A slew of data on the housing market and retail sales will be pored over by Australian investors this week as the local share market toys with a push towards the 6,000-point mark.
New figures on new home sales, prices and approvals for houses, units and townhouses yet to be built are all expected to provide fresh insights into building activity and demand.
The Housing Industry Association releases its closely-watched new home sales figures for September on Tuesday, followed a day later by CoreLogic's figures on how home prices faired in October.
The CoreLogic data is expected to confirm home prices remain fairly flat overall with falls in Sydney offsetting gains in Melbourne, while Thursday's building approval figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics are expected to show a one per cent fall.
"Residential property price growth in Sydney and Melbourne looks to have peaked with a slowdown likely over the next year or two, but Perth and Darwin are likely close to the bottom, Hobart is likely to remain strong and moderate price gains are expected to continue in Adelaide and Brisbane," AMP Capital's chief economist Shane Oliver said.
The health of Australia's shopping sector will be in the spotlight when Woolworths reports first quarter sales figures on Tuesday and the ABS releases September retail sales figures on Friday.
While monthly sales are expected to have risen 0.3 per cent following two months of falls, sales for the full September quarter are expected to have slowed sharply.
On the local sharemarket, investors will be hoping for a solid start to the week after strong gains on Wall Street last Friday.
The Nasdaq Composite recorded its best day in nearly a year, adding 144.49 points to 6,701.26 thanks to a surge by tech stocks including Microsoft, Apple and Google's parent company Alphabet
The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose 33.33 points to 23,434.19, while a 13 per cent lift in retail giant Amazon on the back of strong quarterly sales figures propelled the S&P 500 20.67 points higher to 2,581.07.
Australia's sharemarket closed lower last Friday after the High Court's ruling disqualifying Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and four other politicians from parliament because of their dual-citizenship.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 fell 13.1 points to 5,903.2 points, ending hopes the index might breach the 6,000 point mark and consigning the market to a slightly negative performance for the week.
The broader All Ordinaries index dropped 13.2 points to 5,969.3 points.
In the week ahead, CSR is due to report full year results on Wednesday, while Amcor and nib hold their annual general meetings for shareholders.
On Thursday, National Australia Bank releases its full year results, and Fairfax, Boral, and Seven West Media will host shareholder meetings.
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