ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was down 0.9 points to 81.9 this week.
The index has now spent a record 62 straight weeks below the mark of 85, and is now 2.6 points above the same week a year ago while just 1 point below the 2024 weekly average of 82.9.
ANZ economist Madeline Dunk said the index has declined for the second consecutive week.
“The current economic environment has kept consumer confidence below 85pts for a record 62 weeks – 23 weeks longer than during the 1990s recession,” Dunk said.
“Notably, inflation expectations rose to the highest level for the year. This may help explain the increased pessimism in the economic and financial outlook.
“This is the first time since November 2022 (when inflation expectations peaked at 6.8%) that inflation expectations have increased for three weeks in a row. Higher petrol prices may be contributing to this rise in inflation expectations.”
Looking around the states, consumer confidence was down in Victoria, but up in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
Driving the weekly decline in the index were drops in confidence about personal financial situations and the performance of the Australian economy going forward.
Now under a fifth of Australians (19 per cent - down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 53 per cent (up 1ppt) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Just under a third of Australians (31 per cent - down 3ppts) expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 33 per cent (unchanged) expect to be ‘worse off’.
One-in-ten Australians (10 per cent - down 1ppt) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 31 per cent (unchanged) that expect ‘bad times’.
Net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term deteriorated this week with 12 per cent (down 2ppts) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 20 per cent (unchanged) expecting ‘bad times’.
Meanwhile, 21 per cent (down 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 47 per cent (down 4ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.