Australia runs out of luck

Australia, the“lucky country”, hasn’t had a recession for nearly 27 years. But now it faces headwinds that it hasn’t experienced in a generation.

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Sydney house prices fell by 4.5% in the year to June
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Australian house prices fell for the ninth consecutive month in June, leaving them 1.3% lower than the peak in September last year. The fall is especially pronounced in big cities, with prices down 4.5% in Sydney in the year to June. This may not sound very alarming, but in a housing market where many loaded up on interest-only mortgages during the good times, it could be enough to leave some people in negative equity, notes Frank Chung for News.com.au.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.