One of Australia’s leading property and finance economists believes we will see “a slow down in interest rate rises” at the end of the year. Ray White Chief Economist Nerida Conisbee has forecast that inflation will peak at the end of 2022 – and that, as a result, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will…
Read more
The Australian Taxation Office has urged businesses that can switch to Single Touch Payroll Phase 2, but haven’t yet done so, to start reporting as soon as possible. STP2 began on 1 January 2022. As of 14 June, there were about 144,000 businesses reporting STP2 information for 1.7 million staff. Some businesses can’t yet switch,…
Read more
The federal government has increased the number of small and medium businesses that can benefit from government spending contracts. Under changes to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, which took effect on July 1, the federal government will allocate at least 20% of its overall contract spend to SMEs, compared to the previous target of 10%. Value…
Read more
Consumers are returning to bricks-and-mortar stores in increasing numbers, suggesting traditional retail continues to have a bright future. Ray White Commercial Head of Research, Vanessa Rader, said Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows ecommerce has never represented more than just a small share of retail sales, and has actually been declining. In the five…
Read more
Australia has its strongest labour market in almost half a century, after the unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in June, the lowest since 1974. That was down from 3.9% the month before and 4.9% the year before. Significantly, the participation rate – the share of adults who either have a job or who are actively…
Read more
Prices are rising fast for many goods and services, so it’s never been more important to economise. With that in mind, here are seven things you can do to save money without seriously affecting your quality of life. New Zealand’s inflation rate has reached 7.3%, the highest level in 32 years, according to the most…
Read more
Property prices may have declined in New Zealand as a whole during the first half of 2022, but some towns and regions actually experienced growth. Two major cities recorded price growth between January and May, along with a collection of smaller communities. Property prices may have declined in New Zealand as a whole during the…
Read more
The government has introduced a new regulatory regime to govern conduct in the financial sector. Under the new regime, the authorities will be able to ban or regulate certain sales incentives. Also, banks will have to maintain effective policies to ensure customers are treated fairly. The government has introduced a new regulatory regime to govern…
Read more
After the property market boomed in 2021 and started cooling in the first half of 2022, it now appears to have stabilised, according to realestate.co.nz. The data is also telling a much more positive story than the doom-and-gloom headlines might suggest. After the property market boomed in 2021 and started cooling in the first half…
Read more
National residential construction costs increased 10.0% over the 12 months to June 2022, according to CoreLogic’s Cordell Construction Cost Index. That’s the highest annual growth rate on record, apart from a 10.2% result in 2001, when the GST was introduced. CoreLogic construction cost estimation manager John Bennett said that as fuel, freight and electricity costs…
Read more
