House prices fall; get ready for higher bread, milk, vege prices; LIV Golf collapse
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to Fear and Greed, business news you can use. Today, house prices in Sydney and Melbourne are going backwards while momentum across the other capital cities is waning. Oil prices hit their highest level in four years in bad news for motorists and Woolworths boss warns of higher prices for vegetables, bread and milk. plus mega earnings results for Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet. And the Breakaway Live Golf Tournament is set to collapse as Saudi pulls its funding. It is Friday, the 1st of May, 2026. I'm Michael Thompson and good morning, Sean Aylmer.
What a miserable bunch of stories.
I was going to say, like there's the one bright spot, mega earnings results for Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Alphabet, right?
What are the current trends in house prices in Sydney and Melbourne?
At least there's some positivity here. Yeah, I apologize. There's not much though. No, not much. Well, you know, we can bring a bit of energy to it, but let's get through the main story. The main story, which is...
How are rising oil prices affecting everyday consumers?
Not a great one, necessarily. House prices in Sydney and Melbourne are going backwards, Sean, and across the mid-sized capitals, I think Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, increases have lost momentum. Higher interest rates and the ongoing cost of living crisis, which of course is exacerbated by higher petrol prices. Well, it's all starting to bite. now. And so capital city home sales are down more than 5% compared to a year ago. This is according to Cotality. While there are increases, they're in the lower priced segments of the market. And that's a segment that's really being supported by first home buyer incentives and investor activity. Cotality's national home value index rose 0.3% in April.
What are the latest mega earnings results from major tech companies?
That is the of course, just ahead of last year's rate-cutting cycle.
That's right. The national figure was dragged lower by Sydney and Melbourne, where values fell 0.6% over the month.
Why is LIV Golf facing a potential collapse?
Might not sound like much. You've got a million-dollar home. That's $60,000, which is no longer you're going to get if you're going to sell it. Sydney home values are now 1% below their November peak. Melbourne homes are nearly 2% below. Perth is still the strongest market. Prices were up 2% last month, but it has slowed considerably, no doubt about it. Brisbane and Adelaide, same deal there. Prices were up 1% over the month, but the heat has come out of the market. Canberra and Hobart, relatively flat, while Darwin rose 1.3% during April. Darwin, funnily enough, over the last few months has actually been probably about the best market.
Now, Curtality's research director, Tim Lawless, said the housing market has been losing momentum since late last year as affordability and serviceability constraints have kicked in. Now you've got rising interest rates, you've got tumbling consumer sentiment, you've got rising inflation again. It's going to put even more pressure on the market. It doesn't look great for homeowners. And normally in this kind of situation, you would say, hey, at least it's good news if you're trying to get into the market, right? But it's not even great there.
No, that's because the place where the house prices are rising is generally in the lowest quartile, that bottom 25%. So every capital city is now recording the strongest price growth in the cheapest 25% of homes, and that's because credit is available. So getting a $600,000 loan is a lot easier than a $2 million loan. Also, a bunch of government incentives are targeted at that market. Also, investors are in that market. It is most noticeable in Sydney. where the bottom quartile, the cheapest 25% of homes, they're actually up more than 3% so far this year, while the most expensive homes are down about 3%. Across the market, there has undoubtedly been a slowdown in buyer demand and an increase in supply that puts those two closer to balance, takes the heat out of price growth.
In Sydney and Melbourne, in fact, current supply is actually higher than the long-term average. Bottom line in all this, Michael, few prospects of a quick turnaround in house price growth, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne.
Okay. Sean, it has been a very big 36 hours in global markets.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:06–0:51
2
What are the current trends in house prices in Sydney and Melbourne?
0:51–1:03
3
How are rising oil prices affecting everyday consumers?
1:03–1:49
4
What are the latest mega earnings results from major tech companies?
1:49–2:05
5
Why is LIV Golf facing a potential collapse?
2:05–17:21
Speakers
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