分类： business

Australia’s long-held cultural ideal of homeownership is edging further out of grasp for millions of prospective buyers, as new property industry forecasts reveal stark divergent trends across the nation’s major urban markets this year. Alongside uneven price shifts, successive cash rate increases continue to squeeze how much would-be buyers can borrow, creating fresh risks for household financial stability.

Financial comparison site Canstar projects that two of Australia’s fastest-growing capital cities, Perth and Brisbane, will outpace all other major markets in 2026, defying broader monetary tightening to deliver double-digit and near-double-digit price growth respectively. By the end of the calendar year, median house prices in the two cities are set to jump by more than AU$50,000 each: Perth will see a 12.3% rise, while Brisbane will record a 9.7% gain.

These gains will push median house prices to new unaffordable thresholds for many. Perth’s current median will climb from AU$551,690 to AU$1.11 million, while Brisbane’s median will surge from AU$754,919 to AU$1.26 million, according to Canstar’s analysis. The growth in these two markets has been fueled in large part by investor interest, drawn to Perth’s historically lower relative prices compared to other capitals and increasingly tight rental conditions across both southeast Queensland and Western Australia.

“Both of these markets are hurtling towards prices that are fast becoming unaffordable for people looking for four walls and a patch of grass,” said Sally Tindall, Canstar’s director of data insights.

The picture looks very different in Australia’s two largest property markets, Sydney and Melbourne, where prices are projected to dip slightly over 2026. Sydney’s median house price is forecast to drop 0.6%, equal to a AU$2,139 decline, while Melbourne will see a steeper fall of AU$7,829. While even a small price drop might sound like promising news for aspiring first-home buyers, the reality of rising interest rates has erased any potential affordability gains.

Major Australian banks including ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank are already forecasting another cash rate hike in the coming month, adding to the two increases implemented in February and March this year. Westpac goes further, predicting three additional 0.25 percentage point rate hikes by the end of 2026.

Canstar’s analysis calculates that these hikes have already dramatically cut borrowing capacity for average earners. A single full-time worker on the national average wage has already lost AU$25,000 in borrowing power after the February and March increases alone. If Westpac’s forecast of three more hikes comes to pass, that total cut to borrowing capacity will jump to AU$58,700.

Beyond worsening affordability, Tindall warned that current market conditions create significant long-term risk for overstretched buyers. “The danger is, people will borrow to the limit, banking on prices continuing to climb. If circumstances change – whether that’s interest rates, job security or the economy – it could leave some households overexposed,” she said.

Australian riders using Uber will soon face another increase to their ride costs, as the rideshare giant has rolled out a new temporary fuel surcharge to support drivers grappling with unprecedented global fuel price spikes.

This new charge comes less than four weeks after a routine fare review already pushed average Uber prices up by 6% across the country. Designed as a targeted short-term intervention to offset drivers’ growing fuel-related expenses, the new 5 cent per kilometer surcharge will go into effect this Wednesday, stacked on top of the March fare increase.

Industry union leaders have thrown their support behind the measure, noting that it is structured to deliver direct financial relief to drivers who bear the full cost of fuel for their work. Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) national secretary Michael Kaine estimates that the extra revenue from the surcharge could add up to roughly $35 in extra savings for drivers every time they fill up their tanks. Kaine pointed out that rideshare operators face the same inflated fuel costs as all other transport workers, with drivers now paying $40 to $50 more per tank than just a few months ago, and the surcharge will go a long way toward easing their financial strain.

The TWU has actively collaborated with major rideshare brands operating in Australia, including Uber and its main competitor Didi, to address the mounting pressure on drivers amid the ongoing fuel crisis. Didi was the first major player to roll out the exact same 5-cent per kilometer surcharge, a policy that the company says has been widely well-received by its driver base. Uber’s matching surcharge will launch this Wednesday, and will run as a temporary emergency measure through June 8 of this year.

