Western Australian households are the most financially comfortable in Australia, it has been claimed.
The ME Bank Household Financial Dynamics Report gave WA households a score of 5.57 out of 10 for financial comfort – well above the national average of 5.2.
“Western Australia is the only state in the country to come in above 5.5 in terms of household financial comfort,” said ME Bank CEO Jamie McPhee.
"The exact factors driving this relative comfort are unclear, although itʼs obviously likely that the mining boom is playing a big role.”
It would seem, however, that the mining boom has yet to have a major positive effect on household finances in Queensland – whose households bottomed the list with a score of 4.81.
“Queensland is the only state in the country to dip below 5.0 in terms of household financial comfort,” said McPhee.
He added that it’s likely that January’s devastating floods and Queensland’s relatively high unemployment rate will have played their part in dampening the state’s score.
Second on the list was Victoria (5.41), followed by South Australia (5.28), Tasmania (5.17) and New South Wales (5.15).
