The chief economist of Master Builders, Australia's largest construction industry union, is calling on the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates further this year in order to capitalise on recent encouraging trends within the property market.
Rates were cut to three per cent last month, sparking something of a mini revival in the property sector, and Peter Jones is now calling for further cuts at the next board meeting in February.
With the recent boom in the mining industry predicted to slow down considerably this year, hopes are high that the residential property market will take over as a major driver of Australia's economy, although the latest figures relating to building approvals in the last few months are not totally convincing.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the total value of building approvals for the month of November fell by 4.1 per cent, although the overall number of approvals actually increased by 2.9 per cent, ending a run of five consecutive months in which the number of approvals went down.
