ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence jumped by 4.9pts to 87.4 this week to reach its highest for over three months since late September 2022 (87.8).
However, Consumer Confidence is a large 18.6pts below the same week a year ago, January 4-9, 2022 (106.0). It is now only 1.3pts below the 2022 weekly average of 88.7.
ANZ senior economist Adelaide Timbrell said this is the first new year’s jump in confidence since 2018, as the 2019-2020 bushfires and the 2020-2022 pandemic hindered growth. In January 2018, the first weekly Consumer Confidence result was 122.0, up 5.5pts on the last week of December 2017 (116.5).
Roy Morgan reported that it usually sees an increase in the New Year.
“While homeowners paying off mortgages are still reporting lower confidence than renters and outright owners, average confidence among all three groups rose in the new year,” Timbrell said. “Despite the new year jump, confidence is still well below the neutral level (100) and the long-run average of 111.7.
“Household inflation expectations eased significantly by 0.9ppt from the last print of 2022, suggesting cautious optimism about lower inflation through 2023.”
Across Australia, Consumer Confidence was up in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia but was down in Western Australia.
ANZ and Roy Morgan indicate improvements across the index, particularly views around personal finances and the Australian economy’s performance over the next year.
Nearly a quarter of Australians (22%) said their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, compared to 45% that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.
Looking forward, a third of Australians, 33% (up 3ppts), expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 28% (down 5ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Only 9% (up 3ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months, compared to 32% (down 3ppts) that expect ‘bad times.’
Sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term is still very weak, according to Roy Morgan, with only 14% (up 2ppts) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 17% (down 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
When it comes to buying intentions, 26% (up 4ppts) of Australians said now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 45% (down 3ppts) said now is a ‘bad time to buy’.