Consumer confidence crawls up, but pessimism remains
The survey offered little comfort to retailers, with a net 18 percent saying it was a bad time to buy a major household item, fractionally lower than the previous survey. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Consumer confidence continues to edge higher, with households a touch more upbeat about the longer term outlook but still pessimistic about their current position.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer consumer confidence index rose 1 point in February to 94.5. Measures under 100 show pessimists outweigh optimists.
Consumers generally said they were in a worse off financial position now than a year ago, but expected an improvement over the coming 12 months.
The survey offered little comfort to retailers, with a net 18 percent saying it was a bad time to buy a major household item, fractionally lower than the previous survey.
"This month saw the perceptions gap close re whether it's a good time to spend between those paying off a mortgage and those who are not," ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner said.
"This may be related to the recent fall in carded mortgage rates, but the average rate that households are actually paying continues to creep higher as rollovers continue."
Two-year inflation expectations edged up to 4.5 percent from 4.3 percent.
"Household inflation expectations are well off their highs, but given the volatility, whether they are still trending downward is becoming a matter of conjecture. They are clearly still too high," Zollner said.
New Zealand consumer confidence broadly mirrored that in other developed economies, being slightly ahead of Australia, but lagging the United States and United Kingdom, she said.