Kaine expressed confidence that Uber customers will be understanding of the extra cost, noting that Australian consumers are already well aware of skyrocketing fuel prices from their own household budgets. “Australians have grown accustomed to the reliable convenience that rideshare services provide, and they recognize the pressure that drivers are under to keep operating right now,” Kaine explained. “If paying a small extra amount means drivers can earn a fairer income while keeping that convenience available, I believe the vast majority of customers will accept this change.”

Emma Foley, Managing Director of Uber Australia, confirmed that the surcharge was developed through close, productive collaboration between the company and the TWU. “We have worked hand-in-hand with the union to tackle the rising fuel costs that cut into our driver partners’ earnings,” Foley said. “This temporary fuel surcharge delivers immediate, short-term relief for drivers as we navigate this ongoing fuel crisis, and it builds on the national fare update we rolled out in March that already boosted driver earnings across the country. This move reaffirms our ongoing commitment to improving driver compensation.”

For its part, Didi implemented its 5-cent per kilometer surcharge roughly a month ago, and has reported that the policy has been popular among its driver workforce. Following the positive reception of the initial surcharge, Didi has also moved to increase its minimum fare prices across several major Australian markets. “We will continue to monitor fuel prices and adjust our fare structures and surcharge policies as needed to ensure our driver community gets the support they need through this crisis,” a Didi spokesperson said.

As the ongoing conflict in Iran sends global oil prices soaring to unprecedented levels, Australia’s critical road freight sector is grappling with an unprecedented crisis, where skyrocketing diesel costs have doubled operational expenses for thousands of trucking operators and left many small businesses on the edge of collapse.

The global energy market shockwaves have hit Australia particularly hard, with the country recording one of the steepest spikes in transport fuel prices in its modern history. Latest official data from the Australian Institute of Petroleum confirms the national average retail price of diesel has jumped to 312.7 cents per liter, more than 70 percent higher than the pre-conflict average of 180.2 cents per liter. Petrol prices have also surged, rising from 171 cents to 240.1 cents per liter in the same period. For a sector almost entirely dependent on diesel to power heavy long-haul vehicles, the cost surge has delivered a crippling blow.

In a rare primetime televised national address recently, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged the scale of the unfolding fuel challenge, urging the public to adjust their fuel consumption to preserve critical supplies for essential transport workers. “These are uncertain times,” Albanese told the nation. “But I am absolutely certain of this: we will deal with these global challenges, the Australian way.” He called on motorists to prioritize public transit where possible and “think of others” when fueling up, to ensure diesel supplies remain available for workers who have no alternative to driving for their livelihoods.

But for small independent trucking operators across the country, the prime minister’s appeal has done little to ease the crippling financial pressure they face day-to-day. Aaron Fischer, an owner-operator whose business is based in Howlong, a border town between New South Wales and Victoria, says he now lies awake at night poring over spreadsheets trying to keep his firm afloat. “Before all this stuff happened, it used to cost me A$3,600 to fill up a single tank… now I’m spending $7,500. That’s the problem: it’s literally doubled my bill,” he explained in an interview with the BBC. Where Fischer once spent around A$150,000 a month to keep his fleet of 12+ long-haul road trains on the road, that monthly fuel outlay has now jumped to A$300,000 – an expense he has to cover out of pocket long before clients pay their invoices.

Fischer’s fleet crosses the harsh, treeless expanse of the 1,200-kilometer Nullarbor Plain between South Australia and Western Australia every week, with stretches of up to 200 kilometers between available fueling stations. Already, reports of intermittent diesel shortages along the route have forced drivers to detour or risk running out of fuel mid-journey. “We’ve had a few [drivers] that went to put fuel in and they’ve had none,” Fischer said. Compounding the cash flow pressure is the standard 60-day waiting period for freight operators to receive payment for completed jobs, meaning Fischer must front roughly A$600,000 in operating costs before he recovers any revenue from recent runs. “This is where a lot of people are going to come unstuck,” he warned.

