The BNZ confidence survey fell to a four-month low at the weekend with only a net 22% of respondents now expecting the economy to improve in the coming year.
Early last month, a net 45% expected an improvement. A record net 57% expected an improvement in the June survey.
BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander said the survey responses mainly came in on Friday after sharemarkets fell sharply overseas but before the Standard and Poor's downgrading of the United States credit rating on Friday night, New Zealand time.
"Few respondents mentioned explicitly their concerns about the global economic environment and one suspects a broader theme in play may be some growing disappointment that the domestic economy has not yet displayed the strength some may have been hoping for."
However, "quite a few" expressed concern about the high exchange rate, with little mention of interest rates, hardly any comment on the state of the labour market and few suggesting that the past month had been substantially better than the previous one, he said.
In the retailing sector, caution dominated; in residential real estate, buyers remained generally hesitant but listings were in short supply; and in construction, experiences were highly disparate.
"One or two respondents noted that the approach of the Rugby World Cup appeared to be putting some people off making decisions," Mr Alexander said.
The survey had 383 respondents compared to 351 in July and 379 in June.
