{"id":304234,"date":"2026-02-27T03:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T03:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/304234\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T03:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T03:34:09","slug":"consumer-confidence-slumps-in-february-as-cost-pressures-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/304234\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer confidence slumps in February as cost pressures bite"},"content":{"rendered":"The proportion of households that thought it was a good time to buy a major household item fell back into the negative category, down five points to -4.<\/p>\n
Last month was the first positive read for the measure in four years, but it remains well up on year-ago levels.<\/p>\n
From a regional perspective, Zollner said confidence fell sharply in Wellington and Auckland, with the rest of the North Island the only region posting a monthly gain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d note that monthly moves in regional confidence are volatile, but the impact of the fiscal cycle on Wellington is clear to see in the chart.\u201d<\/p>\n
The future conditions index made up of forward-looking questions fell from 113.5 to 106.9, close to its November 2025 level.<\/p>\n
The current conditions index similarly fell, down from 97.7 to 90.0, just below where it sat at the end of last year.<\/p>\n
Perceptions regarding the economic outlook over the next year also dropped, down seven points to -8%, with the five-year-ahead measure falling four points to +8%.<\/p>\n
In terms of personal financial situations, current perceptions fell 10 points from -6% to -16%, slightly above its December 2025 level of -18%.<\/p>\n
Looking forward, a net 20% of respondents expected to be better off this time next year, down nine points.<\/p>\n
As for house price inflation expectations, the measure eased from 3.7% to 3.6%. However, expectations from Wellington respondents bucked the trend, rising from 2.5% to 3.6%.<\/p>\n
Two-year-ahead inflation expectations were little changed month-to-month, lifting 0.1 points to 4.7%, almost in line with current annual food price inflation.<\/p>\n
Zollner said there is still pressure on Kiwi consumers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile there is still residual support coming through from past monetary easing, stagnant house price momentum, a loose labour market, and lingering cost-of-living pressures mean it\u2019s still tough going out there for many households.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a long-term historical comparison consumer confidence remains subdued, but one month of retracing a particularly sharp gain doesn\u2019t mean the trend has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/p>\n
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The proportion of households that thought it was a good time to buy a major household item fell…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[74,38952,806,26630,138,2950,3311,4187,25204,219,14768,6750,78,700,8461,112116,11212,11692,111,139,69,15141,13418,42302,4497,18835,102,379],"class_list":{"0":"post-304234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-anzroy","10":"tag-as","11":"tag-bite","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-confidence","14":"tag-consumer","15":"tag-cost","16":"tag-declining","17":"tag-economy","18":"tag-every","19":"tag-february","20":"tag-in","21":"tag-latest","22":"tag-lift","23":"tag-measure","24":"tag-morgan","25":"tag-nearly","26":"tag-new-zealand","27":"tag-newzealand","28":"tag-nz","29":"tag-pressures","30":"tag-slumped","31":"tag-slumps","32":"tag-start","33":"tag-strong","34":"tag-with","35":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}