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Australian Housing Slide Deepens as RBA Worries About Consumers

  • Dwelling investment decline could be sharper than expected now
  • Board agreed labor market developments particularly important
Morning Surfers and City Commuters as Australia Marks 27th Year Without a Recession
Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg
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Australia’s central bank is holding fire on interest rates, even as a slide in the nation’s home prices deepens, as it awaits a resolution to the divergence between strong hiring and decelerating economic growth.

The Reserve Bank said the labor market is “particularly important” to the outlook and reiterated there’s considerable uncertainty over consumption, minutes of its March 5 policy meeting released in Sydney Tuesday showed. It said dwelling investment was expected to subtract from growth and the decline “could be sharper” than currently expected.