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Consumer market sentiment is at a “fairly neutral” level, as it has been for most of the past year and a half, a new report has found.
The CoreLogic Quarterly Economic Review for December 2018 has shown that, according to the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index, economic conditions over the past year have left consumers feeling somewhat pessimistic about the past, but they are more optimistic about the year ahead.
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index was recorded at 99.6 points in January 2019.
CoreLogic said that when consumer sentiment is above 100 points, it indicates that consumers are more optimistic than pessimistic.
It said that the January 2019 index reading was the lowest it has been since November 2017 and was also the index’s first time below 100 points since that time.
Returns
The CoreLogic Accumulation Index, an instrument that measures total returns from the housing market, found that national dwelling values fell by 1.2 per cent over the 2018 calendar year.
The regional areas performed better than the capital cities. Capital cities were down by as much as 2.6 per cent, their weakest performance on record, and while the regional markets were up by 4.7 per cent, their performance wasn’t strong enough to lift the national number into the black.
Off peak
The report also found that dwelling values nationally are now 5.2 per cent lower than their September 2017 peak.
While combined capital city dwelling values are 6.0 per cent lower than their September 2017 peak, combined regional market values have recorded a more moderate 1.5 per cent fall from their May 2018 peak.
Adelaide, Hobart and Canberra are the only individual capital cities in which values are currently at historic highs.
Sydney values peaked in June 2017 and then fell by 11.1 per cent in 17 months. Melbourne fell by 7.2 per cent in 13 months. Brisbane peaked in May 2018 and has since fallen by 0.4 of a percentage point. Perth values are 15.6 per cent lower than their June 2014 peak. Darwin reached a historic high in May 2014 but has fallen by 24.5 per cent since then.
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