Australia Westpac Consumer Sentiment Index fell -3% to 81.2 in August. The reading was on par with the lows of the Covid and Global Financial Crisis. Also, there was a cumulative decrease of -22.9% from recent peak made in November 2021.
Economic conditions for the 12 months dropped from 80.3 to 73.9. Economic conditions for the next five years dropped from 91.6 to 90.7. Unemployment expectations index dropped from 109.8 to 103.4. House price expectations index dropped from 104.9 to 97.1.
Regarding RBA’s next meeting on September 6, Westpac expects the central bank to hike by another 50bps to 2.35%, leaving the cash rate in “neutral range”. It expects RBA to then scale back the increase to 25bps per meeting until February 2023.
