Last week the Reserve Bank of Australia's minutes from its April meeting were released to the market.
Most agree that those minutes and then a weak job report have extinguished any hopes that the central bank would be able to raise rates in 2018.
So with the paltry interest rates on savings accounts and term deposits likely to be here for some time to come, I think income investors should look to the share market.
Three quality dividend shares I would buy today are listed below:
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ)
Investors may want to let the dust settle on recent developments in the Royal Commission, but when it does I think this banking giant would be a good option. Based on its last close price, ANZ Bank's shares are currently changing hands at a lowly 1.3x book value and offer investors a generous trailing fully franked 6% dividend.
Codan Limited (ASX: CDA)
At 14x annualised earnings I think the shares of this radio communications, metal detection, and mining technology company are looking very attractive right now. Especially after the company's Minetec business signed a global licensing agreement with U.S. giant Caterpillar. While this isn't necessarily going to be material to earnings in FY 2018, in the long-term I think it has the potential to be a key driver of growth. As could the release of a new range of products, including its next generation dual-sensing countermine detector. Codan's shares currently provide a trailing fully franked 4.5% dividend.
National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR)
National Storage is the largest self-storage operator in Australia with 86 centres nationwide. Demand for its storage facilities has been growing strongly over the last few years, leading to high occupancy levels and solid profit and distribution growth. Thanks to its strong development pipeline of 11 new developments and a number of new expansion projects, I expect this solid run to continue. Management has provided FY 2018 distribution guidance of between 9.6 and 10 cents per share. The middle of this range equates to a yield of 6.15% at the current share price.
