ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence lifted by 3.2pts to 78.4 this week - its highest level in three months since late April.
It is the second lift in two weeks and comes amid the RBA’s decision to pause the cash rate for the second month in a row.
Despite the lift, the index has now spent an equal record twenty-two straight weeks below the mark of 80 – equalling the all-time record of five months (twenty-two weeks) from September 1990 to January 1991 when the index was conducted on a monthly basis.
Consumer confidence is now 5.7pts below the same week a year ago (July 25-31, 2022 - 84.1) and sits at 0.1pts above the 2023 weekly average of 78.3.
It was up in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, but down slightly in Queensland and Western Australia.
ANZ and Roy Morgan report that consumer confidence has jumped 5.8pts (+8.0%) to 78.4. This is the biggest two-week increase in points for over two years since April 2021 (+6.3pts /+5.8%) and the biggest two-week increase in percentage terms since the early days of the pandemic in April 2020 (+6.8pts/+8.7%).
ANZ senior economist Adelaide Timbrell said the increase in confidence was driven by major gains in the ‘future financial conditions’.
“Still, confidence remains low as households grapple with ongoing high inflation and restrictive interest rates, which is also reflected in falling retail sales,” Timbrell said.
“Among the housing cohorts, confidence jumped across all groups as it rose 3.1pts for outright homeowners, 4.5pts for those paying off their homes and 3.4pts for those renting.”
A fifth of Australians (20%) continue to say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 53% (unchanged) that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.
Looking forward, 33% of Australians (up 3ppts) expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, which is reportedly the highest figure for this indicator for nearly six months since February 2023. Meanwhile, 34% (down 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’.
There has been a 1 percentage point lift in Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months to 7%, compared to 38% (down 2ppts), that expect ‘bad times’.
Sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term has improved slightly this week, ANZ and Roy Morgan report, although only 10% (up 1ppt) of Australians are now expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 20% (down 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
When it comes to buying intentions, 21% (up 3ppts) of Australians now say it is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 54% (down 3ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.