ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was down 0.7pts to 72.6 this week. It is the third-straight drop in the index, marking the start of the new financial year, and is the lowest point so far in 2023.
Consumer confidence has now spent twenty straight weeks below the mark of 80 – the longest stretch below 80 since October 2008. The last time consumer confidence spent at least twenty weeks under 80 was during the 1990-91 recession.
The index is now 9.2pts below the same week a year ago - July 11-17, 2022 (81.8) - and 5.8pts below the 2023 weekly average of 78.4.
Driving the index down this week was negative sentiment around personal finances compared to a year ago, ANZ and Roy Morgan report.
Now only 17% of Australians (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 57% (up 4ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. This is a new record high for this indicator in 50 years of interviewing.
Looking forward, just over a quarter of Australians (28% - up 1ppt) expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 40% (up 1ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Only 6% (unchanged) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to over two-fifths (42% - down 1ppt) that expect ‘bad times’.
Looking further ahead, only 11% (up 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 21% (down 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
Sentiment regarding buying intentions is virtually unchanged this week with 18% (up 1ppt) of Australians now saying it is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 57% (up 1ppt) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
ANZ senior economist Adelaide Timbrell said consumer confidence this week was among the five worst results since the COVID-19 outbreak.
“The decline in the latest result was mainly driven by weaker confidence in ‘current financial conditions’,” Timbrell said. “Among the housing cohorts, confidence fell to a record low for those renting.
“It improved among those paying off their homes but remained below 70, while it fell for those who own their homes outright.”