (i.e., 22% for One Nation vs 21% for the LNP), it’s worth exploring what demographics are shifting their vote behind Pauline Hanson.

I noted yesterday that Australia’s East Coast is currently enjoying a flush of wholesale energy price relief, as a cool summer delivers cheaper, less frequently used gas-fired power to set the price for power.

I reported earlier in the week on the massive rise in bridging visas, which has been driven by former international students.

The ferrous jaws remain far too wide.

Via Judo Bank. Flash Australia Composite PMI Output Index: 55.5  (Dec: 51.0) Flash Australia Services PMI Business Activity Index: 56.0 (Dec: 51.1) Flash Australia Manufacturing PMI: 52.4 (Dec: 51.6) To cope with rising workloads, Australian firms hired additional staff at the start of the new year.