Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe’s recent address to the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce, the RBA chief reiterated that the RBA “does not see a strong case for a near-term adjustment to monetary policy”. “But it is worth remembering that the most likely scenario in which interest rates are increasing is one in which the economy is strengthening and income growth is also picking up.”
In his address, which focused on regional variations in the Australia economy, Mr Lowe highlighted the “dispersion in house prices” across the country. “The picture is pretty clear: the dispersion in housing prices is currently larger than it has been in a very long time,” the RBA governor said. “This mostly reflects the big run-up in housing prices in Sydney and Melbourne at a time when price growth in the rest of the country has been subdued.”