Australians seem to be overly pessimistic in outlook, despite being the world’s wealthiest people.

When Credit Suisse surveyed 216 countries, Australians came out on top with a median wealth per adult of AUD $187,848 – eight times the world average!

However, as The Australian’s Terry Ryder recently noted, the nation has its hands thrust in its pockets, ‘saving, not investing, talking, not doing, following, not leading’ he said.

An article comparing the global economy to a hospital made the following characterisation – ‘Europe’s on life support, the US is in the general ward and Australia is in the ward for hypochondriacs’.

Ryder observed that the reason for this could be Australia’s historic ties to Europe and the US. Their economic declines have left us feeling insecure, despite our wealth, having the strongest economy in the world, low unemployment, rising incomes and attractive interest rates.

This historic and unfounded lack of confidence is directly affecting real estate, but with signs that the market may have bottomed in May, Australians are expected to begin spending and investing again soon.

Categories: Q & A

Tags: Australia, Australian dollar, australian real estate blogs, Business, Credit Suisse, Economy of Australia, first national real estate, United States, World economy