RBA keeps its focus on jobs, housing even as markets improve

Sydney

AUSTRALIA'S central bank kept its focus on employment and housing markets even as signs emerge of improvements in both.

While property had been "rising briskly" in Sydney and Melbourne, there were also some signs that price pressures were beginning to ease, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said on Tuesday in minutes of this month's policy meeting when interest rates were kept at 1.5 per cent.