Safe as houses: Banks and property seen as wisest places to put new savings

Property and banks are seen as the safest places to put your money, according to the latest Westpac/Melbourne Institute index of consumer confidence.

Banks were seen as the wisest place to put new savings, with 34.3% selecting this option, up 6.8% over the quarter.

Another 25.7% of respondents were keen to put savings into property.

In the past 41 years, CommSec chief economist Craig James noted that there have only been five higher readings for consumer confidence in banks.

Paying off debt was the choice of 13.7% of those surveyed, followed by shares and superannuation at 8.5% and 4.0% respectively.

“Aussie consumers aren’t keen to spend any extra money they have or to pay off any more debt, believing the funds should just stay in the bank or go towards a property purchase,” said James.

Despite this, the statistics around whether consumers believed it was “time to buy a dwelling” noted that those saying it is the time dropped 8.2% in the September quarter. This is now 23.2% down over the year.

“Investors don’t seem to agree according to latest lending figures,” noted James.

It was noted that the Reserve Bank is likely not to move before 2015, while the savings intentions are positives for the financial sector and for home building stocks.

This story originally appeared on Property Observer.