Virus crisis sees households tighten belts

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison is seeking to keep confidence up amid all the gloomy news driven by the measures taken to stop the spread of coronavirus.

One in three households are worse-off financially since COVID-19 hit our shores, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows.

And nearly twice as many people are reporting feelings of nervousness or restlessness - both associated with anxiety - compared with a national health survey in 2017-18.

Working-age people were more likely to have finances in worse shape than those aged over 65 years.

One in eight had lost hours or their job in the first half of April.

However, leaders are offering Australians an "early mark" from the tough restrictions on businesses and gatherings after the virus spread slowed to a crawl.

"We can't keep Australia under the doona," Mr Morrison told reporters.

There are 1.5 million people now on the JobSeeker unemployment payment - with 900,000 applications processed in the past six weeks - and 650,000 businesses registered for the JobKeeper wage subsidy.

Those figures are in line with Treasury's prediction for unemployment to rise to 10 per cent by the end of June.

But Mr Morrison urged Australians to take heart from the fact the government had acted to put a floor under the economy before the dire projections.

"It's important that Australians can take confidence that there has been a clear plan to get those supports in place early to ensure that Australia can be cushioned from an even more significant blow."

Treasury also updated forecasts on net overseas migration - which takes in tourists, business visitors and international students - which has dropped by nearly a third for the current financial year and is expected to fall a whopping 85 per cent in 2021/22.

Mr Morrison conceded this was a significant hit given the important contribution visitors make to Australia's economy and there would be a lag in the impacts beyond the emergency period

But he said it wasn't expected to foreshadow a long-term change in migration to Australia

In further gloomy news, home sales plunged 39 per cent in April to a 29-year low.

"We need growth-orientated policies to overcome what will be quite stiff headwinds which will be the carryover from what we've seen from the COVID-19 crisis," Mr Morrison said.

The first of the business cashflow payments and $750 stimulus cheques for people on welfare have hit bank accounts over the past fortnight.

But the ABS says more than half of those who have received the $750 have banked it or not spent it yet.

Another one in six put it towards paying bills.

That's not great news for retailers, who have put together a plan to get people back into their stores and protect everyone's health.

Governments have also ordered food courts closed along with restaurants, cafes and bars, although they can provide takeaway.

Australian Associated Press