As MSQ Capital’s Managing Director Paul Miron sees things, we’re pawns to a rather significant economic experiment.
4 min
It is to the astonishment of most economists, politicians and property experts that we are experiencing an extraordinary V shape recovery.
This week’s fundamental economic good news is that the unemployment rate has fallen to 5.8%, smashing expectations. The property market seems to be booming, job adverts are increasing and consumers are now freely going back to pre-Covid-19 spending levels. Millennials are once again ordering smashed avocados whilst leisurely completing their online home loan applications in order to begin the hunt for their first property purchase. That debut purchase, mind you, is now mostly sponsored by the government’s extraordinarily generous schemes, such as ‘home builder’ ($2billion worth) and other various grants (providing up to $50,000 per person).
This is a far cry from expectations a year ago, when Prime Minister Scott Morrison sternly prepared Australians for a 6-month hibernation, followed by a high unemployment rate and a long and hard economic recovery.
Despite current positive economic euphoria, there are some very respected and seasoned investors, politicians and economists who are extremely worried — of the view that the economic recovery, both locally and internationally, is founded on fragile thin ice.
There is a high risk that both our local economy and international economies may generate inflation past the prescribed target of the 2%-3% tolerance of central bankers around the world. This would place the RBA Governor, Philip Lowe, under significant pressure to increase interest rates, despite his assertions that rates will stay put for at least 3 years.
Lowe’s motivations would be to avoid the undesirable economic and social impacts of hyperinflation, akin to past historical experiences that lead to the Great Depression of the ‘30s, the late ’70s oil crisis and the ’80s, where many people can remember living through official interests of 18.5%.
During the past few weeks we’ve seen a number of global central bankers — notably as those from Russia, Brazil and Turkey, among others — increase their official interest rates as their economies simply do not have the financial capacity to continue printing money as freely as our economy.
Increase in interest rates would put downward pressure on asset classes such as property and shares, whilst undermining consumer confidence — resulting in lower spending and impeding a full economic recovery.
The current unemployment trend would very quickly change from positive to negative. The most alarming comment is that both monetary and fiscal policies have pretty much been exhausted during the pandemic. Worse still, if the Government was unable to support the market, it could lead to a market collapse like the crashes of 1987 and 2004 and the various property market corrections we have experienced in the past.
The rationale for such divergence of economic opinion is fundamentally based on the fact that we’re living through an economic experiment. The combination of monetary and fiscal policy employed by the Government and RBA has never before been tested — think zero interest rates, Quantitative Easing, Job Keeper, Job Seeker and mortgage payments deferrals to name but a few.
Another way to appreciate this is via the below graph prepared by AMP. It demonstrates the hypothetical green line if Covid-19 had not happened. The blue line depicts actual GDP figures.
Despite Australia’s GDP being in excess of 3% for the past two quarters (for the first time ever), we remain 2.4% below than what we would have been if Covid-19 never arrived. Our unemployment was mid 4% pre-Covid, with wage growth peaking at a mere 1.4%p.a., whereas today unemployment sits 5.8%.
It is the RBA’s fundamental economic assumption that in order for inflation to shoot past 3% maximum traditional target, interest rates must be kept low and we require the unemployment rate to fall to 3%. This is because in the current economic situation, wage inflation is the key element to push overall inflation. According to many economists, it could take years for unemployment to reach a rate below 4% and which therefore supports the RBA’s expectation.
The estimated financial cost to future tax payers to ensure we have this V shape recovery is estimated to be circa $350b, roughly 17% of our GDP. This is 5 times larger than any stimulus that was provided during the GFC.
And so, despite the surging asset values, it is unlikely for the economy to suddenly overshoot the green line while a number of industries, such as tourism and international students, remain subdued (and let’s not forget those industries being targeted in our ongoing trade war).
The true economic recovery picture will be seen in the next two quarters of GDP figures, where either the fear of inflation will abate or crystallise into reality.
Paul Miron has more than 20 years experience in banking and commercial finance. After rising to senior positions for various Big Four banks, he started his own financial services business in 2004.
What a quarter-million dollars gets you in the western capital.
Alexandre de Betak and his wife are focusing on their most personal project yet.
Unmarried home buyers say they are giving priority to a financial foundation over a legal one
4 min
The big wedding can wait. Couples are deciding they would rather take the plunge into homeownership.
In reshuffling the traditional order of adult milestones, some couples may decide not to marry at all, while others say they are willing to delay a wedding. Buying a home is as much, if not more of a commitment, they reason. It helps them build financial stability when the housing market is historically unaffordable.
In 2023, about 555,000 unmarried couples said that they had bought their home in the previous year, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Census Bureau data. That is up 46% from 10 years earlier, when just under 381,000 couples did the same.
