May 2026
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Insights From New Data on Australian Housing Investors
This article provides a materially richer view of housing investors than previously possible, enabled by newly available data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA). These administrative data provide coverage of the full population of housing investors in Australia and allow a more granular assessment of housing investor characteristics over time. The analysis shows that investor characteristics have remained broadly stable over the past 20 years, a period over which investors have tended to default on their loans at a lower rate than owner-occupiers. Investors are typically higher income earners, supporting their creditworthiness, and most own only one investment property. One demographic shift has been the increase in the share of the investor population comprising older cohorts. The share of investors with an outstanding loan has not materially changed over time, although investors have tended to borrow with higher property-related debt-to-income ratios than owner-occupiers; around one-fifth of investors had high levels of housing debt relative to their incomes in 2021. To date, this has not translated into higher default rates, though Australia has not experienced a severe housing downturn over this period that might have otherwise tested these investors’ capacity to service debt.
Margins, Mark-ups and Consumer Prices: Theory, Measurement and Implications
Profit margins can provide useful information about how prices have evolved relative to costs, but simple narratives in which margins are said to have ‘driven’ inflation can be misleading. This article sets out a framework for understanding profit margins and their relationship with inflation. Margins can rise or fall for a variety of reasons, including changes in demand, costs or competitive conditions. The relationship between margins and inflation depends on why margins have changed: in some circumstances margins can rise alongside inflation, while in other situations margins can fall when inflation is rising. Developments in margins can sometimes provide useful insights into inflation dynamics, particularly when complemented by information from firms on the reasons for changes in their margins. Some of the disinflation observed in the first half of 2025 is likely to have reflected softer demand and downward pressure on margins, particularly in the retail and residential construction industries. In the second half of 2025, many firms indicated that downward pressure on margins had eased. In some cases, this reflected less discounting following a pick-up in demand, but in other cases it reflected efforts to cut costs or improve productivity rather than stronger prices growth.
Consumer Payment Behaviour in Australia
Results from the RBA’s 2025 Consumer Payments Survey show that cards have continued to be the most widely used consumer payment method in Australia. In 2025, cards were used for most in-person payments, including for small transactions that historically were made mostly with cash. Cash use for everyday transactions was stable relative to the 2022 survey. Mobile wallet use increased across all age groups, as well as consumer adoption of account-to-account payment methods, particularly PayID.
Bank Fees in Australia
This article updates RBA analysis of bank fees charged to Australian households, businesses and government. Over the year to June 2025, total fee revenue earned by banks increased by 3 per cent, though fee revenue remained stable as a share of banks’ assets and deposits. Fee revenue was supported by growth in new housing and business lending, the continued withdrawal of home loan cashback deals (which reduce fee revenue) and international transactions fee revenue associated with growth in overseas spending by Australian households. Large businesses continued to contribute most to banks’ fee revenue, followed by households and medium-sized businesses.
Developments in Banks’ Funding Costs and Lending Rates
Bank funding costs and lending rates declined in 2025 as the RBA cut the cash rate and have risen in early 2026 alongside increases in the cash rate. Bank funding costs are estimated to have declined relative to the cash rate since January 2025. This decline reflects a fall in the estimated cost of banks’ interest rate hedging, while changes in the cash rate have passed through to banks’ (unhedged) deposit and debt costs in line with historical experience. Over the period, lending rates have moved broadly in line with the cash rate and other reference rates. Accordingly, the spread between banks’ lending rates and funding costs has widened, though it remains narrower than pre-pandemic levels.
The Bank’s Story in Ten Objects
The Reserve Bank of Australia has an unusually large and rich historical archive. This is because we descend from the original government-owned Commonwealth Bank of Australia (which had itself absorbed earlier government banks of colonial origin). As a result, our collection captures over 200 years of Australia’s economic, financial and social history. The collection supports many veins of research. It also enables us to trace the development of our central banking responsibilities and the events that have shaped our place in history and character as an institution. In this article, we tell the Bank’s story in ten objects.
Some graphs in this publication were generated using Mathematica.
ISSN 1837-7211