See the world through the eyes of an economist: mortgage drift, politician property ownership and taxes.
This is what caught my eye this week. First up, the average interest rate that Aussies are paying on their home loan is still rising. This is even though the RBA has stopped hiking rates. It’s because of cheaper fixed loan rates rolling over to more expensive ones. It’s a free kick to the RBA.
And with that, we can see that Australia has experienced one of the most aggressive rate hike programs in the world, second only to Norway.
And interestingly, we are paying the most expensive mortgages in the developed world. Why is that? What happened to our world-class banking sector? It’s not because the 4 majors control almost all of the market is it?
A study of the current class-year of politicians noted that there are many portfolio investors in Canberra. Two-thirds own an investment property, and a third own more than one.
Interestingly, there’s more portfolio investors in the Labor party than the coalition.
Finally, with tax reform is on the agenda, it’s worth noting that household taxes as a share of household income have soared in recent years. Be good to bring this back a bit.
And that’s how the world looks through the eyes of an economist this week.
DB.