See the world through the eyes of an economist.
Rents topping out?
Corelogic data on rents showed that rental prices might finally be starting to top out. Rents grew just 0.1% in July, the lowest rate of growth since the pandemic.
Year on year, the annual growth rate is coming down from its insane highs, but still remains elevated.
Perth remains the hottest rental market in the country, while Melbourne is softening fastest.
Changing the way we live
The explosion in rental costs post Covid is changing the way we live. There has been a big pick up in the share of people living in sharehouses, though we are returning to pre-Covid averages.
This seems to have come at the expense of households with a couple and no kids. That doesn’t bode well for the birth rate going forward.
The share of the population living alone is back at it’s pre-Covid record.
How young people spend their time:
Finally, data from America suggests that young people are spending a lot less time socialising and a lot more time on games and social media. It’s hard to imagine anything good coming of this.
And that’s how the world looked through the eyes of an economist this week.
DB.