Building society profits back on track

Australia's eleven building societies reported an aggregate profit of $120 million in the year to June 2009, a decline of 15 per cent over the prior year. Profits on a quarterly basis, though, have already turned the corner, quarterly data on sector profit published yesterday by APRA shows.

Return on assets fell to 0.6 per cent from 0.7 per cent while return on equity fell to 7.5 per cent from 9.0 per cent in 2008. Both the ROA and ROE measures are back at the high end of the long-term range of profit measures in the June 2009 quarter.