Australia housing runs out of rescuers as RBA is set to hike rates

By Stella Qiu SYDNEY, Sept 24 (Reuters) For decades, whenever house prices in Australia fell, the central bank rode to the rescue with rate cuts to shore up economic demand and keep households spending. House prices are falling once again, but this time the central bank is raising rates, potentially subjecting the housing market to its worst downturn in a generation. The Reserve Bank ​of Australia is expected to lift interest rates for a fourth time next Tuesday to a 15-year high of 4.6%, according ‌to market participants and nearly all of the economists polled by Reuters. An overseas war is complicating the near-term inflation outlook, a global investment boom in data centres is adding to domestic demand for goods and services and government spending on defence and healthcare appears set to stay elevated, lifting longer-term borrowing costs worldwide, economists say. I think we re moving into a new world, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock said on Tuesday, contras