This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CONSUMER confidence has fallen to a three-year low. Australians feeling insecure about financial conditions both currently and into the future has already hit retailers with David Jones reporting a significant slump in sales.
According to the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence report, consumer confidence for the week of 5-11 June has declined by 3.1 points to its lowest level since April 2020, at 72.7.
NSW was the only mainland state to see an increase in confidence, while Victoria, Queensland, SA and WA recorded falls.
“Consumer confidence fell to its lowest since April 2020 and was among the four weakest results since the pandemic,” said Adelaide Timbrell, senior economist at ANZ.
“Confidence has been at extremely weak levels for around 15 weeks but has fallen 7.2pts further in the last six weeks.”
The “weekly inflation expectations” category remained unchanged at 5.5%, with the four-week moving average up from 5.3% to 5.4%.
“Current financial conditions” were down 1.9 points to sit just 0.1 point off its record low.
While “future financial conditions” were up 0.1 points, remaining below 90 for the second time since late March 2020.
“Current economic conditions” also recorded a decline, down 3.5 points, with “future economic conditions” down 3.1 points.
“Confidence about economic conditions, both current and future, fell most sharply last week following the latest RBA cash rate increase to 4.1%,” added Timbrell.
After three weeks of increases for a cumulative increase of 6.3 points, the “time to buy a major household item” category was down 7.6 points.
“Confidence about current financial conditions, future financial conditions and the ‘time to buy a major household item’ are all within 0.1ppt of their lowest since March 2020,” said Timbrell.
“Confidence fell among renters, outright owners and those paying off their homes, though those paying off their homes fell to a record low.”
Meanwhile Australia’s major department store David Jones has blamed the rising cost of living for a slump in sales, according to The Australian.
The retail giant’s store at Eastland in Melbourne’s east reported a 38.96% plunge, whilst its Warringah Mall in Sydney and Highpoint in Melbourne fell 20.54% and 20.16% respectively.
However its Bourke Street Mall store in Melbourne defied the slump, sales rose by 13.51% compared to last year.
David Jones, which was sold to private equity firm Anchorage Capital in December, is also reportedly lagging its June forecast of $56 million, with just total sales being $50.5 million.
