The NSW holiday town that is much cheaper than five years ago
The median weekly rent for a house in Malua Bay, just south of Batemans Bay and almost three hours south of Wollongong, fell by 31.4 per cent in the five years to March, to $618, on Domain data. This was the steepest rental drop of all of NSW's regional towns over this time and came after a price uptick that wasn't to last.
The 10 slowest movers for house rents in regional areas span other seaside suburbs, including Mollymook Beach, which was down 24 per cent over five years.
The rise in rental costs came after a period marked by significant events, Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said.
'Malua Bay was impacted by the bushfires that saw a lot of the Eurobodalla location, which is where Malua Bay sits, being devastated,' she said.
The 2019-2020 bushfire season ravaged the NSW South Coast region, including Malua Bay, where some properties, a stroll from the beach, were destroyed. Rents in the region probably jumped after the bushfires as displaced people would have gone into temporary accommodation, Powell said.
'I think probably what we have seen is a vast impact over that four-year period where we saw the bushfires impact, rebuilding occurring, displacement of families, a shifting in demand, not only in the rent space, but also in the for-sale [space],' she said.
Malua Bay, where many homes have ocean views, has been popular with retirees over the years, with some now looking to sell. There is a bowling club that burnt down during the bushfires, and has now been rebuilt, as well as cafes and a coastal reserve.
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Courier-Mail
18 hours ago
- Courier-Mail
Donald Trump demands the resignation of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
Don't miss out on the headlines from World. Followed categories will be added to My News. US President Donald Trump has demanded that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell 'resign immediately'. Mr Trump appointed Mr Powell, who leads America's equivalent of our Reserve Bank, during his first term, but has since soured on him. He's repeatedly expressed frustration at the Federal Reserve for not cutting interest rates. In remarks at a conference in Portugal this week, Mr Powell suggested Mr Trump's own policies had influenced the Fed's decisions. 'I think that's right,' he said when asked whether the President's tariffs were to blame. 'In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs, and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs.' Mr Trump continues to insist the tariffs are not inflationary. President Donald Trump disembarking from Air Force One. Picture:via AFP Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Picture: Mark Schiefelbein/AP Having stated yesterday that 'anybody would be better' as Fed Chairman than Mr Powell, now the President has escalated the (mostly one-way) feud further. Posting on social media, Mr Trump shared an article from Bloomberg, which reported on an accusation that Mr Powell lied to Congress during a Senate committee hearing last week. Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finanace Agency, called Mr Powell's testimony about expensive renovations to the Fed's headquarters in Washington D.C. 'deceptive'. 'This is nothing short of malfeasance,' said Mr Pulte, adding that Mr Powell should be fired. 'Too Late, should resign immediately!!!' Mr Trump commented while sharing the story. Earlier in the week, during one of her media briefings, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out a note the President had written to Mr Powell. The message was written on a list of the lowest central bank rates around the world. 'Jerome. You are, as usual, Too Late'. You have cost the US a fortune – and continue to do so – you should lower the rate – by a lot!' Mr Trump had scrawled using his usual Sharpie. 'Hundreds of billions of dollars being lost! No inflation.' Mr Trump also shared an image of the note on social media. At the aforementioned conference in Portugal, an annual forum hosted by the European Central Bank, Mr Powell said a US rate cut in July was neither 'on or off the table'. 'July will depend on the data. We will go meeting by meeting,' he stressed, adding that the Fed makes its decisions 'in a completely non-political way'. 