According to the latest Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) Weekly economic report, the banking giant continues to "expect the unemployment rate to rise towards 5.5% over the coming 6-12 months."
In light of this and "persistently weak consumer demand", the bank believes the Reserve Bank will cut the cash rate once more in November to 0.75%.
Whilst this is great news for borrowers, it is quite the opposite for savers and income investors.
Thankfully, the Australian share market is here to save the day with a plethora of dividend shares offering very generous yields.
Here are three that I would consider buying this week to beat low interest rates:
National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR)
With a network of 146 centres, National Storage is one of the largest self-storage providers in the ANZ market. It has been growing its network at a solid rate over the last few years thanks to acquisitions and developments. The good news is that management believes this can continue for some time, which I expect to support solid income and distribution growth over the next decade. At present its shares offer a trailing 5.5% distribution yield.
Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP)
Stockland is a diversified Australian property company which owns, manages, and develops shopping centres, housing estates, industrial estates, and retirement villages. This year Stockland is on course to achieve FFO per security growth of ~5% and will pay a final distribution of 14.1 cents per security in August. This will bring its full year distribution to 27.6 cents per security, which equates to a 6% distribution yield.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)
Another dividend share to consider buying is Telstra. Due to its focus on cost savings and productivity, the launch of 5G, and the return of rational competition in the telco industry, I believe it is well-placed to return to earnings and dividend growth from FY 2020 or FY 2021. This could make it worth snapping up shares now for the long term, especially given its generous dividends. Based on the assumption that it trims its final dividend to 8 cents per share, I estimate that Telstra's shares still offer a forward fully franked 4.2% dividend yield.
