Australian consumers are now more upbeat about their own 12-month financial outlook, according to new consumer confidence data from ANZ and Roy Morgan.
According to the pair, its consumer confidence index bumped up by 1.3 points to 89.3 this year, which is now seven points above the same week a year ago, and 2.4 points above the 2025 weekly average of 86.9.
ANZ economist Sophia Angala said this is still below the early August peak, when the index nudged above 90.
“Strengthening confidence in household finances drove last week’s rise, as the 12-month financial outlook rose to its highest level since late April and is the only subindex above the neutral 100 level (that is, there were more optimistic survey answers than pessimistic answers),” Angala said.
She added that economic confidence remained steady this week despite second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data last week pointing to a pick up in economic momentum.
“We continue to expect income growth, tax cuts and RBA rate cuts to provide upward momentum to consumer confidence later this year.”
Across the states, consumer confidence was up in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, unchanged in Western Australia, and down in New South Wales.
The main driver of this week’s increase was a 7 percentage point lift in views on personal finances.
Just over a fifth of Australians (22 per cent – down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 40 per cent (down 3ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Net views on personal finances over the next year improved with 29 per cent (up 3ppts) of respondents expecting their family will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 27 per cent (down 4ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’. This is the highest net rating for this indicator since the Federal Election.
Sentiment regarding the economy over the next year weakened slightly this week with 11 per cent (down 3ppts) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 28 per cent (down 1ppt) that expect ‘bad times’.
Over the longer term, views regarding the Australian economy were slightly stronger with 13 per cent (unchanged) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 25 per cent (down 2ppts) expecting ‘bad times’.
Despite all that, net buying intentions were slightly weaker this week with over a quarter of respondents (26 per cent – unchanged) saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items compared to 35 per cent (up 3ppts) that say now is a ‘bad time to buy major household items’.