A review of things you need to know before you go home on Wednesday; no rate changes, buyers market for housing, KiwiBuild ballot criteria, land tax gets a booster, job ads sag, swaps stable, NZD up

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
No changes today.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
No changes here either.

BUYERS MARKET
The housing market is cooling, says QV. According to their data, average property values have fallen in Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington over the last three months - and vendors are being warned against unrealistic price expectations. Dunedin is about the only market with good increases still coming through. Barfoot's Auckland also reported June sales results with prices basically unchanged and modest volumes.

HIGH EARNERS INTO THE BALLOT
The Government has announced the upper thresholds to be included in their ballot for KiwiBuild properties. First home buyer couples can earn up to $180,000, single buyers up to $120,000 per year. These levels have been set to include high-paid state workers who routinely support the Labour Party. And they now say you can qualify if you are a 'second chancer' after a relationship breakup (which is a good idea).

LAND TAX GETS AN IMPORTANT BOOST
The IMF is calling on the Tax Working Group to introduce a land tax in a bid to help give the Government’s KiwiBuild project a leg up.

DAIRY PAYOUT UNDER THREAT
Today's sharpest fall in dairy prices for over a year raises questions about whether the current level of forecast milk price for farmers this season will be achievable. Another risk to our economy.

JOB MARKET CLAMS UP
Bad business confidence is showing up in job ads. The latest evidence is in today's release of the ANZ Job Ad data. Jobs growth has stalled and is starting to move in the wrong direction. Business expectations of activity and intentions to hire have deteriorated and this is flowing through into job ads. Uncertainty about the new labour relations policy also means the brakes have been tapped harder than first expected.

COMMODITY PRICES SLIP
The ANZ World Commodity Price Index slipped -1.0% in June from May, following five consecutive monthly increases. However, the level is still +2.2% above the index for the same month in 2017.

"PEACE DISEASE"? BUCKLE UP
And as if we don't have enough to worry about, an official editorial in the Chinese People Liberation Army Daily, says senior CCP officials are accusing it of having "peace disease" for having no recent combat experience. Go figure.

SWAP RATES STABLE
Local swap rates unchanged today. It has been a long time since we have had zero change, probably because risk signals out of the USA are absent. The UST 10yr is now at 2.83%, down -3 bps. The Aussie Govt 10yr is at 2.59, down -1 bp, the China Govt 10yr is at 3.51% (up +2 bps), and the NZ Govt 10 yr is at 2.80%, down -2 bps. The 90 day bank bill rate is unchanged at 1.98%.

BITCOIN MEANDERING
The bitcoin price is now at US$6,455 which is -2.4% lower than this time yesterday. (By the way, gold has recovered in Asian markets today, now at US$1,258/oz which is up almost +US$20.)

NZD FIRMER
The NZD is firmer as risk appetites improve slightly and is now at 67.7 USc. On the cross rate we are lower at 91.4 AUc and 58 euro cents. That has the TWI-5 at 71.

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