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Staff Reporter
A continuing decline in the property market and a downturn in China are the major concerns for Australia’s economy this year.
According to a new survey conducted by 1300HomeLoan, 24 per cent of brokers are worried about further falls in the real estate sector.
When asked ‘What are your economic concerns for 2013?’, a further 23 per cent said China going off the boil was a cause for concern.
Of the 127 respondents, 21 per cent said they were worried about rising unemployment, while 20 per cent said another hung parliament after this year’s federal election was a major worry.
“There’s clearly not a great deal of optimism about the year ahead with the direction of the property market heading the list of concerns,” 1300HomeLoan chief executive John Kolenda said.
Mr Kolenda said the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would play a key role in the direction of the domestic economy in 2013.
“The RBA needs to bring the official cash rate down by as much as a full percentage point from the current level of 3.0 per cent in the first half of the year to help boost confidence,” he said.
“Even though the RBA lowered the cash rate by 125 basis points during 2012 it wasn’t enough as they had taken the cash rate up too high to 4.75 per cent in 2010.
“The high Australian dollar which has hurt our exporters and the domestic tourism industry is a legacy of the inept decisions of the RBA.”
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