Are we heading into dangerous territory? What the RBA minutes reveal - PROPERTY INSIDERS

The Reserve Bank's board meeting minutes for July paint a much more gloomy picture of the economy than the one governor Philip Lowe paints in public.

The RBA has left the door open to even more interest rate cuts due to their ongoing concern about the state of the jobs market and the lack of wages growth.

So what does this mean for our economy, for our property markets and for your pay packet?

The RBA board members agreed jobs growth needed further acceleration when they cut the cash rate to a record low to 1% at the beginning of July, but the  minutes from the central bank’s latest board meeting confirmed that further rate reductions are on the table.

In fact the money markets are pricing in a 78% chance of another 0.25% rate cut in November.

Some of the topics we discuss:

What is going on with our economy

The RBA minutes seem to contradict the positive spin RBA governor Phillip Lowe put on things when he recently met with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and said:

"I agree 100 per cent with you that the Australian economy is growing and the fundamentals are strong."

The Reserve Bank seems to have set itself some ambitious goals when it indicated that it wanted our unemployment rate to drop to 4.5 per cent, which they argued would mean full employment.

At that level the RBA believe excess capacity in the labour market would be soaked up, wages would start to rising and in turn this would drive inflation back up into the RBA's target band.

This looks like quite a challenge.

The last time unemployment was that low was late 2008, and inflation has only been in their preferred range of 2-to-3 per cent a couple of times in the past five years.

The big question is - where will all the new jobs come from.

With the construction industry slowing down and retail spending languishing, it will be really hard to create the number of new jobs the RBA is hoping for.

Will this lead to another property boom?

Some commentators are suggesting we’re on the cusp of another property boom with surging house prices.

While lower rates and more jobs will be positive for our property markets, I don't see a property boom ahead.

Sure prices will flatten out over the next few months and then start rising gently, but it is likely property values will only rise 3% to 5% in our 3 big capital cities next year.

Of course our markets will, as always, be fragmented, so some areas will outperform.

However if overall house prices do respond aggressively, this will create a policy dilemma for the RBA which doesn't want this to occur.

What's happening on the jobs front

The continued flood of new job seekers has pushed the participation rate to record highs and meant solid employment growth has made no inroads into the unemployment rate (5.2%) which has actually climbed a little over recent months.

Why we are skeptical that lower rates will decrease the unemployment rate to the range the RBA is looking for.

If the RBA expects growth will only return to trend "over coming years", then it's unclear how the economy will produce enough jobs to push the jobless rate to 4.5 per cent or below, which is where monetary policymakers now reckon it needs to be before we get some meaningful and sustainable wages growth.

Links and Resources:

Dr. Andrew Wilson, chief economist of MyHousingMarket.com.au 

Join us at our annual Property Renovations and Development Workshop in October – click here for more details 

This podcast was originally published as a video here:Are we heading into dangerous territory? What the RBA minutes reveal – PROPERTY INSIDERS VIDEO

 

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