Consumer confidence remains bogged down, with the ANZ-Roy Morgan Research consumer confidence index falling another 0.6 points to 110.0 in the week ended 4 October, to be tracking well below the long-run average of around 113 (see next chart).
The weekly fall in confidence was driven by increasing concerns about the economic outlook, as well as household finances.
According to ANZ’s co-head of Australian economics, Felicity Emmett, global financial market volatility combined with a softening housing market, weak income growth and high household debt, have conspired against Australian consumers, “as such, it will be difficult for the new government to engineer a sustained cyclical uplift in confidence”.
ANZ, therefore, tips that confidence will remain under pressure over coming months as the cooling property market dominates headlines and weighs upon sentiment.
The below chart plots the most recent Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment index against the latest ANZ-RM Consumer Confidence index:
Both remain subdued.
