Red Book of truth reveals all
Consumer sentiment remained mired at very low levels in October, according to Westpac's 'red book', despite a small lift in the reading from 79.7 to 82.0.
Spending has held up, to some extent, as households run down their financial buffers, but a contraction in spending is expected ahead.
House price expectations continued their relentless rise, however, as they have all year.
The house price expectations index increased +7.4 per cent over the past three months to a new cycle high.
Source: Westpac: Red Book
All of the most populated states have house price expectations in positive territory, with Western Australia and Queensland now leading the way.
Source: Westpac, Red Book
Looking further out, economists see confidence growth among the industry rising to 2-year highs.
This reflects record high population growth, with immigration already topping 500,000 this year, and housing supply not keeping pace.
This week's developer insolvency was NPM Group, a building group with 45,000 projects completed, and this follows on from Dome Group last week.
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Container freight costs have now fallen by more than 90 per cent since their 2021 peak.
Let's hope this translates into lower inflation ahead too.
