Australian consumer confidence has dropped three points to 112.7pts, 0.4pts lower than a year ago and equal to its level in late October.
But in better news for the auto industry, a growing majority of Australians (57%, up 2%) say it is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items and only 16% (down 3%) of Australians say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
A record Christmas spend is also on the cards, with Gary Morgan Research saying: “The latest figures released by the Australian Retailer’s Association show Australian shoppers are expected to spend a record $41.2 billion on retail sales between mid-November and Christmas Day — up 3.9% from the same period last year ($39.7 billion).”
The drop in confidence is due to Australian’s losing confidence in their personal financial situations, with 20% (up 5%) expecting their family to be ‘worse off’ financially in the 12 months, and 37% (down 3%) expecting they will be ‘better off’
Australians are slightly less confident about Australia’s economy over the next twelve months with 29% (unchanged) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ economically compared to 31% (up 1%) that expect ‘bad times’.
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