ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence has fallen 3.1 points to 83.8 this week.
It follows the recent devastating ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred which hit coastal regions of South-Eastern Queensland and Northern New South Wales late last week.
Consumer confidence in Queensland is again the lowest of any state, with all states reporting falls.
Confidence is now 2.1 points above the same week a year ago and 3 points below the 2025 weekly average of 86.8.
A look across the index shows decreasing confidence about personal finances and the prospects for Australia’s economy over the next year and next five years drove this week’s decline.
More than a fifth of Australians (22 per cent – unchanged) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 47 per cent (up 2ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Views on personal finances over the next year weakened for a third straight week with 31 per cent of respondents (unchanged) expecting their family will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 33 per cent (up 5ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’. This is the first time this year this index has dipped into negative territory.
Views on the economy over the next year weakened this week with under one-in-ten Australians (8 per cent – down 1ppt) expecting ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 32 per cent (up 4ppts) that expect ‘bad times’.
Meanwhile, 10 per cent (down 2ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 21 per cent (unchanged) expecting ‘bad times’.
There was also a small deterioration in net buying intentions this week with only 24 per cent (down 1ppt) of Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items compared to 43 per cent (up 1ppt) that say now is a ‘bad time to buy major household items’.
ANZ economist Sophia Angala said the series has dropped by 3.9 points in the last fortnight.
“The impacts of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred have pushed Queensland confidence to equal-lowest with South Australia, while global trade uncertainty may be weighing on confidence nationally,” Angala said.
“There was a decline across all subindices last week. Households continue to feel less confident about the economic outlook, with the 12-month outlook falling 4.9 points to below its H2 2024 average.
“Confidence in the five-year economic outlook fell 1.7 points. Meanwhile, households are feeling less confident in their financial conditions over the next year, as the subindex declined 4.5 points to fall below the neutral 100pt level for the first time since December 2024.