ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was down 2.2 points to 81 this week.
The index has now spent a record 57 straight weeks below the mark of 85, and is now 1.1 points above the same week a year ago, but 2.3 points below the 2024 weekly average of 83.3.
ANZ senior economist Adelaide Timbrell said the latest consumer confidence result is the lowest it has been all year.
“Weak retail sales results may have dampened optimism about the future of the economy, while the monthly CPI indicator, which came in lower than expected at 3.4 per cent year-on-year, may have influenced the moderation in inflation expectations.
“Inflation expectations fell back to their equal-lowest result since early February 2022. This has occurred three times: once in September 2023 and twice in February 2024.
“Confidence among those paying off their homes is still trending up, but renter and outright owner confidence is down.”
Consumer confidence was virtually unchanged in the largest states of New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, and down in WA and SA.
Now under a fifth of Australians (19% - down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 55% (up 2ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Views on personal finances over the next year are evenly balanced with a third of Australians (33% - unchanged) expecting their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 34% (up 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Just over one-in-ten Australians (11% - up 1ppt) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 32% (up 3ppts) that expect ‘bad times’.
Net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term deteriorated slightly this week with 12% (down 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 20% (up 2ppts) expecting ‘bad times’.
When it comes to buying intentions, 21% (up 1ppt) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 50% (up 2ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.