Morning Briefing: No housing bubble, says Aussie John

Australia's wider property market is not at any real risk of a widespread housing bubble, says one of the mortgage industry’s biggest names... New Zealand’s central bank chief out-boxed on Kiwi in clash of heavyweights...

No housing bubble, says Aussie John
Australia’s apartment sector may soon hit a bumpy period, but the wider property market is not at any real risk of a widespread housing bubble, according to one of the mortgage industry’s biggest names.

According to a report in The Australian, Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond believes the Australian property market is relatively healthy, outside of concerns around off-the-plan apartments.

“I don’t believe there’s a housing bubble risk at all. I’ve been saying that for 10 years since the GFC,” Symond told The Australian.

“I think there’s going to be a temporary concern of oversupply of apartments in certain regions only,” he said.

Symond’s concerns echo recent warnings raised by the Reserve Bank of Australia about the health of the apartment market.
(Your Investment Property)

New Zealand’s central bank chief out-boxed on Kiwi in clash of heavyweights
(Bloomberg) -- Graeme Wheeler could be forgiven for throwing in the towel when it comes to weakening the kiwi dollar.

New Zealand’s central bank chief faced the galling sight Thursday of the currency surging 1 percent to a one-year high immediately after he cut his benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to 2 percent, a fresh record low. The market had wanted more than Wheeler was prepared to give -- either a half-point rate reduction or a signal of much deeper cuts ahead. To some, it looked like a boxing match with a clear loser.

“Is that all you’ve got?” said Ray Attrill, co-head of foreign exchange strategy at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Sydney, echoing Muhammad Ali’s famous quip to George Foreman. “Graeme Wheeler’s latest attempt to knock out the New Zealand dollar has just been met with a similar response from his opponent: the mighty global foreign exchange market.”

Wheeler has the unenviable task of trying to boost inflation back into his 1-3 percent target band amid a global environment of disinflation and record central bank stimulus. To do that he needs more price pressures from imports, which requires a weaker exchange rate. It’s not easy when you’re a small central bank at the bottom of the world with a growing economy, record immigration and a housing boom.