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."

Monday, November 5, 2012

Biggest mortgage approval volumes in October in history

Fascinating, but not surprising, release from AFG, Australia's largest mortgage broker, which accounts for about 10% of the total market:

AFG, Australia’s largest mortgage broker, processed $3.1 billion of mortgages in October – its highest volume for any October on record, and for any month since March 2009. October volumes are generally lower than those for September, but last month bucked the trend being 14.6% higher than the month before. The volume was also almost a quarter greater than that for October 2011. Refinancing was not the driver for mortgage volumes last month, with the level of refinancing (34.8%) at its lowest level than since September 2009.
at 1:21 PM