Consumer confidence drops

Consumer confidence dropped 2.9 points last week to 82.0 points. The four-week moving average fell 0.3 points to 83.3 points.

‘Weekly inflation expectations’ declined 0.3 percentage point to 4.6 per cent, while the four-week moving average remained steady at 4.7 per cent.

‘Current financial conditions’ (over the last year) fell 6.7 points, while ‘future financial conditions’ (next 12 months) eased 1.6 points.

‘Short-term economic confidence’ (next 12 months) fell 2.1 points and ‘medium-term economic confidence’ (next five years) declined by 1.5 points.

The ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex fell 2.3 points.

“Last week, Consumer Confidence declined 2.9 points following the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA)’s decision to keep the cash rate on hold,” ANZ Economist, Madeline Dunk said.

“The drop in confidence was broad-based, but there was a particularly large fall in households’ confidence in their current financial conditions.

“The subindex declined 6.7 points, its largest weekly fall in over than a year.

“Inflation expectations declined 0.3 percentage points after the monthly Consumer Price Index indicator showed that headline inflation fell back within the RBA’s 2-3 per cent target band. At 4.6 per cent, inflation expectations are at their equal lowest since September 2021.

“There’s also been movement across the housing cohorts, with the four-week moving average of confidence amongst renters back below that of households paying off a mortgage. Those who own their home outright remain the most confident.”

Download PDF