Along with household purchase intentions.
Consumer confidence continues to recover from the dive seen the weekend of the Wentworth by-election in Sydney. This week’s 1.9% rise means confidence has regained almost two-thirds of the drop, according to the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan data.
The ‘time to buy a household item’ sub-index jumped sharply, gaining 9.7%, however despite this sharp gain, is no higher than it was a few weeks back. The four-week moving average inflation stabilised at 4.5%.
Up until the Wentworth by-election consumer confidence was resilient in the face of negative factors, such as falling house prices and rising petrol prices, according to ANZ head of economics, David Plank (pictured). “The drop on the by-election weekend was one of the biggest for some time, and we were uncertain as to whether it reflected the circumstance of that event or the impact of the broader environment.”
Plank said the recovery since then, back to a level well above the long-run average, suggested that the plunge was largely due to the by-election. “Since then the economic backdrop, which has seen the unemployment rate drop to 5%, seems to be supportive enough to offset negative influences such as the weakness in housing.”
Performance across the sub-indices was mixed. While households’ perceptions of current financial conditions rose by 1.7%, sentiment regarding the future financial situation fell by 0.4%. Both the sub-indices of economic conditions fell, with current and future economic conditions falling by 1.9% and 0.4% respectively.