Consumer Confidence ‘Deeply Pessimistic’ Across Australia

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By Power RetailPublished On: June 22, 20220 Comments

There's been a general uplift in consumer confidence across Australia over the last week. After a rough few weeks, this is the first sign of confidence increasing, but it's not all good news.

Consumer confidence is now at 81.7, increasing by 1.3 points following consecutive falls. However, the current levels remain 12.9 points below the 2022 weekly average of 94.6. Moreover, they’re a whopping 307 points below the same time last year (112.4).

“Consumer confidence increased 1.6 percent last week after a 7.6 percent decline the week before,” said David Plank, the ANZ Head of Australian Economics. “News about the strength of the labour market may have boosted sentiment, but it remains deeply pessimistic.”

Buying intentions remain low, with almost one quarter (24 percent) of Aussies saying that now is a good time to buy major household items. This is an increase of one percentage point. In contrast, almost half (48 percent) of consumers say that now is a bad time to buy – a decrease of one percentage point.

“Household inflation expectations jumped 0.3ppt to 5.9 percent as average petrol prices increased over the week,” continued Plank. “The ‘current’ and ‘future economic conditions’ subindices dropped for a third consecutive week, as central banks across the world, including the RBA, became increasingly hawkish about bringing inflation under control, causing uncertainty about economic growth.”

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