ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged at 80.5 this week, lifting by just 0.3 points.
Consumer confidence has now spent a record 70 straight weeks below the mark of 85, and is now 4.7 points above the same week a year ago, but 1.8 points below the 2024 weekly average of 82.3.
ANZ economist Madeline Dunk said confidence is still very weak, averaging just 80.7 points in May.
“Confidence has been stuck below the neutral level of 100 for over two years,” Dunk confirmed. “Inflation expectations rose 0.1pts to 5.0 per cent last week, possibly in response to the stronger than expected monthly Consumer Price Index data.
“While this is the highest reading in a month, the series has been trending downward and is well below the November 2022 peak of 6.8 per cent.”
There were mixed results across the states, with consumer confidence up in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, down in Queensland and virtually unchanged in New South Wales.
Now just over a fifth of Australians (21 per cent - down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 51 per cent (unchanged) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Views on personal finances over the next year were unchanged this week, with 31 per cent expecting their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while another 35 per cent (unchanged) are expecting to be ‘worse off’ - the equal highest figure for this indicator so far this year.
Under one-in-ten Australians (8 per cent - unchanged) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 35 per cent (unchanged) that expect ‘bad times’.
Net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term was virtually unchanged this week with 12 per cent (up 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 21 per cent (up 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
Meanwhile, 21 per cent (unchanged) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 49 per cent (down 2ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.