Experts divided: Cost-of-living crisis or housing havoc?

Herald Sun

13 hours ago

Has the cost-of-living crisis finally ended? Some of Australia's top finance and property experts certainly think so.
Finder's latest RBA Cash Rate report, which surveyed 34 experts and economists on future cash rate moves and other issues relating to the state of the economy, showed 88 per cent (30 out of 34) respondents believe the RBA will cut the cash rate tomorrow, bringing it down to 3.60 per cent.
On the topic of cost-of-living, almost half of experts (44 per cent) said they believed the crisis was over.
In comes as the amount Aussies are saving each month – $932 – reached an all-time high in June 2025, up from $614 in June 2023, according to data from Finder's Consumer Sentiment Tracker.
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Finder's data shows mortgage stress is also at a two-year low – down to 34 per cent.
Despite higher average savings rates, Stella Huangfu from the University of Sydney noted that many were still doing it tough.
'Finder's research reveals that 43 per cent of respondents have less than $1000 in savings, and 18 per cent have no savings at all,' she said.
'Additionally, the cost of essential goods and services remains high.
'Experts predict that grocery prices are unlikely to decrease in 2025, and real household disposable income has declined by nearly 10 per cent since its peak, indicating that many Australians are still struggling to keep up with living expenses.'
Graham Cooke, head of consumer research at Finder, said while some Australians were gaining financial confidence, others were barely scraping by.
'Whether the cost of living crisis is over really depends on who you ask,' he said.
'While Finder's Cost of Living Pressure Gauge shows that cost pressures are easing, rents are still sky-high and relief is being more directly felt by homeowners.
'The property class divide in Australia is widening.'
However, Jakob Madsen from The University of Western Australia said the crisis was not as large as many believe.
'I think the so-called cost-of-living crisis is blown up and clearly not of the scale we saw in the 1970s and 1980s,' he said.
'Most remuneration is indexed to consumer prices, so the standard of living has not changed much.
'The exception is some rentiers and new entrants into the housing market have experienced marked increasing costs. But this is all caused by the escalation of house prices, not a general increase in the real value of pensions and wages.'
Kyle Rodda from Capital.com said the cost-of-living crisis was basically a housing crisis.
'If you rent, things are tough. If you are leveraged to your eyeballs on your home, things are tough.
'Given the housing problem is supply driven and there's not much being done to address that, then the 'crisis' is likely to continue.'
Adj Prof Noel Whittaker from QUT pointed to a growing wealth divide.
'We are living in very much a two-tier society, and the gaps between the haves and the have-nots appear to be widening,' he said.