Taking the bad news with the good

Capital spending was the bad news in the Australian economy for the September quarter. This survey showed a 9.2% decline in spending in the quarter, and a 20% drop in the past year. This is the largest yearly decline in the 30-year history of the data. It wasn’t just bad news however, with the unemployment rate falling from 6.2% in September to 5.9% in October, the lowest it has been since April last year. Somewhere in between was the news about house prices. Despite the astoundingly strong results achieved by “The Block” participants, house prices have clearly softened almost everywhere. The most accepted private-sector source, CoreLogic RPData reported a fall across the capital cities of 1.5% in November, led by a 3.5% decline in Melbourne. Prices also fell in Sydney, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra. For the full wrap up of economic data from BT Investment Management click here. (VIEW LINK)