The Wakelin Blog

Don’t expect a dramatic reaction in the residential property market off the back of this rate cut, at least not in coming weeks. There won’t be a massive jump in auction clearance rates and certainly not a spike in property prices. Instead, I anticipate the market to remain steady. The market is finely balanced. On one side it’s been held back by weak consumer confidence off the back of international economic uncertainty...

See Monique's 26th May column in Herald Sun here . Alternatively read on: First home owner grants: a $22 billion policy failure Wayne Swan says he’ll do whatever it takes to put the Federal finances back into surplus in 2012/13.  Many commentators are naturally sceptical he’s done enough in his recent Budget to achieve this aim. For that matter, not only am I sceptical, I also question why some very obvious cost-cutting hasn’t occurred...

Click here for Monique's comments in Leader newspapers on the prospects for the Melbourne property market after the 50-basis points cut in the Reserve Bank's cash rate in May.

The Federal Treasurer has shown little vision, with few if any initiatives in the Budget that will stimulate economic growth. The best that can be said is he has provided assistance to very low income householders and that by finally returning the Budget to a very modest surplus next year, the Government is creating room for the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates further. However, lower rates are a sign of economic weakness, so this is a mixed blessing...

The inner suburban investment property market is in recovery mode . You won’t see it in the statistics published in our metropolitan daily newspapers because they concern themselves with city-wide data which, as the table shows, only indicate a flat market...