• Consumer confidence decreased 1.1 per cent last week, falling to its lowest level since mid-August. Among the mainland states, confidence dropped in NSW, Victoria and WA, while it increased in Queensland and SA.
• ‘Weekly inflation expectations’ fell by 0.1ppt to 5.5%, while its four-week moving average remained unchanged at 5.4 per cent.
• Three of the five confidence subindices declined. ‘Current financial conditions’ dropped 3.6 per cent, while ‘future financial conditions’ were up 1.8 per cent.
• ‘Current economic conditions’ fell 3 per cent after a 7.6 per cent decline the week before. ‘Future economic conditions’ gained 2.2 per cent.
• ‘Time to buy a major household item’ lost 4.4 per cent after an increase of 14.6 per cent over the previous five weeks.
“Consumer confidence dropped by 1.1 per cent last week, despite the smaller than expected 25bp rate hike by the RBA. The decline was bigger than the 0.5 per cent decline following September’s 50bp rate increase. Though it is worth highlighting that consumer confidence has remained in the 84-88 range since mid-August despite higher rates. The loss last week was mainly driven by a 3.2 per cent drop in confidence among those paying off a mortgage. For those who own their home, confidence was down by 0.4 per cent, while for those renting, it was up 0.9 per cent.” ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank said.
“Household inflation expectations dropped to 5.5% as average petrol prices fell slightly over the week.”