Unmarried couples amounted to more than 11% of all U.S. home sales. The percentage has climbed steadily over the past two decades—a period in which marriage rates have fallen. These couples make up triple the share of the housing market that they did in the mid-1980s, according to the National Association of Realtors.
To make it work, couples must look past the significant risk that the relationship could blow up, or something could happen to one partner. Without a marriage certificate, living situations and finances are more likely to fall into limbo, attorneys say.
Mark White, 59 years old, and Sheila Davidson, 62, bought a lakeside townhouse together in Newport News, Va., in 2021. But only her name is on the deed. He sometimes worries about what would happen to the house if something happened to her. They have told their children that he should inherit the property, but don’t have formal documentation.
“We need to get him on the deed at some point,” Davidson said.
White and Davidson both had previous marriages, and decided they don’t want to do it again. They also believe tying the knot would affect their retirement benefits and tax brackets.
Couples that forgo or postpone marriage say they are giving priority to a financial foundation over a legal one. The median homeowner had nearly $400,000 in wealth in 2022, compared with roughly $10,000 for renters, according to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances.
Even couples that get married first are often focused on the house. Many engaged couples ask for down-payment help in lieu of traditional wedding gifts.
“A mortgage feels like a more concrete step toward their future together than a wedding,” said Emily Luk, co-founder of Plenty, a financial website for couples.
Elise Dixon and Nick Blue, both 29, watched last year as the Fed lifted rates, ostensibly pushing up the monthly costs on a mortgage. The couple, together for four years, decided to use $80,000 of their combined savings, including an unexpected inheritance she received from her grandfather, to buy a split-level condo in Washington, D.C.
“Buying a house is actually a bigger commitment than an engagement,” Dixon said.
They did that, too, getting engaged eight months after their April 2023 closing date. They are planning a small ceremony on the Maryland waterfront next year with around 75 guests, which they expect to cost less than they spent on the home’s down payment and closing costs.
The ages at which people buy homes and enter marriages have both been trending upward. The median age of first marriage for men is 30.2, and for women, 28.6, according to the Census Bureau. That is up from 29.3 and 27.0 a decade earlier. The National Association of Realtors reported this year that the median age of first-time buyers was 38, up from 31 in 2014.
Family lawyers—and parents—sometimes suggest protections in case the unmarried couple breaks up. A prenup-like cohabitation agreement spells out who keeps the house, and how to divide the financial obligations. Without the divorce process, a split can be even messier, legal advisers say.
Family law attorneys say more unmarried people are calling for legal advice, but often balk at planning for a potential split, along with the cost of drawing up such agreements, which can range from $1,000 to $3,000, according to attorney-matching service Legal Match.
Dixon, the Washington condo buyer, said she brushed off her mother’s suggestion that she draft an agreement with Blue detailing how much she invested, figuring that their mutual trust and equal contributions made it unnecessary. (They are planning to get a prenup when they wed, she said.)
There are a lot of questions couples don’t often think about, such as whether one owner has the option to buy the other out, and how quickly they need to identify a real-estate agent if they decide to sell, said Ryan Malet, a real-estate lawyer in the D.C. region.
The legal risks often don’t deter young home buyers.
Peyton Kolb, 26, and her fiancé figured that a 150-person wedding would cost $200,000 or more. Instead, they bought a three-bedroom near Tampa with a down payment of less than $50,000.
“We could spend it all on one day, or we could invest in something that would build equity and give us space to grow,” said Kolb, who works in new-home sales.
Owning a place where guests could sleep in an extra bedroom, instead of on the couch in their old rental, “really solidified us starting our lives together,” Kolb said. Their wedding is set for next May.
Homes and weddings have both gotten more expensive, but there are signs that home prices are rising faster. From 2019 to 2023, the median sales price for existing single-family homes rose by 44%, according to the National Association of Realtors. The average cost of a wedding increased 25% over that time, according to annual survey data from The Knot.
Roughly three quarters of couples move in together before marriage, and may already be considering the trade-offs between buying and renting. The cost of both has risen sharply over the past few years, but rent rises regularly while buying with a fixed-rate mortgage caps at least some of the costs.
An $800 rent hike prompted Sonali Prabhu and Ryan Willis, both 27, to look at buying. They were already paying $3,200 in monthly rent on their two-bedroom Austin, Texas, apartment, and felt they had outgrown it while working from home.
In October, they closed on a $425,000 three-bed, three-bath house. Their mortgage payment is $200 more than their rent would have been, but they have more space. They split the down payment and she paid about $50,000 for some renovations.
Her dad’s one request was that the house face east for good fortune, she said. Both parents are eagerly awaiting an engagement.
“We’re very solid right now,” said Prabhu, who plans to get married in 2026. “The marriage will come when it comes.”
