Australian Property Stocks Rose as Retail Sales Boost Optimism
The Australian real estate related stocks rose in Sydney trading after domestic retail-sales and housing-approvals data encouraged speculation an economic recovery is underway and will bolster the property market.
Goodman Group, a real-estate trust, surged 8.2 percent at 1:55 p.m. local time on the Australian stock exchange. Mirvac Group advanced 5.7 percent. Abacus Property Group climbed 4.7 percent. Retail stocks also gained.
Rceently Angus Gluskie said that the data provides support for the emergence of a broad- based economic recovery, which would augur well for commercial and industrial property sectors,” she oversees about $300 million at White Funds Management Pty. in Sydney. “It tells us consumers are out there buying again.”
In August the Australian retail sales, approvals to build private homes and bank mortgage lending jumped. Sales climbed 0.9 percent from July and approvals to build private houses increased 3.1 percent, the eighth consecutive month of gains, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. Bank lending also rose 0.1 percent and loans to consumers buying houses jumped 0.6 percent, a central bank report showed.
Billabong International Ltd., Australia’s biggest surfwear maker, rose 3.4 percent, and David Jones Ltd., Australia’s second-biggest department store, gained 2.4 percent.