Sydney, Melbourne house prices fall; junior pay rates scrapped; mission to the moon

Sydney, Melbourne house prices fall; junior pay rates scrapped; mission to the moon

News in brief

The Fair Work Commission has abolished junior rates in fast food, retail and pharmacies, meaning 18- to 20-year-olds will be paid the full adult rate, pushing up the wages bill of some of the country’s biggest employers.

 

Surcharges on debit and credit cards will be banned, and the cap on credit card interchange fees – paid by merchants to banks – will be reduced from 0.8 per cent to 0.3 per cent of the value of the transaction from 1 October. Banks expect the changes could cut their revenues by $660 million a year, but it could save consumers $1.6 billion.

 

Federal treasurer Jim Chalmers said the federal budget, due in six weeks, will include tax changes to deal with intergenerational inequity, productivity measures and savings, notwithstanding the war in the Middle East. However, decisions will be finalised later than normal, due to the unrest.

 

Telstra will be forced to remove a 1 million square kilometre area from maps promoting its mobile phone coverage after the federal government set a limit on the signal strength companies can claim works for calls and texts.

 

The countdown is on for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years. The 32 storey Space Launch System, better known as Artemis, is set to blast off as early as tomorrow, Australian time.

Fear-o-meter

The Reserve Bank’s conclusions on surcharges on prepaid and credit cards.

 

“Removing surcharging on debit, prepaid and credit cards on the designated eftpos, Mastercard and Visa card networks... The surcharging framework, introduced more than two decades ago, is no longer achieving its intended purpose of steering consumers towards making more efficient payment choices.

 

“The increased prevalence of businesses surcharging all cards at the same rate, challenges with enforcing the current surcharging framework, and consumers using less cash have reduced the effectiveness of the surcharging regime.

 

“Removing surcharging would make card payments simpler, more transparent and increase competition among payment service providers. Removing surcharging also aligns with the preference of most consumers for payment costs to be incorporated into advertised prices.

 

“Lowering the caps on interchange fees paid by Australian businesses. These changes are expected to lower businesses’ costs when they accept domestic or overseas card payments.

 

“Small businesses should benefit the most because they tend to pay fees closer to the existing caps.

 

“Increasing transparency over the fees charged by card networks and payment service providers to strengthen competition. Improving transparency will enhance competition between players within the payments chain, put downward pressure on card payment costs and make it easier for businesses to shop around for a better deal.”

Fear & Greed Q+A today

On why stocks like McDonald's and Coca-Cola might be considered boring but brilliant in volatile times:

 

“[Coca-Cola] is one of the most recognisable brands in the world, and it’s been through everything — recessions, pandemics, geopolitical crises.

 

And at the end of the day, it sells products that people buy no matter what’s going on.

 

It’s something we drink today, something we drank 60 years ago, and something we’ll probably still be drinking in 60 years.

 

That’s what makes it such a strong business — it’s just incredibly consistent.”

Sydney and Melbourne house prices have gone backwards in 2026, with more expensive homes depreciating most. Meanwhile, Perth and Brisbane prices charge ahead, while regional Australia outperforms the capital cities. Across the country, Cotality’s national home value index rose 0.7 per cent in March, pushing dwelling values 2.1 per cent higher over the first quarter of the year. Melbourne prices fell 0.6 per cent during the quarter and are down nearly one per cent since late last year. Sydney’s prices were down 0.2 per cent in the quarter and are off 0.4 per cent since its high last year. Among the mid-sized capitals, Perth continues to boom. Its median dwelling value jumped more than seven per cent during the March quarter, and 24 per cent over the past year.

Greed-o-meter

Market	Month %	Quarter %	Median value $
Sydney	-0.1	-0.2	1,295k
Melbourne	-0.2	-0.6	828k
Brisbane	1.8	5.1	1,101k
Adelaide	1.2	3.6	937k
Perth	2.5	7.3	1,018k
Hobart	0.8	2.5	738k
Darwin	1.6	3.4	619k
Canberra	0.4	1.4	893k
Combined capitals	0.6	1.8	1,025k
National	0.7	2.1	933k

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The pace of house price growth nationally is easing, with Sydney and Melbourne both retreating slightly in the last quarter.

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Source: Cotality's Home Value Index