The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Peter Martin (Age/SMH) on house prices

Peter Martin, the erudite economics correspondent for The Age and The SMH, has published a nice little piece on the September RP Data-Rismark Index results today:
"The national picture shows prices taking a breather in September as the First Home Owners boost winds down.

"The key question is whether September is just a temporary pause or whether it represents a more general cooling," said Rismark's managing director, Christopher Joye.

"Only time will tell, but we are projecting materially lower rates of house price growth...as mortgage rates increase."

The RP Data-Rismark index identified the recovery earlier than those prepared by real estate agents. It compares "like sales" with "like sales" and so is not distorted by changes in the composition of the stock sold.

"The booming growth that they are reporting now may relate more to past than present conditions," Mr Joye said. "We see no evidence of prices accelerating.""
at 9:28 PM