Australian consumer confidence has slipped over the last week, according to new data from ANZ and Roy Morgan.
The pair’s confidence index dropped 1.6 points to 85.5 and is now 2.9 points lower than a year ago. However, it is 0.9 points above the 2025 weekly average of 86.4.
Despite the slip, ANZ economist Madeline Dunk said the Black Friday sales appear to have boosted the ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex, which rose to its highest level since March 2022.
Net buying intentions improved for a third straight week with 29 per cent (up 2ppts) of respondents saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items compared to 31 per cent (down 2ppts) that say now is a ‘bad time to buy major household items’. As well as being a high net result, the ‘bad time to buy’ subindex has dropped to its lowest since December 2021.
Although net buying sentiment improved, the negative movement in other sub-indices related to personal financial situations and the prospects for the Australian economy going into the future led to the overall result being down.
Now just over a fifth of Australians (21 per cent – up 1ppt), say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 45 per cent (up 2ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Over a quarter (27 per cent – down 1ppt) of respondents expect their family will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 34 per cent (up 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Less than one in ten (9 per cent – down 1ppt) Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to almost a third, 30 per cent (up 1ppt), that expect ‘bad times’.
Net views regarding the Australian economy in the longer-term also dropped this week with only 9 per cent (down 2ppts) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 27 per cent (up 4ppts) expecting ‘bad times’.
“The stronger than expected inflation data may have impacted household confidence,” Dunk added, pointing to a 0.2 percentage point increase in inflation between September and October, hitting 3.8 per cent.
“It is also likely to have affected household views about the inflation outlook, with inflation expectations rising to their highest level in almost two years.
“The inflation expectations measure has been trending higher through 2025 and is currently 1.3ppt above the pre-COVID five-year average.”
An analysis by state shows a split result, with consumer confidence down in New South Wales and Victoria, but up in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia.