ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence has dipped to 79.9, dropping 0.1ppts from last week. Consumer confidence is a large 20.2pts below the same week a year ago, February 28 – March 6, 2022 (100.1), and is 3.4pts below the 2023 weekly average of 83.3.
Consumer confidence was up in Queensland and South Australia, down in New South Wales and Western Australia and unchanged in Victoria.
Views on personal finances were virtually unchanged this week, but ANZ and Roy Morgan report a slight improvement for longer term views of the economy while there was a slight deterioration in whether consumers considered now a good/bad time to buy a major household item.
Now 21% of Australians (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 48% (unchanged) that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.
Looking forward, 32% (unchanged) expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 35% (unchanged) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Only 6% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared 38% (unchanged) that expect ‘bad times’.
Sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term remains very weak, according to ANZ and Roy Morgan, with only 12% (up 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 17% (down 3ppts) expecting ‘bad times’.
ANZ senior economist Adelaide Timbrell said consumer confidence remained virtually unchanged.
“It was the fourth consecutive week with confidence among the worst 12 results since the COVID outbreak in Australia,” Timbrell said. “Among those paying off their mortgage, confidence rebounded 2.9pts after a sharp fall the week before.
“Confidence among those who own their home outright and those renting declined 2.2pts and 0.4pts respectively, but still ended the week with higher confidence than indebted owners.
“Time to buy a major household item declined to its fifth-lowest result since the COVID outbreak, while current finances dropped to its fourth-worst result since COVID.
“Confidence about future financial and economic conditions rose during the week.