Sawn softwood imports fell sharply to 39,093 m3 in April 2019, recording their lowest volume in more than two years and falling more than 25% compared to the prior month. Meanwhile, the averag…

Coming in at 255,488 m3 in May, sawn softwood sales were almost 13% higher than in April, recording their strongest sales in eight months. Despite the apparent turn around in sales, over the ye…

The number of Australians caught in the multiple job vortex moderated in the March quarter, with the growth in those operating in the gig world slowing quite sharply. The concern however is th…

Unemployment ticked up in April 2019, moving to 5.2%, with Underemployment shifting to 8.6%. The latest data came just as the RBA’s leadership commenced a discussion about a new ‘natural’ fu…

We might think the main economic news in Australia right now is interest rates and the new historic low Cash Rate of 1.25%. It is big news of course, but the really significant issue is why it has o…

Australia is in the midst of a multi-faceted economic malaise that has resulted in the main economic indicators looking sickly, at best. At the headline level, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) i…

By any measure, Australian housing loans have been hit pretty hard over the last eighteen months. Yet, for the last few months, there have been welcome signs of improvement, with each of the la…

Australia’s residential dwelling approvals fell 15.3% over the year ended April 2019, totalling 194,643 separate dwellings. The fall is large and consistent with earlier months, but it do…