On Tuesday the Reserve Bank of Australia will meet to discuss the cash rate once again.
The central bank is widely expected to keep rates on hold at the record low of 1.5% for another month, marking an incredible two years without change.
Unfortunately for savers, with some economists expecting rates to be on hold until 2019 at the earliest, there could be at least another year of rates being held at a record low.
The good news is that the Australian share market is here to save the day with its plethora of dividend shares. Three top shares I would buy this week are listed below:
National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR)
National Storage is a self-storage giant with a growing portfolio of centres spread throughout Australia. It recently announced that it has completed the acquisition of eight quality self-storage assets in Australia and New Zealand, bringing its total network to 130 facilities. I believe this bodes well for its future growth and should allow it capture growing demand from population growth and baby boomer downsizing. At present its shares offer a trailing distribution yield of approximately 5.6%.
Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF)
Rural Funds is a real estate investment trust with a difference. Rather than your traditional fund which invests in retail, commercial, or housing properties, Rural Funds is focused on agricultural assets. Considering how Australia is quickly becoming the food bowl of Asia, I believe its diverse portfolio of assets are likely to be in demand for a long time to come. So with rental indexation built into a lot of their long-term contracts and the company recently making some sizeable acquisitions, I think Rural Funds is well-positioned to deliver solid earnings and distribution growth for some time to come. Its shares currently a trailing 5.3% dividend which is paid in quarterly instalments.
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)
While I think all the big four banks' shares are trading at attractive prices at the moment, my preference remains Westpac. Its shares are trading on lower than average earnings and book value multiples after a sizeable decline brought about by the Budget levy and the Royal Commission. While things will not be easy, especially with a cooling housing market, I expect out of cycle rate rises to lead to profit growth over the short to medium term. This could make it a good time to consider picking up shares if you don't already own any banks. Westpac's shares currently offer investors a trailing fully franked 6.4% dividend.
