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A merciless flow of gloomy economic news nudged consumer sentiment slightly lower in January after it rallied late in 2008 off the back of the government’s stimulus package and aggressive interest rate reductions.
The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment, released yesterday, recorded a fall of 2.2 per cent in January to a reading of 89.9.
While sentiment did decline it remains almost 14 per cent up on the lowest level reached in 2008.
Sentiment towards buying a house also continued to improve with the index tracking responses to “is now a good time to buy a house?” edging up 0.4 per cent to 137.3 – the highest reading since March 2002.