Australia: Sentiment around commercial property moderated a little in Q4 - NAB

Overall sentiment around commercial property (measured by the NAB Commercial Property Index) moderated a little in Q4 (down 1 to +17) but is still well above the long-term average (+2) for Australian economy, explains Alan Oster, Group Chief Economist at NAB.

Key Quotes

“NAB Group Chief Economist said “Positive sentiment likely reflected a steady economy, healthy employment growth and strong business conditions.”

“CBD Hotels out-performed all other sectors.”

“Industrial sentiment also lifted, amid continued reports of strong warehousing and logistics activity linked to growth in online retail (including Amazon) and e-commerce.”

“Office has eased but is still out-performing.”

“But Retail sentiment fell quite sharply and turned negative for the first time since mid-2014.”

“Not surprisingly, NAB’s Business Survey also showed Retail was the only industry sector reporting negative business conditions” said Mr Oster.

“Overall confidence levels fell to their lowest levels in 2 years and fell in all sectors - except CBD Hotels.”