Home prices stall as Sydney hits an air-pocket
​Home prices across Australia's major cities were flat for a second month in November as regulators' efforts to rein in investment lending triggered a reversal in the once-euphoric Sydney market.
The Economy
Political instability drives declining prosperity
A decade ago John Howard's four-term government came to end. When the Liberal leader was booted out of office in the Kevin 07 Ruddslide, Australia was the envy of other nations, ranking as the world's most prosperous country. Now, the country has barely scraped into the top ten of a global prosperity index.
Business investment, home building on the rise
​Business investment hit its highest level in more than a year last quarter while approvals to build new homes climbed to the strongest in eight months, promising omens for a pick-up in broader economic activity.
Place your bets on house prices and interest rates
The bets on interest rates and house prices are firmly connected because if the property market falls precipitously, it will be another factor inhibiting any move by the RBA to raise rates.
Keen pollies, poor planning blew $28b on infrastructure
The sad reality of our major road infrastructure projects is that most of them run wildly over budget. A sadder reality is that governments appear unable to learn from past mistakes.
Interest rate rises coming sooner than we think, warns OECD
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development expects higher rates in the second half of next year.
Australia's tax policy is turning into an episode of Fantasy Island
These are indeed challenging times for public policy. Listening to the federal Treasurer and reading the Business Council of Australia chief executive, I'm getting flashes of Fantasy Island.
What the world's central banks are saying about cryptocurrencies
Eight years since the birth of bitcoin, central banks around the world are increasingly recognising the potential upsides and downsides of digital currencies.
Tax cuts: lies, damn lies and bracket creep
There are few aspects of taxation that involve more deception than bracket creep.
Has spring sprung in the economic garden?
With the year rapidly drawing to a close, the word is we're getting back to normal.
Australia faces hangover after $7.3 trillion home frenzy
The party is finally winding down for the nation's housing market. How severe the hangover is will determine the economy's fate for years to come.
Why the United States will never get rid of guns
Steven Levitt, the co-author of bestselling novel Freakonomics, talks about gun violence, tax reform and terrorism.
The billionaires are match-making. Now to make it work
Australia's richest and brightest are on to something. Super can fund business.
Rinehart, Pratt and Fox push for super to back business
An A-list of Australia's richest and best-connected billionaires has launched an audacious bid to channel money directly from super funds to businesses.
Government invests in blockchain
The Coalition is not afraid of getting into business with the cryptocurrency world.
Key economic model 'close to broken', says UBS
It is a mystery that is confounding economists - why wage growth is at record lows when the economy is not all that far off full employment.
Low rates ahead as RBA blames employers for low wage growth
Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe has pointed the finger at employers for Australia's extraordinarily low rate of wage growth, saying it means low interest rates for months to come.
RBA reveals 'considerable uncertainty' over wages
The RBA has played down expectations of wage rises and offered little hope to struggling retailers in an economic assessment that has pushed forecasts for the next interest rate rise until the end of next year.
Turnbull flags tax cuts in a year of steady interest rates
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has flagged tax cuts for millions of Australians in the lead up in the lead up to the next federal budget, or sooner if an election is called early next year.
Chinese buyers go cool on Australian homes: RBA
Chinese demand for Australian residential property has eased because of tighter capital controls imposed by Beijing and tougher restrictions on mortgage lending by local banks, a top central banker said on Monday.
House prices flat, sales edge higher in soft market
Home sales across Australia's capital cities have edged higher in the past week, but the auction market remains soft with prices largely unchanged.
The Sydney suburbs with an oversupply - and an undersupply of housing
Inner Sydney has a "significant surplus" of housing.
Art boom points to the end of a cycle
The week's haul at Christie's and Sotheby's screams late-cycle liquidity, recalling Japan's impressionist fever in the late Eighties before the Nikkei collapsed and the bottom fell out of the art market.
Labor plans further blow to Treasury power
It's a process that's gone on for so long few people have noticed it: the waning influence of the once-mighty federal Treasury.
Capitalism has a problem. Is free money the answer?
One need not be a card-carrying revolutionary to deduce that global capitalism has a problem. Enter the universal basic income.
Victoria Australia's top state economy, but NSW the real winner
Victoria has economic growth of 3.3 per cent, but NSW has recorded the best growth per resident.
Immigration: Where one plus one makes more than two
Simplistic views of complex issues don't deliver the full story. What the critics of Australia's immigration policy miss is that one plus one can add up to more than two.
Men out-earn women by more than $26,500
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has released its annual gender pay gap data showing men still take home $26,527 a year more than women on average, and the pay gap for is even larger at $89,516 for top management.
Jobless rate hits near four-year low. Time for a pay rise?
It has been 23 years since we have had an employment run this good and still wages are going nowhere.
Reserve Bank: We don't need 'creative destruction of a recession'
Reserve Bank board member Luci Ellis has said Australia should stop searching for the next mining boom or "an identifiable engine of growth," and accept that future economic prosperity will come from several directions.
Small Business
CBA wouldn't give Victoria a $500 credit card, now she owns a $30 million business
Victoria Kluth struggled to finance her IT consultancy Araza when she started out despite a stellar client list.
Sexual harassment a risk in small businesses, too
Every firm should have a written policy that all employees understand and is enforced.