Australia’s Central Bank Remains Jittery About Inflation Risks, Global Uncertainty
Kanebridge News
    HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $1,764,302 (+0.48%)       Melbourne $1,066,697 (+0.05%)       Brisbane $1,181,591 (+0.51%)       Adelaide $987,749 (-0.14%)       Perth $1,041,108 (-0.48%)       Hobart $802,593 (+0.38%)       Darwin $826,337 (-2.56%)       Canberra $1,001,004 (+0.17%)       National $1,157,291 (+0.14%)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING PRICES AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $793,689 (-0.41%)       Melbourne $524,006 (-0.53%)       Brisbane $754,229 (-3.72%)       Adelaide $563,099 (-0.55%)       Perth $593,974 (+3.43%)       Hobart $554,111 (+2.35%)       Darwin $460,457 (-0.56%)       Canberra $482,673 (+0.62%)       National $612,602 (-0.54%)                HOUSES FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 12,286 (+165)       Melbourne 14,524 (+136)       Brisbane 7,377 (+39)       Adelaide 2,517 (+59)       Perth 5,494 (+86)       Hobart 863 (+3)       Darwin 134 (-5)       Canberra 1,200 (+68)       National 44,395 (+551)                UNITS FOR SALE AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 9,355 (+30)       Melbourne 7,113 (+60)       Brisbane 1,331 (-14)       Adelaide 391 (+7)       Perth 1,174 (+23)       Hobart 175 (+2)       Darwin 228 (-13)       Canberra 1,190 (+19)       National 20,957 (+114)                HOUSE MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $800 ($0)       Melbourne $580 ($0)       Brisbane $670 ($0)       Adelaide $630 (+$5)       Perth $700 ($0)       Hobart $598 (+$3)       Darwin $750 (-$30)       Canberra $700 ($0)       National $686 (-$4)                UNIT MEDIAN ASKING RENTS AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney $750 ($0)       Melbourne $590 ($0)       Brisbane $650 ($0)       Adelaide $540 ($0)       Perth $650 ($0)       Hobart $475 (+$15)       Darwin $600 ($0)       Canberra $580 ($0)       National $614 (+$1)                HOUSES FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 5,345 (-110)       Melbourne 7,556 (-112)       Brisbane 4,070 (+34)       Adelaide 1,534 (-9)       Perth 2,414 (-24)       Hobart 164 (-13)       Darwin 86 (+5)       Canberra 433 (+3)       National 21,602 (-226)                UNITS FOR RENT AND WEEKLY CHANGE     Sydney 7,762 (-17)       Melbourne 6,081 (+25)       Brisbane 2,126 (+27)       Adelaide 431 (+3)       Perth 667 (-79)       Hobart 84 (+4)       Darwin 186 (+14)       Canberra 643 (-7)       National 17,980 (-30)                HOUSE ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND         Sydney 2.36% (↓)       Melbourne 2.83% (↓)       Brisbane 2.95% (↓)     Adelaide 3.32% (↑)      Perth 3.50% (↑)      Hobart 3.87% (↑)        Darwin 4.72% (↓)       Canberra 3.64% (↓)       National 3.08% (↓)            UNIT ANNUAL GROSS YIELDS AND TREND       Sydney 4.91% (↑)      Melbourne 5.85% (↑)      Brisbane 4.48% (↑)      Adelaide 4.99% (↑)        Perth 5.69% (↓)     Hobart 4.46% (↑)      Darwin 6.78% (↑)        Canberra 6.25% (↓)     National 5.21% (↑)             HOUSE RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND         Sydney 1.2% (↓)       Melbourne 1.4% (↓)     Brisbane 1.0% (↑)      Adelaide 1.1% (↑)      Perth 1.0% (↑)        Hobart 0.4% (↓)       Darwin 0.6% (↓)       Canberra 1.4% (↓)     National 1.0% (↑)             UNIT RENTAL VACANCY RATES AND TREND       Sydney 1.3% (↑)      Melbourne 2.3% (↑)        Brisbane 1.2% (↓)       Adelaide 0.9% (↓)       Perth 1.0% (↓)       Hobart 1.2% (↓)     Darwin 1.1% (↑)      Canberra 2.6% (↑)        National 1.4% (↓)            AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL HOUSES AND TREND       Sydney 28.0 (↑)      Melbourne 27.9 (↑)        Brisbane 28.3 (↓)       Adelaide 25.4 (↓)     Perth 32.9 (↑)      Hobart 26.1 (↑)      Darwin 32.1 (↑)        Canberra 27.1 (↓)     National 28.5 (↑)             AVERAGE DAYS TO SELL UNITS AND TREND       Sydney 28.1 (↑)      Melbourne 28.2 (↑)        Brisbane 24.5 (↓)     Adelaide 24.4 (↑)        Perth 36.8 (↓)       Hobart 26.9 (↓)       Darwin 34.3 (↓)     Canberra 38.2 (↑)        National 30.2 (↓)           
Share Button

