Unemployment rate jumps; home sellers drop asking prices; Apple launches smart display
Published: October 15, 2026
Unemployment rate jumps; home sellers drop asking prices; Apple launches smart display
News in brief
Home sellers cut prices: Australia's spring property market is struggling, with 4.4 per cent of capital city sellers discounting their asking prices, the highest proportion in five years. Home sales fell 20 per cent in September compared with a year earlier, while listings rose 19 per cent, giving buyers greater negotiating power.
Mortgage competition squeezes bank profits: Bank of Queensland's annual cash profit fell 15 per cent to $325 million as its mortgage portfolio shrank by $4.6 billion. With new lending subdued, banks are increasingly offering discounts and cashback incentives to attract refinancing customers, putting pressure on margins.
Labor rewrites online safety laws: The federal government has revised its proposed online safety legislation to target content promoting gender-based violence, while removing illicit drug promotion from its list of harms.
ASIC drops Richard White insider trading probe: ASIC has ended its insider trading investigation into WiseTech Global co-founder Richard White and two employees, along with a separate corporate governance investigation. White remains under investigation by the Australian Federal Police over other allegations, while WiseTech faces an ACCC inquiry.
Apple takes on Amazon and Google in the home: Apple has unveiled HomeView, a $US299 smart display designed to control household devices, manage calendars and handle video calls. The seven-inch device uses facial recognition to personalise information, marking Apple's latest push into the smart-home market dominated by Amazon and Google.
Fear-o-meter
AMP’s Diana Mousina on why the RBA won’t hike rates again:
“The RBA had been forecasting the unemployment rate to rise to 4.7% by the end of 2027 but given the recent upside surprise in the unemployment rate, they are likely to revise up their near-term unemployment rate forecasts.
“But recent weakness is not likely to worry the RBA too much because overall, the unemployment rate is still low in Australia and there is a high level of participation in the labour force – which is what matters for household incomes and as a result, spending.
“Financial market pricing for further RBA rate hikes has eased given the last 2 months of worse-than-expected employment figures but also more encouraging inflation data for August.
“A rate rise is not expected at the November Melbourne Cup Day meeting. But markets are still expecting one more rate rise by July next year.
“We think the RBA is probably done raising rates and will keep the cash rate at 4.6% until a potential cut late next year but there is still the risk that inflation surprises higher again (like it has been in the US) and leads to another interest rate increase.”
Fear & Greed Q+A today
On turning magic into a successful business (and yes, he performs a trick mid-podcast for Sean):
"To be honest, most magicians in a commercial setting would do very similar type of magic. So at the core of it is about how you elaborate what real benefit you bring to the customer. Whether it be you're transforming the event, you're making it more memorable.
It's all about the packaging around it, you know, the website, the promo video. Magic is actually really hard to sell, by the way. Like people don't get the feeling of the magic until they actually see it. So then it's about how do you do that over the website, over the phone, how do you convey that magic?"
Unemployment hits five-year high, but rate rise is possible
Australia's unemployment rate has climbed to a five-year high, raising fresh concerns about the strength of the economy and complicating the Reserve Bank's next interest rate decision.
The jobless rate reached 4.7 per cent in September, with more than 39,000 jobs lost. Part-time employment plunged by almost 74,000, partly offset by 34,400 additional full-time jobs.
The underlying trend is also weakening. Employment has fallen by an average of 9,000 jobs a month over the past three months, while average monthly growth over six months has been just 7,000.
The figures prompted financial markets to reduce the probability of another RBA rate hike on Melbourne Cup Day from 30 per cent to 18 per cent.
But economists remain divided. While the labour market is clearly softening, some believe persistent inflation means another increase is still likely.
Greed-o-meter
| Industry | Annual change (000s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Care & Social Assistance |
| ||
| Construction |
| ||
| Administrative & Support Services |
| ||
| Education & Training |
| ||
| Transport, Postal & Warehousing |
| ||
| Financial & Insurance Services |
| ||
| Manufacturing |
| ||
| Mining |
| ||
| Wholesale Trade |
| ||
| Accommodation & Food Services |
| ||
| Arts & Recreation Services |
| ||
| Electricity, Gas, Water & Waste Services |
| ||
| Rental, Hiring & Real Estate Services |
| ||
| Information Media & Telecommunications |
| ||
| Other Services |
| ||
| Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing |
| ||
| Retail Trade |
| ||
| Professional, Scientific & Technical Services |
| ||
| Public Administration & Safety |
|
Forwarded from a friend? Sign up to our daily newsletter
The latest employment figures reveal a sharp divide between industries. Over the year to August, health care and social assistance added 71,000 jobs and construction gained 54,000, while public administration and safety shed 43,000 and professional services lost 33,000
Listen to today's episode 🎧
Source: AMP, ABS