Economic News

When the Reserve Bank explains why it expects the economy to slow, housing now features prominently. TheMonetary PolicyBoard's statement of 3 November 2026, which accompanied a 25-basis-point increase in the cash rate target to 4.85%, put it in one sentence: "Higher interest rates and …

Every Statement onMonetary Policycarries an assumption that rarely makes headlines but says a great deal: the path of the cash rate that underpins the RBA's forecasts. The Reserve Bank does not invent this path. It takes it from market pricing. In the November 2026 …

The monthlyConsumer Price Indexrose 0.8 per cent in September, and the quarterly index rose 1.3 per cent. Annual inflation reached 4.3 per cent in the year to September, up from 4.0 per cent in August. The ABS trimmed mean — which strips out the …

TheMonetary PolicyBoard has increased the cash rate target by 25 basis points since the Committee’s previous hearing in June, taking the cumulative rise this year to 100 basis points. Bullock said the increases were intended to return inflation to target.

The conflict in the Middle East has re-escalated, leaving global energy prices much higher than assumed in the RBA’s August forecasts. Oil and related prices have risen sharply again, creating both direct and indirect inflation pressures.

The unemployment rate recently rose a little more than the RBA had expected. Even so, Bullock said the labour market appeared a little tighter than theCentral Bankhad previously judged.

Bullock attributed the change in housing conditions to the usual transmission of monetary policy, tax policy changes and the broader economic environment. The decline follows a long period of strong growth underpinned by a structural undersupply of housing.