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Mortgage Business Home buying intentions spike in February By Malavika Santhebennur 17 March 2021
Home buying spending intentions rose further in February, with the home buying market expected to play a key role in supporting the economy in 2021, according to CBA research.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s (CBA) latest Household Spending Intentions (HSI) series has revealed that home buying intentions have continued their upward trajectory in February, with the smoothed series reaching its highest level since the start of the data series in 2015.
According to CBA chief economist Stephen Halmarick, both mortgage applications and Google searches were up on the month, and considerably higher than the levels recorded in February 2020, and up after intentions shrank in December 2020.
Retail will boom until Aussies can travel offshore again: JB Hi-Fi boss
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Australiaâs retail sector could enjoy its COVID-induced purple patch for potentially another year, the head of electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi has said, as travel-restricted consumers continue to spend big in local stores.
Richard Murray, who helms the $5.7 billion retailer, told a conference hosted by the Australian Retailers Association on Wednesday he couldnât see retail spending slowing down while Australians were unable to travel.
JB Hi-Fi chief executive Richard Murray expects retail sales to remain elevated for as long as Australians canât travel.
Aussies embrace working from home 12 months after COVID-19 locked down offices
A year ago millions of Australians who worked in CBD-based offices were sent home to perform their duties remotely.
Now, 12 months after the greatest technological working change in history, Australians are holding on to their work-from-home habits in greater numbers than ever before.
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows two-in-five â or 41 per cent â of Australians worked from home at least once a week in February 2021.
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Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic that figure was sitting at a paltry 24 per cent.
David Zago, head of household surveys at the ABS, said increased flexibility has proven to be advantageous for many workers.
Australia is set to be the first major western nation to undo the economic devastation wrought by COVID-19. Leading investment bank UBS forecasts that by the end of September, Australia s gross domestic product (GDP) will surpass pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, CBA economists estimate the 873,000 Australian job losses caused by the coronavirus crisis will be neutralised even sooner than that. Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told The Daily Telegraph our economy has outperformed all other major advanced economies over the course of the past year and that s a very significant achievement for which more than 25 million Australians can be proud . Mr Frydenberg said the jobless rate may be bumpy for a couple of months after the $82 billion JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme ends on March 28 but that both the Reserve Bank and Treasury expected the unemployment rate would then continue to trend down .