Although there were mixed results across all indicators, the one that stood out the most this week was buying intentions that are now at the lowest it has been for two years since April 2022.
The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was down slightly by 0.6pts to 85.0 this week and is now 16.8pts below the same week a year ago.
On a state-by-state basis there were three mainland states that were down and two that increased from a week ago.
Now 23 per cent of Australians (down 1ppt) said their families are “better off” financially than this time last year compared to 41 per cent (down 1ppt), who said their families are “worse off” financially.
Looking forward, fewer than a third of Australians, 32 per cent (unchanged), expect their family to be “better off” financially this time next year compared to 31 per cent (up 1ppt), who expect to be “worse off”.
Only 8 per cent (down 1ppt) of Australians expect “good times” for the Australian economy over the next 12 months compared to 32 per cent (down 2ppts), who expect ‘bad times”.
In the longer term, just 13 per cent (unchanged) of Australians are expecting “good times” for the economy over the next five years compared to 18 per cent (down 2ppts) expecting “bad times”.
When it comes to buying intentions now just 20 per cent (down 2ppts) of Australians, said now is a “good time to buy” major household items while 49 per cent (up 3ppts), said now is a “bad time to buy”.
ANZ head of Australian economics David Plank said lower inflation expectations may have helped sentiment toward “current financial conditions”.
“All sentiment sub-indices remain weak, however, with only ‘future financial conditions’ in positive territory,” he said.
“Consumers are likely to stay cautious in outlook until there is better news about real wages. Though it is important to remember that this caution hasn’t actually been reflected in a pullback in spending – at least not yet.”
