The RBA.
Let's start this month with the elephant in the room. On Tuesday, the RBA Board announced the 5th increase to the cash rate this year bringing it up to the highest level since 2008.
We went from 'things are tracking OK' to 'oh dear...' in the space of only a couple of weeks when the inflation data came back higher than expected and all of a sudden the market was forecasting an 80% chance of a rate rise.
For me, I think the most interesting part of the Board meeting was the fact that while it was widely expected they would lift the cash rate it wasn't actually a unanimous decision. Six Board members voted for the rise, and three voted to hold. The Governor, Michele Bullock, went on to answer some questions after the meeting and, while she's very careful not to put her foot in it quite like the previous governor did, it sounds like the consensus is to now sit back and let the five consecutive increases take their time to actually impact the economy as it's supposed to.
Politics.
The U.S mid-term election results are already having a knock-on effect on the economy with the price of oil coming down almost immediately. The impact on our local petrol prices won't be so quick or obvious, unfortunately, however we should begin to see some improvement in the next month or so.
With fuel prices playing a part in the inflation fiasco, we'll take any good news we can get there.
House prices.
Cotality data shows 1.2% decline in the national Home Value Index for October, with our capital cities copping the brunt of it dropping 8.1% in 7 months.
Some investors will be watching for the seesaw moment of the market, buying in at the trough and taking advantage of the conditions before the rebound. For the average first home buyer, be careful playing games like that or you could miss out full stop. The old saying that never gets old - it's about time in the market, not timing the market.
AI.
I have a love/hate relationship with AI at the moment! I appreciate the tool that it is and will be, but not only is it a drain on society, creativity, humanity, the environment it's also impacting our inflation figures with demand for data centres (seriously?!). I promise to never let AI write the monthly newsletter!
Anyway, the good news story here is that from early next year, properties for rent in NSW that use AI edited images must show a disclaimer that AI has been used. Wild to think that has not been a required as yet but progress is progress. I would like to see that disclaimer requirement rolled out to homes for sale, as well as rent.
Farm life.
For anyone playing along at home, we finally have some farm updates with a driveway going in, a tree coming out, and most importantly I found a turtle in one of the dams!!
My husband is finally home from sea after 4 months away, just in time to see some progress happening. I will absolutely pull my finger out this week and get some updates on the 'gram now I'm not solo parenting, sorry for those impatiently waiting.
