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Oz Consumer Confidence Falls To Lowest Point Since November

As Sydney sees no way out of lockdown every time soon, and Melbourne’s prospects of keeping Delta at bay continue to waver and wane, Roy Morgan’s Consumer Confidence rating plunges a further 3.6 per cent, to 100.7 this week.

Consumer Confidence fell 2.2 per cent in Sydney, and a whopping 6.8 per cent in Melbourne, while Brisbane (-6.1 per cent) and Perth (-4.6 per cent) also saw dramatic drops in confidence.

ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank said “Consumer confidence fell by 3.6 per cent last week, to its lowest since early November 2020 right after Victoria’s long second lockdown.

“Even with a much higher case load and longer lockdown, confidence in Sydney is a bit higher than in Melbourne. We would note that even during Melbourne’s long lockdown in 2020 confidence levels in the two cities remained close.

“Sentiment declined in Brisbane and Perth despite the absence of lockdowns in those cities, further highlighting the interrelated nature of sentiment across Australia.”

The bad news for Australian retail is that, for the first time since mid-October, during Victoria’s second wave, less Australians believe now is a “good time to buy major household items” than those who believe now is a “bad time to buy” these items.

“Confidence remains well above the lows seen in the early stages of the pandemic,” Plank notes, “suggesting the economic hit from the current lockdowns will be less than that seen in the second quarter of 2020.”

Still, the sentiment around major household item purchases suggests that the likes of Harvey Norman and JB Hi-Fi may not repeat their previous record profit run.



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