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Consumer confidence in New Zealand edged lower during the month of August with respondents expecting house price growth to slow, particularly in Auckland.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index slipped to 117.7 last month from 118.2 in July. A net 25 percent of respondents expect to be better off financially in a year's time, compared to 29 percent a month earlier.
Respondents remained slightly more optimistic about their 12-month outlook for the economy, with a net 5 percent expecting good times ahead, up from 4 percent in July, while over a five-year horizon a net 10 percent see more good times, compared to 13 percent.
The current conditions index gained 1.8 points to 124.3 while the future conditions index decreased 2.1 points to 113.4.
Moreover, the survey of 1,002 people showed a net 37 percent of respondents think it's a good time to buy a major household item, up one percentage point from a month earlier, while inflation expectations rose to 3.4 percent annually from 3.3 percent in July.
Further, respondents expect house prices to rise more gradually, with consumers predicting an annual increase of 5 percent over the next two years, down from 6.1 percent a month earlier.
"The economic choreography looks respectable so it’s of little surprise to see consumer confidence holding at elevated levels," said Cameron Bagrie, Chief Economist, ANZ Bank, New Zealand.
The global dairy price recovery is helping mitigate the key risk to the economy of low dairy incomes, Bagrie said, while the strong kiwi dollar is a boon for consumers but a headwind for exporters. He further added that this fall was largely due to Auckland, where expectations eased from 8.4 percent to 5.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the fact that Auckland was the major factor at playing confidence levels down, suggests local indicators are in tandem. However, in either way, it will provide a welcome boost to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand but whether it is the beginning of the housing boom finale remains to be seen.
