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Kochie’s Weekly Market Update: Economic trends and short stay rental dollars

- November 8, 2019 2 MIN READ
Economic-update-Nov1

Hey gang, get up to speed on this week’s financial trends with my market updates.

How’s The Economy Looking

 Of course, Melbourne Cup day is also Reserve Bank board meeting day. The RBA wisely decided to rates on hold rather than cut again. As I’ve said before, I reckon the rate cuts are having a negative impact because it’s spooking Australians into thinking the economy is worse than it really is … “gee the economy must be bad if they’re cutting rates again.”

So, instead of spending savings from rate cuts, Aussies are saving that money or paying down debt.

As for the economy it still remains in reasonable shape … not booming but absolutely no sign of any upcoming recession. I’m asked the recession question all the time.

The recent data has been;

. the trade surplus rose to $7.18 billion in September from $6.62 billion (previously $5.93 billion) in August… it’s the 21st successive monthly trade surpluses. The rolling annual surplus was a record $63.35 billion in the year to September.

. our rolling annual trade surplus with China rose from $64.23 billion in August to a record $67.33 billion in September. 

. in October, 82,456 new cars were sold, down by 9.1 per cent over the year. But SUVs accounted for a record 59.6 per cent of combined SUV and passenger vehicle sales.

. the cost of living for working households rose 0.1 per cent in September to be up 1.3 per cent on the year. But the cost of living for Pensioners and self funded retirees rose 1.9 per cent. The broader Consumer Price Index rose 1.7 per cent over the year.

. the average size of an Australian free-standing house has fallen to 17-year lows. Research from the Bureau of Statistics shows the average new house built in 2018/19 was 228.8 square metres… down 1.3 per cent on a year ago to the smallest house size since 2001/02. But the size of the average Australian apartment actually grew by 3.2 per cent over the past year to 128.8 square metres.

Remember Short Stay Rental Dollars Are Assessable Income

I’ve mentioned this before but the Tax Office is really stepping up their focus on people earning income from renting rooms or properties through platforms like AirBnB, Stayz, Homeaway, Flipkey and booking.com.

The ATO reckons income earned through these platforms is one of the key reasons for the current $9 billion shortfall in budgeted tax revenue.

Remember the tax office now gets all the data from these platforms which they are now matching against the tax returns of those clients. If it’s in the data but not in your tax return, expect an enquiry from the Taxman. 

Holey Heck There’s Money In Coins

A rare NSW colonial “holey dollar”, originally worth five shillings (fifty cents) in 1813, is expected to sell for more than $225,000 at a Sydney auction later this month.
 
The coin was created when NSW Governor, Lachlan Macquarie, urgently needing official currency, ordered thousands of Spanish silver dollars to have their centres stamped out… making two coins out of each. 
 
More than 200 years later the so-called “holey dollars” and their centres, “dumps”, are extremely rare and keenly sought by collectors and investors.
 
Five dumps with estimates ranging up to $50,000, will also go under the hammer at the Noble Numismatics Sale on November 19 at the State Library of NSW.