Australia is facing a lost decade of economic growth, ANZ has warned, that will see living standards slip and wages grow modestly while putting pressure on the Morrison government's plan for a string of budget surpluses.

As separate research suggests consumers are eager to get back into the housing market, ANZ said the 2020s were likely to endure the slowest rate of growth since the 1980s, which was a decade that included a recession and the start of Australia's last economic contraction.

ANZ believes the 2020s could see economic growth retreat to levels last seen through the 1980s. Credit:Luis Ascui

The Australian economy grew by an average 3.3 per cent through the 1990s, then by 3 per cent through the first decade of the current century.

ANZ head of Australian economics David Plank said growth through the current decade would average 2.6 per cent, with that tipped to fall to between 2 and 2.5 per cent across the 2020s.