Moody's Investors Service says that housing affordability for new mortgage borrowers improved over the year to August 2018, when a number of major banks raised their mortgage interest rates. "So, while housing prices continued to soften - a development which is positive for affordability - the higher interest rates will offset the effect of these lower prices," said Ilya Serov, a Moody's associate managing director. "Therefore, on balance, we expect housing affordability will remain steady over the next year, while any implication for Australian RMBS is credit neutral." Sydney remains the least affordable city for housing in Australia 0.8 per cent time over the year to August 2018. Liberty Financial has priced a A$750 million Liberty Series 2018-3 RMBS issue. Notably the deal includes a €60.3 million tranche to accommodate demand European investors. The transaction was upsized from a launch volume of A$500 million to $750 million collateral from. NAB is the sole arranger and joint lead manager, along with Bank of America Merrill Lynch (Euro Notes only), CBA, Deutsche Bank and Westpac. All Class A notes were rated AAA/Aaa by Fitch/Moody's, and priced at 75 basis points over one month BBSW, 135 bps over BBSW, 75 bps over three month EURIBOR, and 190 bps over BBSW, respectively. The remaining securities, comprising Class B, C, D, E and F notes are expected to be rated Aa2(sf), A2(sf), Baa2(sf), Ba2(sf) and B2(sf), respectively. The pricing for these notes was not disclosed. Net wealth has grown strongly in Australia, although the rich are getting substantially richer while poorer cohorts are making minimal progress, according to the just released first edition of the Roy Morgan Wealth Report. The report shows that while some indicators improved - the gender gap in wealth has narrowed from 26.5 per cent to 10.6 per cent over ten years - the wealthiest 10 per cent of Australians, those with an average per capita wealth of over A$2 million, hold 48.3 per cent of net wealth compared to 46.8 per cent in 2007, while the poorest 50 per cent of Australians have seen their total share of net wealth fall from a 3.9 per cent share of private wealth 10 years ago to 3.7 per cent in 2017. New Zealand's Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister travels to Sydney today to progress open banking options for Kiwi customers. Kris Faafoi said he wanted to see the work underway in Australia on the consumer data right trial while he considers "whether there is a role for the New Zealand government in opening up New Zealand's banking regime further". He will meet with the chair of the open banking review, Scott Farrell, and law professor Katherine Kemp. Faafoi will be also be meeting with Macquarie Bank executives to discuss its "proactive approach to data sharing through secure data feeds".