ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged at 82.8 this week, down just 0.3 percentage points from last week.
The index has now spent a record 61 straight weeks below the mark of 85, and has spent the last 15 weeks within the 80-85 range.
It follows a recent swingback in inflation expectations, according to Roy Morgan, which lifted by 0.1 percentage point in late March to 5.1 per cent.
ANZ senior economist Catherine Birch said inflation expectations lifted by another 0.1 percentage point to 5.2 per cent going into the Easter long weekend, which likely reflected petrol prices.
“But households may have also felt more keenly the current bout of high chocolate inflation, driven by surging global cocoa prices,” Birch said.
“Confidence among those paying off their homes rose 1.2pts to 80pts, was largely steady at 81.7pts for renters, and fell 2.1pts to 86.0pts for outright homeowners.”
Consumer confidence is now 4.6 points above the same week a year ago and virtually identical to the 2024 weekly average of 83.0.
Looking around the states, the index was down in New South Wales, up in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia and virtually unchanged in Western Australia.
Now just a fifth of Australians (20 per cent - down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 52 per cent (unchanged) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Views on personal finances over the next year are evenly balanced with just over a third of Australians (34 per cent - unchanged) expecting their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while another 33 per cent (up 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Just 11 per cent (up 1ppt) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 31 per cent (down 1ppt), that expect ‘bad times’.
Net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term was unchanged this week with 14 per cent (down 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 20 per cent (down 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
Buying intentions were virtually unchanged this week with 22 per cent (up 1ppt) of Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 51 per cent (up 1ppt) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.