by Will Koulouris
SYDNEY, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Consumer confidence in Australia has fallen to its lowest levels in over a year on Wednesday, while a new report showed that retail growth has stalled over the last quarter.
The Westpac consumer confidence data for the month of June showed a marked fall in the headline index from the 98.0 mark in May, to 96.2 in June, while the expectations index dropped to a 14 month low of 94.2 points.
According to Kate Hickie, economist at Capital Economics, this fall was likely due to a "sharp slowing" in GDP growth in Australia in the first quarter.
"Indeed it was the decline in the sub-indices measuring confidence in future economic conditions that drove the fall," Hickie told Xinhua.
This report comes as the Deloitte retail data figures were also released on Wednesday, which suggested that retail turnover growth was 1.2 percent for the year to March 2017.
"In real terms, the latest quarter has been a low for Australian retail spending growth. That said, 2016 to 2017 has clearly been a tough year for retailers, with the challenges likely to remain in 2017 to 2018, before labour income growth drives better spending growth," the report said.
The Deloitte data also suggested that wage growth in Australia is currently dragging down inflation.
"Pumped up wealth from the housing market may be keeping consumer spending afloat, but it isn't enough to offset the impact of record low wage growth," the report said.
This coincides with the confidence data, as Hickie suggested that the weakening of the housing market is affecting the overall economic mood in Australia, as confidence levels plummet.
"The share of respondents that identified real estate as the wisest place to put their savings remained around record lows in the second quarter, rising only marginally from 11.6 percent in the first quarter to 13.3 percent," Hickie said.
"That is consistent with house price inflation slowing from 8.3 percent to between 0 and 5 percent."
However, the Deloitte report pointed to China as one of the key positive economic influencers for the Australian financial climate.
"Global economic growth is promising, especially in Asia," the report said.
Despite the positive influence the Chinese economic strength has had in Australia, the report claims that the "sunbelt" regions in Australia - Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory - are still "struggling."
"The wider growth trends at the moment are favoring Australia's south and east, over its north and west," the report said.
"Overall, Australian growth remains still very much an Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Victoria story."
