The recap of this weeks mortgage, home loan and housing news in Australia.

This week it’s all about the Federal Governments Budget - here is top stories for the week ending 18/05/08:

Budget Speech 2008-09
Transcript of the budget speech by federal treasurer, Wayne Swan View Full Transcript »

“It is a Budget that strengthens Australia’s economic foundations, and delivers for working families under pressure.

It is the responsible Budget our nation needs at this time of international turbulence, and high inflation at home.

A Budget carefully designed to fight inflation, and ensure we meet the uncertainties of the future from a position of strength.”

Budget Reply
Transcript of the Budget Reply speech by leader of the opposition, Brendan Nelson. View Full Transcript »

“The Government promised to ease the pressure on “working families”, but failed the very people they promised to help.

How can any government boast of a budget that proposes to put 134,000 Australians out of work? Under the Coalition it was ‘welfare to work’. Under Labor, we are headed again on the road of work to welfare.”

How does increasing prices reduce inflation?
Sydney Morning Herald
Malcolm Turnbull, shadow federal treasurer, presents his case in black and white suggesting that Wayne Swans budget has done little to address the cost of living pressures and does not even match their own rhetoric of combating inflation. View Article »

The Budget: No Inflation-Buster
FN Arena
It is agreed that the biggest problem facing Australia at the moment is inflation. While a little bit of inflation is a good thing, an overdose can destroy an economy by eroding corporate earnings, personal incomes and superannuation writes Greg Peel also suggesting that the budget just wasn’t the inflation buster it was promised to be. View Story »

Budget won’t take pressure off inflation
The Age
Tim Colebatch reports on the overriding opinion of many economists that the Government has produced a reasonable budget, but not one that will take the pressure off inflation or interest rates. View Story »

Spend wisely and clear your debts with tax cuts
The Australian
Tim Blue provides some good advice for those in line to receive tax cuts from the latest federal budget. With the potential fro rate rises not out of the question it could be wise to allocate any windfalls to paying down debt. View Story »

Reserve: rates key to beating inflation
Sydney Morning Herald
Despite a federal budget this week touted as “inflation fighting”, Mr Stevens told a dinner at the University of Sydney that fiscal policy remained a less important tool in managing the economy than interest rates writes Jessica Irvine. View Story »

Stretching your $20 tax cut
News.com.au
Average wage earners will be $20 a week better off thanks to tax cuts announced in the Federal Budget. NEWS.com.au looks at what you can do with the cash with more suggestions of using it to pay down debt. View Story »

Who’s rich? What’s poor?
SMH
The new tax thresholds in the budget have thrown the benefits criteria into confusion, writes Kerry-Anne Walsh. View Story »

Federal budget benefits and hazards
The Australian
TAX cuts are on the way after this week’s budget, and so are better benefits for low to middle income families. Tim Blue provides a summary of all you need to know from the budget with help from Colonial First State. View Report »

Other Mortgage Related News:

Virgin cuts back on mortgage sales
The Sheet
John Kavanagh reports on a notice that’s been posted in the home loan section of the Virgin Money website that reads: “The cost of money is currently so high that we’re unable to bring you the great value home loan we’re synonymous with. So it makes sense for everyone if we hit the pause button for a bit on our home loan and focus on helping people find a good deal.” View Story »

From The RBA:

The Australian Economy Then and Now
A speech by Glenn Stevens, Reserve Bank Governor View [PDF] »

A Comparison of the US and Australian Housing Markets
Address to the Sub-prime Mortgage Meltdown Symposium by Guy Debelle, Assistant Governor (Financial Markets) View »

A Sectoral Model of the Australian Economy
A research paper by Jeremy Lawson & Daniel Rees. View »