Tariff-triggered rate cuts could see house prices surge

SQM Research Managing Director Louis Christopher says he expects to see a fairly strong recovery in the Australian housing market if the Reserve Bank cuts interest rates four times in 2025, as financial markets are currently pricing in. 

But the bullish forecast depends on unemployment staying below 6%. 

If four rate cuts do eventuate, Mr Christopher expects Australia's most populated cities, Sydney and Melbourne, to see the biggest lift in prices.

Trillions of dollars flowed back into Wall Street, after a tariff backflip from the White House. The benchmark S&P 500 index posted its best one-day gain since October 2008 with a 9.5 per cent rise, while the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 12.2 per cent, driven by the Magnificent Seven stocks with Tesla, with NVIDIA Corp and Apple leading the gains.  Australian stocks increased in value by almost $120 billion, as the local sharemarket posted its best one-day gain since 2020.  The benchmark ASX 200 index surged 4.5 per cent to 7,710 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index jumped 4.7 per cent to 7,914 points.  However, market analysts are generally warning that investors should expect more extreme volatility until the tariff situation is finally resolved.  Mr Trump called a 90 day reprieve on his tariff war and slashed the tax to just 10 per cent for all nations except China.  For weeks, he's shrugged aside an unrelenting fall on Wall Street as stocks dived on the prospect of lower growth, a spike in inflation and the growing chance of a recession. But on Tuesday, after weeks of discontent, the real power players on financial markets took action.  In an unprecedented attack on America's global financial dominance, they began abandoning US government bonds, sending market interest rates sharply higher.  It was an ominous sign that the world was losing faith in America and that the US would pay the price.