Australia: Consumer sentiment reacts to mortgage rates and politics - Westpac

Bill Evans, Research Analyst at Westpac, notes that the Westpac Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment for the Australian economy declined 3% to 100.5 in September from 103.6 in August.

Key Quotes

“This is the weakest sentiment read since November last year. While the Index is still in positive territory, it is now only just above the 100 level.”

“All index components recorded declines in September. The ‘economic outlook, next 5yrs’ sub-index registered the biggest move, a 5.8% fall.”

“Interestingly, the mildest fall was a 0.1% dip in the ‘economic outlook, next 12 months’ sub-index, suggesting the stronger than expected June quarter national accounts may have provided some support to near term expectations.”

“Despite back to back monthly falls, both ‘economic outlook’ sub-indexes remain above year ago levels and comfortably above long run averages.”