New Zealand households feel financially worse off than three months ago but their reported willingness to spend indicates shoppers are still keen to snap up a bargain.
The third-quarter Westpac McDermott Miller Consumer Confidence Index, released yesterday, showed consumer confidence recovering from the modest drop in June, rising 2.7% to 102.5 - slightly above the March figure.
Westpac economist Felix Delbruck said the overall trend reflected in surveys remained weak.
However, the willingness of households to buy big-ticket items had been gradually improving since last year, strikingly at odds with how downbeat households continued to be in other respects - including their personal financial circumstances.
"We suspect it's a reflection of current low prices, particularly of important goods, thanks to the high New Zealand dollar and the weak global economy."
The survey, taken between September 1 and 9, had a sample size of 1553.
Among the findings were that households saw their financial situation as very bleak. A net 22% said their financial situation had deteriorated over the past year, up from 17% three months ago and the most since June 2009.
Households' near-term outlook for the economy as a whole also remained downbeat, with a net 23% of households expecting mainly bad times for the economy in the year ahead.
The longer-term economic outlook was more optimistic, with a net 29% expecting good times in five years' time, but again that was well below the net 41% who were optimistic a year ago.
