ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence dropped by 2.9pts to 77.0 this week – the lowest rating since early April 2020 in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Consumer confidence is now 18.8pts below the same week a year ago, March 7-13, 2022 (95.8) and 5.7pts below the 2023 weekly average of 82.7.
Consumer confidence was down around the country this week and below 80 in all five mainland states after the RBA raised interest rates for a record tenth straight meeting, up 0.25% to 3.6%.
ANZ and Roy Morgan said views on personal finances deteriorated this week and were the driving force behind the decline in the weekly index, both compared to a year ago and looking forward over the next year.
Nearly a fifth of Australians (19%) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, compared to 52% (up 4ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially. The latter is the highest figure for this indicator since March 1991 – where it hit 52.7%.
Looking forward, under a third of Australians (30% - down 2ppts) expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while over a third (37% - up 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Only 6% (unchanged) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months, compared to almost two-fifths (38% - unchanged) that expect ‘bad times’.
Sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term remains very weak, according to ANZ and Roy Morgan, with only 11% (down 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 20% (up 3ppts) expecting ‘bad times’.
When it comes to buying intentions, 19% (unchanged) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while over half (53% - unchanged) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
ANZ senior economist Adelaide Timbrell said the sharpest decline in consumer confidence was in the current finances subindex, which dropped to its lowest since 2001.
“Confidence about future finances declined to its sixth-lowest since the COVID outbreak,” Timbrell added. “Inflation expectations also increased post-hike, by 0.4pts.
“Confidence among those paying off their mortgages increased 1.7pts after a sharp drop last week and are still the least confident of the housing cohorts.
“Those who own their home outright and renters reported sharp decreases of 4.1pts and 7.9pts respectively.”