ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 1.2pts to 79.9 this week, now 28.5pts below the same week a year ago.
Consumer confidence has now dropped for five straight weeks, the longest series of declines for over two years since August 2020.
It is now 9.9pts below the 2022 weekly average of 89.8.
Although the broad-based decline in consumer confidence continued this week across Australia, some states saw an increase - particularly NSW and SA. The measure was down in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.
Across the index, the questions that drove the drop related to sentiment regarding people’s personal finances, with both down.
Roy Morgan research showed that 21% of Australians (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year. This is compared to 47% (up 1ppt) that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.
It is the highest rounded figure for this indicator since March 28/29, 2020 and the highest figure for this indicator (46.9%) to one decimal place since August 1992 – 48.4%.
Looking forward, just over a quarter of Australians, 28% (down 1ppt) expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 37% (up 3ppts) expect them to be ‘worse off’.
Only 6% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months, compared to 41% (up 1ppt) that expect ‘bad times.’
Sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term is reportedly unchanged this week, with 13% (up 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years, compared to 19% (up 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
When it comes to buying intentions, 22% (down 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 47% (down 3ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
ANZ head of Australian economics David Plank said consumer confidence decreased 1.5% last week, with the federal budget having no clear positive impact.
“The Q3 CPI hitting a 32-year high has pushed household inflation expectations to 6.6%, their highest since February 2011,” Plank said.
“The share of people who think they are financially worse off than the same time last year has risen to 47%, the highest value for this indicator in over three decades.
“Cost of living concerns, along with expectations of more rate hikes by the RBA, have caused confidence to decline to levels last seen during the early weeks of the COVID lockdowns.
“This is also reflected in the 15.6% decline in confidence among people paying off their mortgages over the past six weeks.
“The continued decline in confidence seems to finally be having some impact on spending. ANZ data for October indicates the usual run-up in spending seen late in the month is not occurring.”