Firstly! This week’s interview is with Leith Van Onselen co-founder of MacroBusiness – one of the best websites to bookmark if you want to cut through the noise in the economic data and get to the truth behind those dodgy statistics!
Leith’s diary is getting jam packed with media interviews these days – he’s a regular on Sky News and other media outlets – so it was good of him to fit in an hour or so for Land Cycle Investor, for a deep discussion on the state of the markets and a bit of forecasting!
I reached out to Leith after a subscriber forwarded me a property spruiker’s e-letter that had used Leith’s analysis from the article “Blame housing crisis for Australia’s falling birth rate…”.
Source: HSBC
“HSBC quotes evidence that a 10% increase in house prices leads to a 1.3% drop in birth rates, and an even sharper fall among renters”.
“Intuitively that makes sense. If you are saving to buy a home you delay starting a family”.
Sounds like a bit of Roy Wenzlick analysis – he would always make a point at looking at marriages and calculating birth rates.
So what’s the deal?
- Leith digs behind the data and evidences how federal governments are compensating
- Why he thinks interest rates will drop in the second half of this year
- Observations on the property market – why does a house that needs extensive renovation sell almost for the same price as a neighbouring fully renovated home (same sized block)?
- How employment data is being impacted by technological development
- Is Australia over supplied with new cars?
- Are we heading to World War Three?
And much, more!