The crisis is hitting new entrants to the industry particularly hard. William Hawkes launched his own trucking business just three months ago, and has already been forced to re-price every existing contract, raising rates by roughly a third to offset fuel costs – a move that has strained newly formed client relationships and driven many customers to cancel or delay jobs. “That’s pretty catastrophic when you’re starting out,” Hawkes said. His company specializes in transporting essential heavy equipment to areas facing emergency works, including flood-affected outback New South Wales and regions requiring emergency road repairs in Queensland. When one of his drivers was tasked with moving modular homes 5,300 kilometers from Bendigo, Victoria to Broome, Western Australia recently, reports of empty diesel tanks at Nullarbor Plain service stations shared via UHF radio forced a last-minute detour that added hours to the multi-day journey. While Hawkes has adjusted rates to keep his profit margin stable, the volume of work has plummeted as clients pull back on projects.

Even veteran drivers with more than 40 years of experience in the industry say they have never seen conditions this bad. Terry Snell, 68, has cut his weekly runs to once every fortnight, after skyrocketing costs left his profit margin “very slim”. “We used to run every week. We now run every fortnight, because with the increase in the fuel charges, if we run weekly, we need to go off to a bank or a financial institution to borrow to cover costs,” he explained. After completing a recent run from Perth to Brisbane transporting a combined crane truck, Snell charged the client A$18,000 – double the rate he would have charged just a few weeks prior. He warned that dozens of small operators have already parked their trucks permanently, unable to cover operating costs, creating a shortage of available freight capacity that will soon ripple through the entire national economy. “If we don’t get this problem sorted and get it sorted very quickly, we are going to have a supply chain crisis,” Snell said. “Everything that you get has come off a truck at one point – whether it’s your food, your drinks, the shirt you’re wearing, the phone you’re using,” added Michael Webb, a 10-year industry veteran who currently drives for Fischer. “We need far more support than what we’re getting right now.”

To address the sector’s distress, the federal government has announced a A$1 billion package of interest-free loans available to transport and freight operators, as well as fuel and fertilizer producers. But industry advocates say the measure falls far short of what small businesses need. “Interest-free loans are still debt,” said Alex Randall of freight marketplace Loadshift. “If you’re a small carrier whose fuel bill has just doubled and your customers are cancelling jobs, the last thing you need is more debt on the books.” Randall and other operators are calling for direct cash grants and faster targeted relief to help small carriers cover the sudden surge in fuel costs, rather than pushing them to take on more financial risk that could sink their businesses.

One of Australia’s longest-running and highest-stakes business disputes is poised to reach a critical turning point this week, as the Western Australian Supreme Court prepares to issue a landmark judgment in a multi-billion-dollar battle between two of the nation’s most powerful mining figures. At the center of the clash is Gina Rinehart, Australia’s wealthiest individual and head of Hancock Prospecting Pty Limited (HPPL), and Angela Bennett, an influential mining heiress who controls Wright Prospecting Pty Limited (WPPL), the family firm of her late father Peter Wright.

The roots of the disagreement stretch back to the 1950s, when Wright and Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock—two pioneers of Western Australia’s Pilbara region iron ore industry—first discovered the mineral deposits that would become the productive Hope Downs mining complex. Decades after their joint exploration, the two families that built their fortunes from that discovery are now fighting over who holds legal rights to critical royalties and assets at the site.

Today, Hope Downs is operated as a 50-50 joint venture between global mining giant Rio Tinto and HPPL, producing roughly 50 million tonnes of iron ore annually. The project generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual royalty income, with HPPL currently receiving a 2.5% cut of all production revenue. WPPL, however, argues that a historic agreement between Wright and Hancock entitles the Wright family to half of that 2.5% royalty stream, as well as a 25% stake in three specific Hope Downs tenements that hold the high-value East Angelas deposits, which have been in operation since 2013.

If the court rules in WPPL’s favor, the firm would be entitled to 1.25% of all royalty payments backdated to the start of commercial mining at Hope Downs in 2007. Industry analysts value that retroactive payout alone at hundreds of millions of dollars, and the total value of the disputed assets is estimated to exceed $1 billion. Under a successful WPPL claim, Rio Tinto would retain its 50% stake in the project, while HPPL and WPPL would each hold 25% of the remaining share.

