WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer confidence in New Zealand fell for the third month in a row in December as consumers braced for an economic slowdown, a survey showed on Monday.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index dropped to 121.8 from 123.7 in the previous month. A reading above 100 indicates optimism and vice versa.
"A degree of wariness is perhaps starting to creep into the forward-looking responses," said Sharon Zollner, chief economist at ANZ bank.
A net 28 percent of consumers said they expected to be better off financially in the year ahead, the lowest level since August 2016.
New Zealand's strong economy has been the envy of the developed world in recent years, but many economists are warning of a slowdown as the housing market cools and the booming construction sector faces bottlenecks.
Expectations for consumer price inflation over the next two years rose to 3.5 percent from 3.1 percent in the previous survey.
(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
