Renters across Australia are dragging on consumer confidence, which has slipped further this week according to ANZ bank and Roy Morgan.
The pair’s consumer confidence index was virtually unchanged this week, slipping 0;.2 percentage points to 86.3.
Consumer confidence is 1.9 points above the same week a year ago and in line with the 2025 weekly average of 86.5.
ANZ economist Sophia Angala said confidence among renters declined to a 10-month low, with renters being the least confident housing cohort right now.
Mortgage holders, meanwhile, had a lift in confidence compared to two weeks ago, despite the Reserve Bank of Australia’s surprise decision to hold the cash rate at 3.85 per cent.
“The ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence series largely moved sideways last week,” Angala said.
“The result was driven by a mixture of outcomes across the subindices. While household confidence in financial conditions weakened, confidence in economic conditions improved despite soft labour market data last week.”
Across the index this week, a fifth of Australians (20 per cent - down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 45 per cent (up 1ppt) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Just over a quarter (26 per cent - down 4ppts) of respondents expect their family will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 31 per cent (down 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Net sentiment regarding the economy over the next year improved slightly this week with just 11 per cent (unchanged) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 28 per cent (down 2ppts) that expect ‘bad times’.
Views regarding the Australian economy in the longer-term were also slightly improved with 13 per cent (up 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 23 per cent (down 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
Net buying intentions were virtually unchanged this week with 24 per cent (down 1ppt) saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items compared to 35 per cent (unchanged) that say now is a ‘bad time to buy major household items’.
An analysis by state shows mixed results with consumer confidence down in Queensland and South Australia, up slightly in Victoria and New South Wales and virtually unchanged in Western Australia.