Consumer confidence up

People aren’t expecting the Government’s efforts to cool house prices to turn around the housing market, ANZ’s latest survey of consumer confidence suggests.

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index rose four points to 115 in April, a little shy of its historical average of 120, the bank said.

On average, people expected house prices to climb a further 6 per cent over the year ahead, which was barely changed on their expectations before the Government announced a raft of measures to cool the market late in March.

Aucklanders and South Islanders were more downbeat, but that was cancelled out by a rise in expectations for house price rises elsewhere in the North Island.

‘‘Household house price inflation expectations appear to have peaked, but do not appear to be meaningfully retreating in light of recent policy changes,’’ ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner said.

People’s assessment of their own financial situation rose to a postCovid high, with a net 10 per cent of the 1004 respondents saying they were better off than a year ago, and a net 31 per cent expecting to be better off than they were now by this time next year.

But Zollner said people continued to be ‘‘much warier about buying a major household item than exceptionally strong house price inflation expectations would suggest they should be’’, reflecting continuing uncertainty about the economic outlook.

‘‘Their self-reported wariness about spending would normally be a reliable indicator that retailers are doing it tough, but people have in fact been spending anyway.’’