Australia

 

PHOTO: Australia

Australia’s slumping property and stock markets have driven the biggest decline in household wealth in seven years, underscoring pressure on the central bank to resume cutting interest rates.

Household wealth decreased 2.1 percent in the final three months of last year, the largest drop since the third quarter of 2011, the statistics bureau said in Sydney Thursday. The decline was driven by land and property values, which slid for a fourth straight quarter, and financial assets as pension funds were hit by stock market losses.

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