It will put our housing markets on more sustainable footings and allow more people to purchase their own home. So there is a positive side too. I would now like to turn to monetary policy. The Reserve Bank Board has held the cash rate steady at 1½ per cent since August 2016.
This is a stimulatory setting of monetary policy, which has helped support job creation and a gradual lift in inflation. When we met with the Committee six months ago, I said that if further progress on achieving our goals of full employment and returning inflation to target is made, you could expect the next move in interest rates to be up, rather than down.