ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence dropped 2.3 points to 79.0 this week after the end of financial year (EOFY) sales period finished at the end of June.
It also comes after the buying sentiment indicator suffered its biggest weekly decline so far this year – down a net 9 per cent points from a week ago.
Consumer confidence has now spent a record 75 straight weeks below the mark of 85 and is a large 5.7 points above the same week a year ago, and 2.8 points below the 2024 weekly average of 81.8.
Views on personal finances compared to a year ago were slightly worse off this week while views on the Australian economy’s performance going forward were virtually unchanged.
Now 19 per cent of Australians (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 53 per cent (up 3ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Views on personal finances over the next year were virtually unchanged this week, with 31 per cent (unchanged) expecting their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while another 35 per cent (down 1ppt) are expecting to be ‘worse off’.
Only 8 per cent (unchanged) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 36 per cent (down 1ppt) that expect ‘bad times’.
Net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term was also 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 just over a fifth (21 per cent - up 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
There was a big dip to net buying intentions this week after the end of financial year (EOFY) sales finished up with 21 per cent (down 4ppts) of Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items - the biggest drop for this indicator so far this year.
Meanwhile a majority of 51 per cent (up 5ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ major household items, which is the largest increase for this indicator so far this year.
The net result was a movement of 9 percentage points towards ‘bad time to buy’, the biggest net move down for this indicator for nearly 18 months since early February 2023 after the Reserve Bank raised interest rates for the first time in 2023.
“ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence dropped to its second lowest level for the year,” ANZ economist Madeline Dunk said.
“The decline was driven by a 9.0pt fall in the ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex, following the conclusion of end-of-financial year sales. This was the largest weekly fall in the subindex since February 2023. There was also a 4.7pt drop in ‘current financial conditions’.
“Across the housing cohorts, confidence declined most for those paying off a mortgage, perhaps due to talk about the possibility of an RBA rate hike in August. Confidence also fell for households that own their homes outright, while it was broadly stable for renters.”