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While financial anxiety is making home loan holders feel less financially secure, a growing proportion believes their financial health has improved over the past year.
A new survey of Australian consumers has revealed that a shrinking proportion of mortgage holders feel financially secure, as anxiety about their financial situation increases, but cash flow positions are improving.
The Consumer Pulse is a monthly tracker developed by Agile Market Intelligence to monitor consumer sentiment, financial stress, and behavioural shifts across key household segments.
The survey provides a real-time view of financial wellbeing in Australia, segmented by debt status and home ownership.
According to the survey covering household financial sentiment in June 2025, financial anxiety is prevalent in one in three Australians.
Although financial anxiety levels have eased slightly in some groups, households facing unemployment or carrying consumer debt continue to struggle, with widening gaps in financial resilience across employment types, age groups, and debt profiles.
Overall, one in three Australians (33 per cent) reported feeling financially anxious in June, up 2 percentage points compared to the previous month.
Australians with debt, however, reported significantly higher anxiety.
Forty-three per cent of those with consumer debt said they were anxious about their financial situation (up from 40 per cent in May), while 31 per cent of mortgage holders reported financial anxiety, up from 29 per cent the month prior.
This compared to around 25 per cent of those without any debt.
Young women (18–34) continue to report the highest levels of financial anxiety at 38 per cent in June 2025, even relative to their male peers (24 per cent). In contrast, older men (55-plus) remain the most financially secure, with anxiety holding steady at just 24 per cent, highlighting a significant gender and age gap in perceived financial wellbeing.
Cash flow positions improving
Despite increased levels of financial anxiety, the report found that overall financial health perception is continuing to improve slightly, with a growing share of Australians saying their financial health was better now than 12 months ago.
In June, 22 per cent of all consumers said their financial health was better than 12 months ago, compared to 20 per cent in May 2025. The proportion of consumers who believed they were worse off today also reduced, falling 2 percentage points to 35 per cent.
Around a quarter (24 per cent) of mortgagors believed their financial health was better in June 2025 than in June 2024 (slightly down on May 2025 figures, when it was 25 per cent) and a third (33 per cent) continued to feel that their financial health had deteriorated.
However, consumer debt holders were the most pessimistic, with over 40 per cent saying they are worse off and only one in five (19 per cent) seeing improvement.
Young men (18–34) were found to be the most financially optimistic, with over a third saying they are better off and fewer than one in five reporting a decline in financial health.
Women, especially those aged 55 and over, remain the most pessimistic, with nearly half consistently saying their financial situation has worsened over the past year.
Indeed, the Consumer Pulse survey found that household cash flow trends were improving.
The share of Australians reporting negative cash flow fell from 23 per cent in March 2025 to 19 per cent in June 2025, while those reporting positive cash flow rose to 33 per cent.
Just 17 per cent of mortgagors reported a negative cash flow position in June, down from 21 per cent in May 2025.
Consumer debt holders continue to face the greatest strain, with 26 per cent in negative cash flow in June, nearly double the rate of debt-free households (14 per cent), highlighting ongoing vulnerability in this group.
Older men (55-plus) and younger men (18–34) report the strongest cash flow positions, with only 11–15 per cent in negative cash flow and over 40 per cent in positive cash flow, indicating greater financial stability across male age groups.
Meanwhile, women aged 55-plus are the most cash flow-stressed group, with 25 per cent reporting negative cash flow in May and only 24 per cent positive, highlighting a persistent vulnerability among older women.
The changes in actual financial position come amid a rate-easing cycle, after the Reserve Bank of Australia reduced the official cash rate for May-June 2025 – the second rate cut this year.
Major bank economists are unanimous in expecting the RBA to reduce the cash rate again when they next meet ( in August), followed by at least two more rate reductions in the year ahead.
[Related: Mortgage holders outspend renters and outright owners: CBA]
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