ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence dropped 1.9 points to 82.5 this week after the Albanese Government broke an election promise and vowed to change the long-awaited stage 3 tax cuts.
Consumer confidence dropped to its lowest so far in 2024 and has now spent a record 52 straight weeks below the mark of 85.
The index is now 4.3 points below the same week a year ago but still 4.5 points above the 2023 weekly average of 78.
ANZ senior economist Adelaide Timbrell said while consumer confidence softened, the four-week moving average rose to its highest level since early February 2023.
“The four-week average of inflation expectations was at its equal-lowest since March 2022, ahead of quarterly CPI data due out this week,” Timbrell said.
“We expect headline inflation to come in at 4.3% y/y to Q4 2023, below the RBA’s forecast of 4.5%.
“A rate hold in February would be supported by this result and would buoy confidence, particularly among indebted homeowners.
“Over the last month, confidence among all housing cohorts improved.”
Consumer confidence was down in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia but up in Victoria.
Now 19% (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 50% (up 2ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Over a third of Australians (34% - unchanged), expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 32% (up 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’.
The number of Australian expecting ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months dropped by 1 percentage point to 9%, compared to 31% (down 2ppts) that expect ‘bad times’.
In the longer term, 11% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to just over a fifth 21% (up 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
Buying intentions deteriorated this week with 22% (down 3ppts) of Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 48% (unchanged) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.