RBA Increases the official Interest Rate by .5% to 2.35%
Following its policy meeting on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided to increase the cash rate for the fifth consecutive mont in a bid to bring inflationary pressures, surging at the fastest pace in about 30 years, under control.
Data from Corelogic showed house prices across the country dropped again by 1.6 per cent in August. Sydney experienced the biggest fall with values declining 2.3 per cent.
Residential listings fell 3.5 per cent to 228,295 and new listings – of homes on the market for fewer than 30 days – slipped 1.9 per cent, unusually for August, which typically marked the start of the spring selling season with an increase. Higher borrowing costs were keeping would-be buyers out of the market and making it harder for people to meet mortgage commitments, but there was no sign rising rates were tipping owners into distress and forcing them to sell.“Vendors are not really keen to list in this marketplace. There are no signs of any dramatic uplift in distressed sales.” (SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher).