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The Reserve Bank has raised interest rates for the fourth month in a row, raising its target rate by half a percentage point. Key points: RBA has raised interest rates by 0.5 percentage point The target cash rate has now increased by 1.75 percentage points since early May to 1.85 percent A cash rate increase since early May will add about $472 per month to a $500,000 loan payment The RBA has now raised its benchmark interest rate by 1.75 percentage points since the first rate hike in May, with the target rate at 1.85 percent. In his post-meeting statement, Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe said the latest rate hike is unlikely to be the last this year. “The board expects to take further steps in the process of normalizing monetary conditions over the next few months, but not on a predetermined path,” he said. “The size and timing of future rate hikes will be guided by incoming data and the board’s assessment of the inflation and labor market outlook. “The Board is committed to doing wh

Wine exports to mainland China are scraping the bottom of the barrel, with just six million liters exported in the last financial year, worth $24.6 million. Key points: Wine exports to mainland China have fallen from 120 million liters per year to six million liters The US is now Australia’s largest export market by value Exports to countries other than China rose five percent to $2.06 billion That’s a big drop from the end of the financial year in 2020, when exports to mainland China totaled 120.7 million liters and were worth $1.1 billion over the 12-month period to June 30. That was before China imposed import tariffs of around 220 per cent on bottled Australian wine imports later that year. Overall it has been a difficult financial year for Australian wine producers with exports down 10 percent in volume to 625 million liters and down 19 percent in value to $2.08 billion in the year ended 30 June. Australian Wine market insight manager Peter Bailey said China’s results were expect

Penguins are no strangers to climate change. Their life history has been shaped by fluctuations in temperature, and their bodies are highly specialized for some of the most extreme conditions on Earth. However, scientists fear the penguin’s evolutionary path may have stalled, thanks to the lowest evolutionary rate ever detected in birds. An international team of researchers has just published one of the most comprehensive studies on penguin evolution to date, which is the first to integrate data from living and fossil penguin species. The research reveals a general chaotic penguin life history, with three-quarters of all known penguin species – now represented only by fossils – already extinct. “Over 60 million years, this iconic bird has evolved into a highly specialized marine predator, and is now well-adapted in some of the most extreme environments on Earth,” the authors wrote. “However, as their evolutionary history reveals, they now stand as guardians highlighting the vulnerabil

Australia’s biggest home lender fears borrowers in August could cope with their biggest monthly rate hike in nearly three decades if there is an inflation shock next week. Commonwealth Bank, along with four other major lenders, all expect the Reserve Bank of Australia next month to raise interest rates by 50 basis points, or 0.5 percentage points, to a six-year high of 1.85 percent. But CBA’s chief economist for Australia Gareth Aird said there was an outside chance of a 75 basis point hike on Aug. 2, bringing interest rates to a seven-year high of 2.1 percent from a three-year high of 1.35 percent. It would also be the steepest monthly increase since December 1994, meaning borrowers with an average mortgage of $600,000 would overcome another $256 increase in their monthly mortgage payments on top of the $352 increase they had experienced since May. Scroll down for audio Australia’s biggest home lender fears borrowers in August could cope with their biggest monthly rate hike in n

Banking giant ANZ now expects borrowers to tackle four 50 basis point rate hikes in November – with the country’s major banks expecting cash rates to settle in 2023 once inflation is under control. The Big Four on Tuesday forecast the Reserve Bank of Australia’s cash rate would more than double from an existing three-year high of 1.35 percent to a 10-year high of 3.35 percent on Melbourne Cup Day. ANZ chief economist David Plank expects the RBA to raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage points in a row in August, September, October and November – and keep rates at that level throughout 2023 and 2024. “We think the RBA will take its cash rate target to a tight setting above three percent by the end of 2022, more than 12 months earlier than our previous estimate,” he said. A two percentage point increase in mortgage rates in November would leave borrowers with an average $600,000 mortgage owed $708 more a month in payments as the RBA cash rate hit its highest level since October 2012. But

Central banks in New Zealand and Korea have pushed ahead with further super-sized rate hikes as they seek to tame rampant inflation. Key points: Both the RBNZ and the Bank of Korea have raised interest rates by another 50 basis points New Zealand’s benchmark interest rate is now 2.5 percent and Korea’s 2.25 percent Many economists now expect that many central banks will halt rate hikes by the end of the year Both have been at the forefront of global central bank moves to dampen inflation, lifting interest rates from pandemic lows in the second half of 2021, months ahead of most other central banks, including the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which was the first to move. enter. Possible. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) increased its benchmark overnight cash rate target from 2 to 2.5 percent today, while the Bank of Korea (BoK) also raised interest rates by 50 basis points this morning to 2.25 percent. It is the third consecutive meeting that New Zealand’s central bank has rai

No wonder building companies are all broke: Stunning figures show how construction costs are doubling the rate of inflation National home construction costs jump 10 percent in the year to June 2022 This is almost double the 5.1 percent inflation rate – the highest in two decades Cordell Construction Cost Index shows biggest jump since GST 2000 debut Timber and metal prices soar as companies grapple with labor shortages By Stephen Johnson, Economic Reporter for Daily Mail Australia Published: 11:36pm EDT, 11th July 2022 | Updated: 03:03 EDT, 12 July 2022 Home construction costs have soared at twice the rate of inflation as a series of building companies went bankrupt. Residential building costs jumped 10 percent in the year to June 2022 as the cost of wood and metal skyrocketed, the Cordell Construction Cost Index showed. This is nearly double the 5.1 percent inflation rate, which was the fastest pace since 2001. In New

South Australian households have complained of declining returns on solar energy they contribute to the grid, with electricity regulators saying it has “no value” in the market. Key points: Some energy companies offer less than 4c/kW for energy fed back to the grid SA minimum feed-in rate ends in 2017 Some consumers are investigating options for investing in solar battery systems to save money The incentive to switch to renewable energy started in SA in 2008. The first household to install a solar panel is priced at a feed-in rate of 44 cents per kilowatt, which significantly reduces the quarterly bill. As time went on, more and more households installed solar panels and feed-in rates continued to decline. Most energy providers in the state offer rates between 5 and 10 cents. But some companies offer less than 4 cents, which causes frustration for customers. What keeps the rates low? The state’s Essential Services Commission (ESCOSA) had previously set minimum feed-in rates through 2

Are you one of the many savers who cheer when interest rates start to rise? For years, record low interest rates meant anyone with money in the bank got little or no interest. The Reserve Bank this week raised the official interest rate by 0.5 percentage point, its third increase in as many months. If you’re having trouble paying the higher interest rates on your mortgage, we’re here to help. But if you’re a saver (and don’t want to invest), here are three options for parking your money. First, what will happen to the interest rate on my savings account? Depends. The official cash rate has gone up, but that doesn’t mean everyone will earn more interest on their savings. It is up to individual lenders to decide how much of the Reserve Bank’s rate hikes to pass on to savers (and mortgage borrowers). Some lenders have already started going through the July hikes. In June, the big four banks were slow to pass rate hikes to their savings accounts and not all continued the hike in full. So i