ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence slipped by 0.3 percentage points to 76.4 this week.
Consumer confidence has now spent a record 44 straight weeks below the mark of 85, and is now 6.3pts below the same week a year ago.
It is also just over 1 percentage point below the 2023 weekly average of 77.8.
ANZ senior economist Adelaide Timbrell said a serious turnaround in inflation would likely be required to see consumer confidence lift substantially in 2024.
“The overall index remained practically unchanged last week ahead of the December RBA Board meeting, continuing the very long weak streak,” Timbrell said.
“The Black Friday bounce in the ‘time to buy a household item’ subindex in the previous week faded, offsetting the positive impact of better future financial conditions confidence during the week.
“Weekly confidence among those paying off their homes surpassed renters for the first time since October 2022, but those paying off their homes are still the least confident by far on a four-week average.”
According to the index results, 19% (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 57% (up 2ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Looking forward, nearly a third of Australians (32% - up 5ppts) expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 36% (down 4ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’.
An unchanged 8% of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 39% (down 1ppt) that expect ‘bad times’.
Net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term is down this week with 11% (down 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 22% (unchanged) expecting ‘bad times’.
Meanwhile, buying intentions declined this week after the end of the Black Friday sales period with 20% (down 3ppts) of Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while a majority 54% (up 5ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.