The Reserve Bank of Australia has held the cash rate steady at 1.50 per cent for the twentieth consecutive month.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has left interest rates on hold at 1.50 per cent for the twentieth month, or the eighteenth consecutive board meeting.
Australia's cash rate is now enjoying its longest period at a single setting.
REINSW President Leanne Pilkington says it was unlikely interest rates will change in the foreseeable future.
“The residential housing market, and the economy generally, requires the steady interest rate environment to continue,” she said.
“Employment growth has been encouraging but tempered by flattened wage growth, while house price growth is also subdued and clearance rates are solid if unspectacular.
“It amounts to a prudent case of the RBA leaving rates as is,” she said.
Craig James, chief economist CommSec, also said it was unlikely rates will change in the near future.
"There is nothing in the latest statement that suggests an imminent change in interest rates in either direction. And clearly that is a mark of a healthy economy – it doesn’t need speeding up or slowing down. There is only a passing reference to US trade policy and equity market volatility. There is also reference to the lift to short-term interest rates like 90-day bank bills," wrote James.
The statement by RBA governor Philip Lowe said housing markets have stabilised.
"The housing markets in Sydney and Melbourne have slowed. Nationwide measures of housing prices are little changed over the past six months, with prices having recorded falls in some areas. In the eastern capital cities, a considerable additional supply of apartments is scheduled to come on stream over the next couple of years. APRA's supervisory measures and tighter credit standards have been helpful in containing the build-up of risk in household balance sheets, although the level of household debt remains high."
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