Australia’s Central Bank Remains Jittery About Inflation Risks, Global Uncertainty

Minutes suggested the central bank is in no rush to cut the official cash rate

By JAMES GLYNN
Wed, Nov 20, 2024 8:15amGrey Clock 2 min

SYDNEY—The Reserve Bank of Australia remains jittery about the risks of higher inflation and will have little tolerance for any data that point to further delays in taming price pressures, according to the minutes of its latest policy meeting.

“Given the already lengthy period in which inflation had been above (2% to 3%) target, the board will have minimal tolerance to accommodate a more prolonged period of high inflation, even if this occurred because of factors that constrained the economy’s supply capacity,” minutes of the meeting held on Nov. 4-5 said.

The RBA left the official cash rate at 4.35% at the meeting, completing a full year since policy settings were last changed.

Economists remain confident that the RBA will start to cut interest rates in the first half of next year, but money markets are far less optimistic, with recent swap market pricing suggesting the RBA could be delayed until August.

To be sure, the minutes suggested the RBA is in no rush to cut the OCR, given numerous warnings about stubborn inflation pressures and a comment that the board will need to see more than one good quarterly inflation outcome to be confident that a fall in inflation was sustainable.

Inflation remained above the target band in the third quarter, with policymakers concerned that core inflation readings remain stubbornly high, while price pressures in the services sector of the economy remain sticky.

“Members observed that underlying inflation…remained too high and that staff forecasts did not see inflation returning to target until 2026,” the minutes said.

The RBA said it isn’t ruling anything in or out in terms of policy decisions, implying that under the right conditions, an interest rate increase might still be needed.

The minutes showed the policy-setting board explored several scenarios that might see it raise or lower the OCR.

The RBA was among the last of the major central banks to start raising interest rates following the global spike in inflation at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, while also not tightening as far as its peers over ensuing years.

​Global events might yet determine the outlook for interest rates. The minutes cited a number of growing international risks including uncertainty about the policy direction of the Trump White House, the size and composition of stimulus to support China’s economy, and the potential for unsustainable growth in global government debt.

“It was not yet possible to factor in events such as these, given pertinent details were unknown and still largely unpredictable,” the minutes said.



MOST POPULAR

Records keep falling in 2025 as harbourfront, beachfront and blue-chip estates crowd the top of the market.

A divide has opened in the tech job market between those with artificial-intelligence skills and everyone else.

Related Stories
Money
More Big Companies Bet They Can Still Grow Without Hiring
By CHIP CUTTER 27/10/2025
Money
Dow Industrials Hit Record, Boosted by Strong Earnings
By JACK PITCHER 22/10/2025
Money
Gold Could Hit $5,000, Strategist Says. Why Others Are Worried About a Crash.
By MARTIN BACCARDAX 14/10/2025
More Big Companies Bet They Can Still Grow Without Hiring

JPMorgan Chase has a ‘strong bias’ against adding staff, while Walmart is keeping its head count flat. Major employers are in a new, ultra lean era.

By CHIP CUTTER
Mon, Oct 27, 2025 3 min

It’s the corporate gamble of the moment: Can you run a company, increasing sales and juicing profits, without adding people?

American employers are increasingly making the calculation that they can keep the size of their teams flat—or shrink through layoffs—without harming their businesses.

Part of that thinking is the belief that artificial intelligence will be used to pick up some of the slack and automate more processes. Companies are also hesitant to make any moves in an economy many still describe as uncertain.