'We are carefully watching the labour market ... I have a little more than ten months in office. All I want to deliver is an economy with price stability, maximum employment and financial stability. That is what keeps me awake at night. I want to hand over, to my successor, an economy in good shape. Mr Powell's term ends next year. Clearly, however, Mr Trump wants him gone sooner. Congress ponders Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Meanwhile, tensions are simmering within MrTrump's Republican Party as he lobbies members of Congress to pass his much-hyped, and contentious, 'Big Beautiful Bill'. The massive piece of budget legislation includes multiple elements of Mr Trump's domestic political agenda, including the extension of tax cuts, funding for immigration enforcement, and cuts to Medicaid, the government program that provides health insurance to lower-income Americans. It has already passed through the Senate, and is now being considered by the House of Representatives. Mr Trump's party controls both chambers. US President Donald Trump. Picture: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP Yet the legislation's passage is no sure thing. Multiple Republicans have expressed opposition to it, citing forecasts that it will swell America's already considerable national debt by trillions more dollars. The President, supported by Vice President J.D. Vance, spent a chunk of his day today personally lobbying members of Congress to vote for it. 'He's been working the phones pretty consistently,' an administration official told Politico. 'He is going to get it over the finish line.' The stakes are high, and so are the tensions, as evidenced by some rather bad-tempered remarks from multiple members of Congress. Exhibit A: Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden, who represents a district in Wisconsin. He took umbrage at the suggestion, from a reporter, that House Republicans were being 'led by the nose' by Mr Trump. 'The President of the United States didn't give us an assignment,' Mr Van Orden said. 'We're not a bunch of little b**ches around here, OK? I'm a member of Congress. I represent almost 800,000 Wisconsinites.' That said, Mr Van Orden's office later issued a statement stressing that 'President Trump is the leader of the GOP', and the Congressman 'looks forward to passing' the bill. Exhibit B: Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a MAGA favourite, who described the efforts to pass the 'Big Beautiful Bill' as a 's***show' and predicted there was 'no way' it would get enough votes. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Picture:via AFP 'It is really a dire situation,' Ms Greene told the podcast War Room, hosted by Mr Trump's former senior White House adviser Steve Bannon. 'We're on a time clock that's been really set on us, so we have a lot of pressure. 'And then also, given the fact that there's 435 members of Congress and it's hard for us to get to an agreement on anything. So this whole thing is – I don't know what to call it. It's a s***show. And I'm sorry for saying that. I know we're not supposed to say that on the air, but that's truly what it is.' Mr Trump wants the bill to be passed before the symbolic date of America's Independence Day, which falls on Friday. He will need almost universal support from the Republican caucus, given the Democratic Party's seemingly unshiftable stance. 'This bill is a deal with the devil,' one of the opposition party's loudest voices, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said on the floor of the House. 'It explodes our national debt. It militarises our entire economy. And it strips away health care and basic dignity of the American people. For what? To give Elon Musk a tax break. 'We cannot stand for it, and we will not support it. You should be ashamed.' Originally published as Donald Trump demands the resignation of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
The Age
a day ago
- The Age
Trump shows his impotence by attacking the Fed chair
'If they were doing their job properly our Country would be saving Trillions of Dollars in Interest Cost. 'The board just sits there and watches, so they are equally to blame,' he wrote. On Friday, Trump urged Powell - whose term as chair expires next May - to resign, and said he would only pick a Powell successor who will cut US rates. Trump's verbal assault on Powell, who he described as a 'stubborn mule' – he's previously said Powell is a bad person, stupid, terrible, a numbskull, an idiot and suffering from Trump derangement syndrome – has intensified since the US central bank chief made it clear after last month's Fed meeting, that the board would wait for the effects of Trump's tariffs before making any move on rates. So far, there have been only very minor signs that the tariffs are impacting the US inflation rate, but that is to be expected. In place, to date, is the 10 per cent baseline tariff on all imports to the US, along with some specific tariffs on sectors like steel and aluminium. The 'big ones' – the 'reciprocal' tariffs tailored to individual countries' exports to the US – won't be unveiled until next Wednesday and could take months to show up in inflation data. The risk of cutting rates prematurely and then seeing a tariff-driven spike in the inflation