Companies were largely able to pass cost increases on to the surprisingly resilient Australian consumer, allowing them to defend profit margins, while retail continued to defy analysts’ expectations of a downturn.
Growth in superannuation drove Australia’s managed fund industry to near-record levels in the December 2022 quarter. While most asset classes delivered positive returns and Australian equities outperformed, investors are looking more to offshore assets for portfolio diversification.
Household wealth in September recorded its third largest quarterly decline since the Australian Bureau of Statistics began keeping records in 1989. And wealth is likely to keep falling in the coming quarters, as the lagged effects of interest rate hikes flow through.