JPMorgan Chase’s chief financial officer told investors recently that the bank now has a “very strong bias against having the reflective response” to hire more people for any given need. Aerospace and defense company RTX boasted last week that its sales rose even without adding employees.

Goldman Sachs , meanwhile, sent a memo to staffers this month saying the firm “will constrain head count growth through the end of the year” and reduce roles that could be more efficient with AI. Walmart , the nation’s largest private employer, also said it plans to keep its head count roughly flat over the next three years, even as its sales grow.

“If people are getting more productive, you don’t need to hire more people,” Brian Chesky , Airbnb’s chief executive, said in an interview. “I see a lot of companies pre-emptively holding the line, forecasting and hoping that they can have smaller workforces.”

Airbnb employs around 7,000 people, and Chesky says he doesn’t expect that number to grow much over the next year. With the help of AI, he said he hopes that “the team we already have can get considerably more work done.”

Many companies seem intent on embracing a new, ultralean model of staffing, one where more roles are kept unfilled and hiring is treated as a last resort. At Intuit , every time a job comes open, managers are pushed to justify why they need to backfill it, said Sandeep Aujla , the company’s chief financial officer. The new rigor around hiring helps combat corporate bloat.

“That typical behavior that settles in—and we’re all guilty of it—is, historically, if someone leaves, if Jane Doe leaves, I’ve got to backfill Jane,” Aujla said in an interview. Now, when someone quits, the company asks: “Is there an opportunity for us to rethink how we staff?”

Intuit has chosen not to replace certain roles in its finance, legal and customer-support functions, he said. In its last fiscal year, the company’s revenue rose 16% even as its head count stayed flat, and it is planning only modest hiring in the current year.

The desire to avoid hiring or filling jobs reflects a growing push among executives to see a return on their AI spending. On earnings calls, mentions of ROI and AI investments are increasing, according to an analysis by AlphaSense, reflecting heightened interest from analysts and investors that companies make good on the millions they are pouring into AI.

Many executives hope that software coding assistants and armies of digital agents will keep improving—even if the current results still at times leave something to be desired.

The widespread caution in hiring now is frustrating job seekers and leading many employees within organizations to feel stuck in place, unable to ascend or take on new roles, workers and bosses say.

Inside many large companies, HR chiefs also say it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict just how many employees will be needed as technology takes on more of the work.

Some employers seem to think that fewer employees will actually improve operations.

Meta Platforms this past week said it is cutting 600 jobs in its AI division, a move some leaders hailed as a way to cut down on bureaucracy.

“By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact,” Alexandr Wang , Meta’s chief AI officer, wrote in a memo to staff seen by The Wall Street Journal.

Though layoffs haven’t been widespread through the economy, some companies are making cuts. Target on Thursday said it would cut about 1,000 corporate employees, and close another 800 open positions, totaling around 8% of its corporate workforce. Michael Fiddelke , Target’s incoming CEO, said in a memo sent to staff that too “many layers and overlapping work have slowed decisions, making it harder to bring ideas to life.”

A range of other employers, from the electric-truck maker Rivian to cable and broadband provider Charter Communications , have announced their own staff cuts in recent weeks, too.

Operating with fewer people can still pose risks for companies by straining existing staffers or hurting efforts to develop future leaders, executives and economists say. “It’s a bit of a double-edged sword,” said Matthew Martin , senior U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “You want to keep your head count costs down now—but you also have to have an eye on the future.”

MOST POPULAR

In the remote waters of Indonesia’s Anambas Islands, Bawah Reserve is redefining what it means to blend barefoot luxury with environmental stewardship.

From Italy’s $93,000-a-night villas to a $20,000 Bowral château, a new global ranking showcases the priciest Airbnbs available in 2026.

Related Stories
Lifestyle
RIEDEL’s Cobra Magnum Decanter Leads Striking New Glassware Line-Up
By Staff Writer 10/09/2025
Property
HERITAGE WAREHOUSES REBORN AS SYDNEY WORKSPACES UNDER THE HARBOUR BRIDGE
By Jeni O'Dowd 21/08/2025
Property
SPRING PROPERTY MARKET TIPPED FOR HOTTEST RUN IN YEARS
By Jeni O'Dowd 02/10/2025
0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop