Morning Briefing: Get ready for further RBA rate cuts

Further reductions have been predicted for Australia’s official cash interest rate... Auction market starts winter strongly...

Get ready for further RBA rate cuts  
Further reductions have been predicted for Australia’s official cash interest rate, but it is widely expected that the Reserve Bank of Australia will not announce any movement after its board meeting this afternoon.

While the RBA surprised many with its decision last month to drop the official cash rate by 0.25% to 1.75%, all 31 economists and financial commentators in Finder's monthly RBA survey have predicted the cash rate will not be changed following today’s meeting.

While sentiment is unanimous that a rate change won’t come today, 68% of respondents believe the RBA will announce another cut before the end of the year.

Of those who believe a rate cut is on the cards for 2016, 45% believe it will be announced in August, while 10% identified September and 13% November.

Auction market starts winter strongly 
Buyers did not seem to put off by the wet start to winter last week, with the Australian auction market turning in another week of solid results.

Early figures from CoreLogic put the preliminary national clearance rate at 70.4% from the 1,953 auctions held across the country last week.

The previous week saw the national clearance rate finalise at 6.7.7%.

So far Sydney has returned the strongest clearance rate, with the preliminary mark in the city sitting at 76.7% compared to the previous week’s 73.2%.

Last week saw Sydney hold 654 auctions, while the previous week saw 811 homes go under the hammer.

The City and Inner South was Sydney’s best performing sub region last week, with its preliminary clearance rate sitting at 85.7% followed by Ryde at 85 per cent and Eastern Suburbs at 84.9 per cent.

The suburb of Strathfield was home to the most expensive sale of the week, with a house selling for $5.7m.

Melbourne was the busiest auction market last week, with the Victorian capital holding 959 auctions laws week and returning a preliminary clearance rate of 71.4%.

(Your Investment Property)