ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence has recovered slightly this week, up 2.3pts to 80.4, following its drop to its lowest point since April 2020 two weeks ago.
However, consumer confidence is still a large 21.4pts below the same week a year ago, February 14-20, 2022 (101.8), and is now 3.9pts below the 2023 weekly average of 84.3.
ANZ and Roy Morgan said sentiment related to personal finances compared to a year ago and whether now is a ‘good/bad time to buy’ major household items drove this week’s recovery in consumer confidence.
Across the country, consumer confidence was up in all five mainland states this week and above 80 in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia but under 80 in New South Wales and Queensland.
Now 22% of Australians (up 3ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, compared to 47% (down 2ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.
Looking forward, under a third of Australians, 30% (down 1ppt), expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while just over a third, 34% (down 1ppt), expect to be ‘worse off’.
Only 6% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months, compared to almost two-fifths, 37% (down 4ppts), that expect ‘bad times’.
Sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term remains very weak, with only 12% (down 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years, compared to 19% (up 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
When it comes to buying intentions, 20% (up 3ppts) of Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while over half, 51% (down 3ppts), say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
ANZ senior economist Adelaide Timbrell said consumer confidence increased last week, but remained lower than before the February RBA cash hike.
“At 80.4, the Consumer Confidence Index was among the worst ten results in the 150 weeks since the initial COVID outbreak in Australia,” Timbrell said. “The confidence among those paying off their mortgage is still lower than the other groups, at 73.8.
“Average confidence rose for all the three housing groups during the week, with gains of 1.4pts for people who own their home outright, 3.1pts for those paying off their mortgage, and 2.6pts for renters.
“Household inflation expectations softened to 5.1%, potentially a lagged response to the rise in interest rates.”