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Finder’s Economic Positivity Index

Tracking the outlook Finder's panel of economic experts.

Saranga Sudarshan's headshot

By

Saranga Sudarshan

Updated

Fact checked

Key takeaways

  • Finder's Economic Positivity Index drops by 5%.
  • 7% of Finder's panel on average had a positive view of the economy.
  • With the downturn, the index returns to mid-year lows.

The main factor driving the index's decline is that none of Finder's panel of economists had a positive outlook on household debt for the next six months. The second biggest factor is employment, with only 4% of economists holding a positive view.

The number of economists optimistic about wage growth fell to just 15% in August 2024, down from 45% in August 2022. Additionally, 8% of experts were optimistic about housing affordability and 8% about the cost of living over the next six months.

Finder's Graham Cooke noted that, "The last few months have shown the only significant upward trend in economic sentiment since early 2022, when the average positivity peaked at 38% in March 2022. No experts had a positive outlook on household debt or housing affordability, which is understandable in the middle of a high-interest cost of living crisis. Despite likely cash rate cuts in 2024, renters and first home buyers can expect to feel more economic pain."

What is the Finder Economic Positivity Index?

Finder's Economic Positivity Index is a monthly measure of how the economists on Finder's RBA cash rate panel view the outlook for the Australian economy across 5 broad categories. It provides a snapshot of the consensus positive sentiment of economic experts on the Australian economy as a whole over the next 6 months.

The index is collated from over 3,400 responses to Finder's RBA cash rate survey since March 2018. It is produced by analysing data collected across 5 categories:

  • Employment
  • Wage growth
  • Housing affordability
  • Cost of living
  • Household debt

Each category is measured with a question that asks whether the economist has a positive, neutral or negative outlook over the following 6 months. These responses are then collated into a consensus opinion, then averaged to form the final positivity index.

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Analyst

Saranga Sudarshan was an insights analyst at Finder. He has a PhD from the University of St Andrews in political philosophy. Previously he was a research analyst at Frost & Sullivan. Saranga loves cricket, sports analytics and the way data can provide novel insights. See full bio

Saranga's expertise
Saranga has written 24 Finder guides across topics including:
  • Personal finance
  • Data analysis
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