What does it mean for that, Michael?

Well, Canberra property values fell 1.1% over the last month, in fact, 2.8% over the last quarter, and it's likely they're going to stumble a bit more.

As consumer confidence wanes, because people don't like hearing that the mortgages are going up and what if values drop more, but that's exactly the kind of sentiment that creates the best buying opportunities, the best I've seen, I guess, in five decades.

We've not had a downturn at all.

miserable as this for a long time.

So if you're looking to buy your new home or an investment property, I wouldn't let this stop you.

I'd actually, if things are on sale, go out and take advantage of it.

What do you think that that means? Will that end up hurting the people that they're meant to help?

What do you think they'd be?

Well, let's start off explaining what a cognitive bias is.

It's a mental shortcut.

We get all this information coming in the whole time.

So these biases help us as humans make fast decisions.

But the market sometimes punishes shortcuts, Louise, especially when the stakes are high and the information is so noisy as it is at the moment.

And intelligence and experience actually doesn't immunise us against these biases.

When does patience become denial?

And you were like, "Nah, Ed, to be honest, people have basically got over it by now." But just before we dig into the impact of the most recent bombshell, for Kiwis who haven't heard about it, what have they lobbed at you?

Well, we've had a Labor government for many years now, and it's a form of stealth socialism where they have not only attacked property, but also businesses.

And what they're talking about is intergenerational inequity.

They're saying it's not fair for the younger generation who can't get into property.

Having said that, the, the Labor government has taken on a 1.3 trillion, with a T, government debt that future generations are gonna have to pay, and they didn't ask for it.

So this intergenerational inequity's coming from other than, than just those who own property and those who don't.

So yes, there's been people who can't afford to get in the property market, first-time buyers.

Does that mean that I'm not caught by the capital gains tax 'cause I'm a New Zealand tax resident?

Did their decision to surprise you?

No, I think most commentators expected the Reserve Bank to remain unchanged with their interest rates in the August meeting last week.

It's what I expected.

But they have a statement afterwards explaining how they think about things.

And they told the public that inflation is still too high and they don't expect inflation to return to where they're wanting it to until late 2027.

So that's over a year.

And they did warn us that there is some upside risk.

And is the RBA more comfortable with the current level of inflation? And does this mean that interest rates won't rise again? Or what does that look like?

Now, look, what, what are we looking at here?

Well, our property markets are falling, and I agree with you, it's unlikely to be just a winter chill.

The property markets move in cycles, and for many parts of Australia, we've had a number of strong years of growth.

Uh, uh, look, I remember in our chat even at the beginning of this year, we talked about how resilient the markets were, how well they'd climbed in 2025.

Uh, but, uh, that was on the back of increasing confidence, and we'd had three interest rate cuts, and since then the conversation's changed.

Uh, so we've had a number of interest rate rises.

We've had the war overseas.

I- is this a good sign, and what do you think the Reserve Bank, um, is gonna do off the back?

Now, look, what do you think's gonna happen with interest rates moving forward, Michael? We've had this happen this week, but what about kinda moving forward?

Well, we know that RBA raised interest rates three times in the first half of this year.

But now our property markets are starting to slow down.

The economy is slowing a bit, inflation is slowing a bit, unemployment has crept up a bit.

So I guess this is giving the Reserve Bank a chance to catch its breath, see what's going on.

But I think overall interest rates are now, uh, peaked, and probably not gonna fall till maybe the second quarter of 2027.

In other words, another year before they start to come down.

... what they plan to tweak, and does it have anything to do with property anyway?