It is Monday the 6th of October 2025. The Australian housing market is gathering a head of steam, with three rate cuts this year pushing prices higher and experts tipping more appreciation in coming months. Melbourne is one of the strongest capital cities, demonstrated once again over the past week with a preliminary auction clearance rate of 72 per cent. While prices in the southern capital are lagging somewhat – up just two per cent over the past year, and one per cent over the past quarter - the improvement in auction results and the fact that the median house price is now below Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra augurs well for the southern capital. Darwin, Perth and Brisbane are the fastest growing capital cities, in terms of price
Bitcoin has hit an all-time high, with fears around the US government shutdown not stopping price appreciation of riskier asset classes.Over the weekend, the cryptocurrency hit $US125,689, topping its previous record set on 14 August, helped along by higher US equities and strong flows into Bitcoin-linked exchange-traded funds. It is up 30 per cent this year.
The country’s biggest banks and retailers have reached a deal with Armaguard, the monopoly cash transportation business, to ensure Australians can continue to access cash.
The cost of the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project will push beyond the already-revised $12 billion, with no new figure given for the country’s flagship renewable energy project, which is intended to help keep the lights on as coal power stations close.
Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’ private company has voted against AGL Energy’s latest climate plan, as the group’s biggest shareholders grow frustrated over the pace of action to cut emissions.
Ford’s chief executive has warned of a bleak outlook for electric vehicles as President Donald Trump’s policies breathe new life into gas-powered vehicles. The elimination of a $US7,500 consumer tax credit and softening of emissions rules will sharply curtail EV demand in the US, Ford CEO Jim Farley said. He predicted the share of zero-emission vehicles — currently around 10 per cent of the domestic market — could fall by half.
Fear-o-meter
Can house prices keep rising? After nine months of increases in Cotality’s House Value Index, surely the enthusiasm is running low.
Not really. Many factors dominating the market are on the demand side, pushing prices higher. The answer to keeping a lid on the increases is a supply-side issue – there aren’t enough houses.
AMP’s chief economist Shane Oliver expects a seven per cent growth rate in house prices this year and 8-10 per cent next year. There are a bunch of factors behind that.
Interest rates could still fall a bit more. Dr Oliver says that roughly speaking, each 0.25 per cent cut in variable mortgage rates adds around $11,000 to how much a buyer on average earnings can borrow.
Real wages are continuing to rise, consumer sentiment has picked up, the property shortage remains, and Government support for first home buyers ramps up again from this month.
Also, the government’s expanded low deposit guarantee allows most first home buyers to get in with a 5 per cent deposit from this month. That will add to near-term upwards pressure on prices.
Add in the imminent arrival of the government’s Help to Buy Scheme with 10,000 places a year, which will see the Government take a 30 to 40 per cent equity stake, and there’s plenty of demand for homes.
The flip side is that the upswing will be constrained because interest rates are likely to remain well above their record lows of 2021. There is also poor affordability. The ratio of home prices to wages and incomes is around a record level.
Overall, the demand pressures suggest house prices will continue to rise.
Fear & Greed Q+A today
On the RBA indicating that the worst of the cost of living is probably behind us.
"It's probably not going to get worse in the sense that we're not having inflation rising above wages... In fact, it's definitely getting better. And you put that together with the tax cuts, the interest rate cuts that we've already had so far and the sort of discretion or the dollars sitting in people's pockets are probably going up just that little bit. In other words, it's going to feel a little easier for consumers on average over the next 12 months compared to the past 12 months."
