- Warran Hogan, ANZ chief economist
Australian consumers appeared to cheer the change of leadership in the Liberal Party with an increase in confidence over the previous week. The ANZ-Roy Morgan weekly consumer confidence index rose 8.7% from 105.3 to 114.5 in the week ending last Sunday, indicating Australians were confident under the newly-elected Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull than the ex-Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Views on the one-year outlook for the economy surged 25.8%, leaping by 21.1 points to 102.8 last week, which was the second-largest one-week gain since the consumer-confidence series began in 2008. For the Australian economy five years from now, the index surged 13 points to 110.1. Respondents also welcomed the idea of buying a large household item, with the index up 3.7 points to 123.1.
Meanwhile, a separate report showed Australian house prices rose at the fastest pace in almost five years in the second quarter, fuelling fresh concerns about a potential asset bubble. Australia's House Price Index soared 4.7% in the June quarter, the fastest pace since the first quarter of 2010 and following the 1.6% increase in the March quarter of 2015. The index leapt 9.8% year-on-year last quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported, with Sydney prices surging 18.9% and Melbourne prices rising 7.8%.
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