Rinehart’s HPPL has pushed back aggressively against the claims, contending that the firm has taken on all financial and operational risks to develop the Hope Downs project, and thus holds exclusive rights to the assets and royalty stream outside the terms of the original Hanwright partnership agreement.

The case has drawn extra attention due to the addition of other interested parties beyond the two main billionaire combatants. Rinehart’s own children, John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart, have joined the proceedings, as they already have an ongoing separate dispute with their mother over control of family trust assets established by Lang Hancock. The pair claim Rinehart improperly transferred trust shares meant for them to benefit herself. DFD Rhodes, a firm controlled by associates of the late Lang Hancock, has also laid claim to a 1.25% stake in the Hope Downs royalties, making the judgment’s outcome far-reaching for multiple stakeholders. Even joint venture partner Rio Tinto is impacted, as the ruling will reallocate which parties receive profit distributions from the mine.

While Wednesday’s judgment will determine whether any of the claimants hold valid rights to the disputed royalties and assets, legal proceedings will not end there. Any follow-up dispute over the exact monetary value of what is owed will be settled in a separate, future trial, extending what has already been one of the most drawn-out legal battles in Australian mining history.

New government data released Wednesday has confirmed a sharp acceleration in United States inflation for March, driven by skyrocketing energy costs stemming from ongoing conflict between Iran and a US-Israeli military coalition. The sudden price surge has piled political pressure on the Trump administration, just months ahead of November’s critical midterm elections, as Washington pursues new peace talks with Tehran.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that annual inflation reached 3.3% in March, a notable jump from the 2.4% year-on-year reading recorded in February. Most striking was the unprecedented leap in gasoline prices: between February and March, pump prices surged 21.2%, marking the largest single-month increase since the agency started tracking this metric in 1967. For American drivers, the impact is immediate: the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline now stands at $4.15, up from roughly $3 before the outbreak of hostilities in late February. Even as the world’s top crude oil producer, the US has not escaped the market shock of disrupted global energy supplies.

The conflict traces back to February 28, when US and Israeli forces launched airstrikes on Iran. In retaliation, Tehran blocked shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic global waterway that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s daily oil and gas trade. While financial markets had largely anticipated this inflationary spike, per consensus forecasts published by MarketWatch, the long-term economic outlook remains deeply uncertain amid ongoing violence.

Administration officials have sought to downplay concerns, framing the price disruptions as a temporary side effect of the conflict. White House spokesperson Kush Desai emphasized that the US economy “remains on a solid trajectory” in comments following the data release. Top economic advisor Kevin Hassett highlighted small wins for the administration during a Fox News appearance, pointing to falling prices for eggs, beef, and concert tickets. Ahead of upcoming US-Iran peace talks set to take place this weekend in Pakistan, Vice President JD Vance said he was optimistic for a “positive” outcome from the negotiations.

However, independent economists warn that more financial strain is on the horizon, particularly for low- and middle-income households already stretched thin by rising living costs. Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, noted that March’s inflation rate is the highest the US has seen in nearly two years. “This is only the beginning. Food prices, travel and shipping costs are all going up in April and will exacerbate the pain,” Long said. Christopher Low, senior analyst at FHN Financial, added that the failure of both sides to uphold an announced ceasefire has kept the Strait of Hormuz largely blocked, extending the energy market disruption. “There’s still very little traffic through the Strait of Hormuz,” Low told AFP.

Independent estimates suggest the sustained oil price increase will cost the average US household at least $350 in additional annual expenses. Consumer sentiment has already taken a hit, with a closely watched University of Michigan survey recording an 11% drop in consumer confidence this month. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned in mid-March that the conflict would likely slow the central bank’s work to bring inflation back to its long-term 2% target – a goal the Fed has missed for five consecutive years, due to lingering post-Covid supply chain disruptions, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and international trade tariffs.