rate explains why the Fed has adopted a 'wait and see' approach to its monetary policies. The relatively strong US economy and job market at present provide no obvious downside to being patient. Trump is impatient – he wants the Fed to cut its target for the federal funds rate from its current range of 4.25 to 4.5 per cent to between 1 and 2 per cent – because he's about to inject a debt-funded fiscal boost into the economy. The US Senate narrowly approved Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act on Tuesday (thanks to vice president J.D. Vance's casting vote) after a marathon 24-hour session. Loading That bill, whose measures and cost might be changed when it returns to the House, would add between $US3.3 trillion ($5 trillion) and $US4 trillion ($6.1 trillion) to US deficits and debt over the next decade. With the interest costs on US government debt already running at about $US1 trillion a year, the new debt generated by that bill will add hundreds of billions more – unless the Fed cuts rates. Hence Trump's comment that hundred of billions of dollars are being lost because of its inaction. The problem for the Fed, and Trump, is that the central bank's mandate is to promote price stability and maximum employment, not to enable the US government to borrow more cheaply. Trump's attempts to coerce Powell and his fellow board members into cutting rates to help him politically, if they succeeded, would undermine the Fed's credibility and the trust in it as an institution independent of politics and politicians. Loading That independence is important for the Fed's ability to influence inflation expectations and guide and reassure financial market participants that its policies are consistent and predictable, which is fundamental to financial stability. The risk for America is that, if investors see the Fed's independence compromised and its policies driven by political considerations, there'd be an exodus of capital. Given the deluge of US debt that will need to be financed and refinanced in the bond market, that would itself push interest rates up. Confidence in the Fed and other respected central banks rests on their predictability, and a conviction that their monetary policy settings will either be neutral or, when necessary, counter-cyclical to keep inflation rates under control. Pro-cyclical settings – policies influenced by the demands of politicians who face relatively short political cycles and who want growth regardless of the longer-term consequences – would risk igniting inflation. Trump might want a rate-cutter in Powell's chair but, if that were to eventuate, it would be damaging to the Fed, the bond market and the US dollar, which just experienced its weakest first half of the year in more than half a century. US bond funds have had their biggest net outflows since the pandemic. Trump's trade wars are being blamed for both. Loading While there has been speculation that Trump will soon appoint a 'shadow chair' whose presence (and utterings) could confuse markets and undermine Powell, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said it is possible that the White House will nominate a candidate to the board in October or November. Powell is in the chair until May and has no plans to vacate until then and Trump, despite continually musing about it, has no power to remove him any earlier. But the term of one of the Fed's governors, Adriana Kugler, ends in January and Trump's 'shadow' chair could be inserted into the board then. The credibility of Powell's successor would, of course, be compromised if they were seen as a Trump stooge – although Trump's expectations of the next chair's influence might be a tad unrealistic. There are 19 members of the Federal Open Market Committee, and 12 voting members. The committee, which actually makes rate decisions, can elect its own chair. One person, even the Fed chair, can't dictate outcomes and a Fed chair whose public commentary was at odds with the bank's decisions would only confuse markets and damage the institution. Powell is fortunate that even the US Supreme Court seems to believe Trump can't force him out of the Fed. Where Trump can threaten Elon Musk (a naturalised US citizen) with deportation to South Africa, or siccing Musk's former DOGE colleagues on him, his companies and the billions of dollars of taxpayer support they receive each year, all Trump can do to Powell really is continue to abuse him. When Trump attacks Musk (who is again fiercely criticising the One Big Beautiful Bill's impact on US deficits and debt), it costs the former First Buddy and his investors serious amounts of money. Tesla shares fell more than 5 per cent on Tuesday, wiping about $US55 billion off its market capitalisation. When Trump attacks Powell, it only highlights the president's own impotence.
