Rich Harvey

And when it's below 100, there's negative sentiment.

When it's above 100, there's positive sentiment.

And Westpac have been doing this for 46 years.

They've been running this sentiment.

And if you look at the really times when there was major economic depressions or dislocations, during COVID, it got down to 75.

During the GFC, it got down to 79.

And in the 1990s, in the major recession in Australia, it got down to 64.

So, you know, currently we're sitting at 84.

So it's not like we're in the absolute dire straits at the moment.

I think everyone's just got to remember that these consumer sentiments are surveys and these feelings aren't facts.

But the problem is that there's a herd mentality, which really does have a big impact on the direction of the market.

Yeah, like I sat down the other day, Craig, and I just thought, look, I'm just sick of all this negative sentiment.

There's just so much negativity.

And I put my thinking cap on and I came up with at least seven factors that are dragging the economy and the property market down.

Firstly, obviously, is rising interest rates.

As interest rates rise, we're trying to contain inflation, the cost of borrowing goes up.

So that has a negative and dampening effect on property prices.

As I mentioned, consumer sentiment has a negative impression and that also tends to mean there's less buyers about and less demand for property.

I think the third thing is that we've got rising inflation, rising cost of living pressures.

So people are watching their wallets and their bottom line a lot more than they used to.