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ISCOVER
Jessica Darnbrough
While consumer confidence remains historically low, brokers are bullish about the future.
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According to The Adviser’s latest sentiment survey, 65 per cent of brokers expect their business to grow over the coming six months, spurred on by the Reserve Bank’s recent interest rate cuts.
More than 70 per cent of the 200 plus brokers surveyed said the current RBA cash rate will have a positive impact on home loan demand over the coming six months.
One broker who believes the worst is over is Finance Select’s Steve McClure.
In answering the survey, Mr McClure said the market has bottomed out, so the only way from here is up.
“We are at the bottom of the parabola, and now on the way up,” he said.
His comments were echoed by Aussie’s founder John Symond, who told an Investment conference in Sydney earlier this week that the property market should start to see slow, gradual improvement.
“I think the worst is over,” he said.
“We hit the bottom of the cycle and now we will head north. I don’t think we will move fast, the process will be slow and gradual. Ultimately, I would not want to see property prices climb any higher, but I would like to see demand to increase.”
But while many in the industry remain bullish about the future, it seems consumers are not as optimistic, with the latest Westpac Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment positing a disappointing result.
According to the Index, consumer sentiment climbed just 1 per cent in September.
Westpac’s chief economist Bill Evans said he had expected the sentiment to increase by more than 1 per cent.
“Firstly, and most importantly, the Reserve Bank cut its overnight cash rate by 0.25 per cent from 3.5 per cent to 3.25 per cent. Unlike some moves by the Bank which are fully expected by the media and therefore may not have a marked impact on confidence this move was not widely expected and therefore should have registered as a ‘pleasant surprise’ for respondents,” he said.