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Trump shows his impotence attacking the Fed chair
'If they were doing their job properly our Country would be saving Trillions of Dollars in Interest Cost. 'The board just sits there and watches, so they are equally to blame,' he wrote. Loading On Friday, Trump urged Powell - whose term as chair expires next May - to resign, and said he would only pick a Powell successor who will cut US rates. Trump's verbal assault on Powell, who he described as a 'stubborn mule' – he's previously said Powell is a bad person, stupid, terrible, a numbskull, an idiot and suffering from Trump derangement syndrome – has intensified since the US central bank chief made it clear after last month's Fed meeting, that the board would wait for the effects of Trump's tariffs before making any move on rates. So far, there have been only very minor signs that the tariffs are impacting the US inflation rate, but that is to be expected. In place, to date, are the 10 per cent baseline tariff on all imports to the US, along with some specific tariffs on sectors like steel and aluminium. The 'big ones' – the 'reciprocal' tariffs tailored to individual countries' exports to the US -- won't be unveiled until next Wednesday and could take months to show up in inflation data. The risk of cutting rates prematurely and then seeing a tariff-driven spike in the inflation rate explains why the Fed has adopted a 'wait and see' approach to its monetary policies. The relatively strong US economy and job market at present provide no obvious downside to being patient. Trump is impatient – he wants the Fed to cut its target for the federal funds rate from its current range of 4.25 to 4.5 per cent to between 1 and 2 per cent – because he's about to inject a debt-funded fiscal boost into the economy. The US Senate narrowly approved Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act on Tuesday (thanks to vice president JD Vance's casting vote) after a marathon 24-hour session. That bill, whose measures and cost might be changed when it returns to the House, would add between $US3.3 trillion ($5 trillion) and $US4 trillion ($6.1 trillion) to US deficits and debt over the next decade. Loading With the interest costs on US government debt already running at about $US1 trillion a year, the new debt generated by that bill will add hundreds of billions more – unless the Fed cuts rates. Hence Trump's comment that hundred of billions of dollars are being lost because of its inaction. The problem for the Fed, and Trump, is that the central bank's mandate is to promote price stability and maximum employment, not to enable the US government to borrow more cheaply. Trump's attempts to coerce Powell and his fellow board members into cutting rates to help him politically, if they succeeded, would undermine the Fed's credibility and the trust in it as an institution independent of politics and politicians. That independence is important for the Fed's ability to influence inflation expectations and guide and reassure financial market participants that its policies are consistent and predictable, which is fundamental to financial stability. The risk for America is that, if investors see the Fed's independence compromised and its policies driven by political considerations, there'd be an exodus of capital. Given the deluge of US debt that will need to be financed and refinanced in the bond market, that would itself push interest rates up. Confidence in the Fed and other respected central banks rests on their predictability, and a conviction that their monetary policy settings will either be neutral or, when necessary, counter-cyclical to keep inflation rates under control. Pro-cyclical settings – policies influenced by the demands of politicians who face relatively short political cycles and who want growth regardless of the longer-term consequences – would risk igniting inflation. Trump might want a rate-cutter in Powell's chair but, if that were to eventuate, it would be damaging to the Fed, the bond market and the US dollar, which just experienced its weakest first half of the year in more than half a century. US bond funds have had their biggest net outflows since the pandemic. Trump's trade wars are being blamed for both. Loading While there has been speculation that Trump will soon appoint a 'shadow chair' whose presence (and utterings) could confuse markets and undermine Powell, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said it is possible that the White House will nominate a candidate to the board in October or November. Powell is in the chair until May and has no plans to vacate until then and Trump, despite continually musing about it, has no power to remove him any earlier. But the term of one of the Fed's governors, Adriana Kugler, ends in January and Trump's 'shadow' chair could be inserted into the board then. The credibility of Powell's successor would, of course, be compromised if they were seen as a Trump stooge - although Trump's expectations of the next chair's influence might be a tad unrealistic. There are 19 members of the Federal Open Market Committee, and 12 voting members. The committee, which actually makes rate decisions, can elect its own chair. One person, even the Fed chair, can't dictate outcomes and a Fed chair whose public commentary was at odds with the bank's decisions would only confuse markets and damage the institution. Powell is fortunate that even the US Supreme Court seems to believe Trump can't force him out of the Fed. Where Trump can threaten Elon Musk (a naturalised US citizen) with deportation to South Africa, or siccing Musk's former DOGE colleagues on him, his companies and the billions of dollars of taxpayer support they receive each year, all Trump can do to Powell really is continue to abuse him. When Trump attacks Musk (who is again fiercely criticising the One Big Beautiful Bill's impact on US deficits and debt), it costs the former First Buddy and his investors serious amounts of money. Tesla shares fell more than 5 per cent on Tuesday, wiping about $US55 billion off its market capitalisation.
