https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2021/sp-gov-2021-12-16.html  12/16  12/16/21, 10:38 AM  The RBA and the Australian Economy | Speeches | RBA  Graph 12  Private Residential Building Approvals* New houses, by region group ’000  no Wagga Wagga  Capital cities 8  50  6  40  Regional  4  2  2017  2019  30  2021  2017  2019  2021  20  *  Smoothed using a three-month trailing average Sources: ABS; RBA  In terms of the RBA's responsibilities, we do not target housing prices, nor would it make sense to do so.
While higher interest rates over the past couple of years would have meant smaller increases in housing prices, they would have also meant that fewer people had jobs and wages growth would have been slower. That is not an attractive trade-off, nor is it one that is within our mandate to make.