Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment July 2015

The Westpac-MI index of Consumer Sentiment fell by 3.2% in July to 92.2. The index has now been below 100 for 15 of the past 17 months, signalling pessimism remains firmly entrenched. Given developments in Greece and China in the past month, the result is not a surprise. Sentiment around housing was, arguably, the most significant development in this month’s survey: the index tracking assessments of ‘time to buy a dwelling’ tumbled 16.7%. Also, the sub-index tracking views on ‘family finances compared to a year ago’ fell by 10.4% but that tracking assessments of ‘family finances over the next 12 months’ rose by 6.9%. The sub-index on ‘economic conditions over the next 12 months’ fell by 10.5% and that on ‘economic conditions over the next 5 years’ fell by 4.4%. (VIEW LINK)