Australian consumer confidence appears to be creeping out of its record low over the last few months.
ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increased 2 points to 70.8 over the last week, marking the first time the index has been above the mark of 70 for over two months since early March.
Despite the growth, consumer confidence is 15.9 points lower than a year ago, and just 0.4 points below the 2026 weekly average of 71.2.
ANZ economist Sophia Angala said this is the second consecutive rise in consumer confidence, following a 2.7 point lift the week before.
“Last week’s increase was broad-based across the subindices,” Angala said. “The ‘future financial conditions’ and ‘medium-term economic confidence’ subindices are now at their highest levels since late February, before the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
“The ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex has also trended higher over the past four weeks, likely supported by the start of end-of-financial-year sales.”
Driving the weekly increase was increasing confidence about personal financial situations over the next year and that now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items as Australia enters the End Of Financial Year (EOFY) and Mid-Year sales period.
Now 15 per cent (up 1ppt) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to a majority of 55 per cent (up 1ppt) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Just over 1 in 5 (22 per cent up 4ppts) respondents expect their family will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 43 per cent (unchanged) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Net sentiment regarding the economy over the next year was little changed this week with 6 per cent (unchanged) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ compared to 45 per cent (up 1ppt) who expect ‘bad times’.
In the longer term, just 8 per cent (unchanged) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 28 per cent (down 4ppts) expecting ‘bad times’.
Meanwhile, buying intentions improved for a fourth straight week with 19 per cent (up 3ppts) of respondents saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items compared to 45 per cent (unchanged) that say now is a ‘bad time to buy major household items’.
Angala added that, on a four-week moving average basis, confidence across the housing cohorts eased relative to the start of the year.
“Outright homeowners remain the most confident cohort, followed by renters and mortgage holders,” she said. “RBA rate hikes have likely contributed to the sharper decline in mortgage holder confidence so far in 2026.”
An analysis by state shows consumer confidence increased in New South Wales, and Queensland, but was down slightly in Victoria, Western Australia, and South Australia.