Markets15 March 20245 min read
March 2024: another pause, and the soft-landing call
Cash rate held at 4.35%. US Fed paused. The 'soft landing' became consensus globally. Bond market priced first Australian cut for late 2024.
Property impact
CoreLogic posted +0.6% nationally for March, with Perth +1.9%. The pause-and-coming-cut narrative supported equity-style multiple expansion in property: investors began pricing future rate cuts into present-day acquisition decisions.
The trap
Many investors deferred 2024 acquisitions waiting for the first cut. The first cut didn't come until 2025, and prices in Perth and Brisbane rose 15%+ in the interim. Waiting was the most expensive decision of the year.
Dax Stanley
Founder & Principal Strategist, Hera Property. #1 international bestselling author of Real Estate Investing Using ChatGPT.