The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence jumped 1.5 points to 90.8 this week after four straight weekly declines and is now a significant 23.4 pts below the same week a year ago and 5.7 pts below the 2022 weekly average of 96.5.
Interviews for the index were mostly conducted before the results of Saturday’s federal election and on a state-based basis confidence was up in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, but down in NSW.
There were improvements this week in terms of sentiment around personal financial situations over the next year and also more Australians say now is a “good time to buy” major household items.
Just under a quarter of Australians, 23 per cent (down 2 ppts) said their families are “better off” financially than this time last year compared to 39 per cent (up 1 ppt), who said their families are“‘worse off” financially.
Looking forward, just over a third of Australians, 34 per cent (up 3 ppts) expect their family to be “better off” financially this time next year compared to 24 per cent (down 3 ppts), that expect to be “worse off” financially.
An unchanged 10 per cent of Australians expect “good times” for the Australian economy over the next 12 months compared to 29 per cent (down 1 ppt), who expect “bad times” and in the longer term, just 14 per cent (unchanged), of Australians are expecting “good times” for the economy over the next five years compared to 21 per cent (up 1 ppt) expecting “bad times”.
Buying intentions have recovered somewhat this week, with 28 per cent (up 2 ppts) of Australians, saying now is a “good time to buy” major household items while 42 per cent (down 2 ppts) said now is a “bad time to buy”.
ANZ head of Australian economics, David Plank, said the rise in the index was mainly driven by more people becoming confident about their “financial conditions over the next year” along with more respondents saying it is a “good time to buy a major household item”.
“News that unemployment had fallen below 4 per cent may have contributed to the lift in sentiment, even if the Q1 wage data disappointed,” he said.
“Household inflation expectations remained elevated at 5.3 per cent, as average petrol prices rose sharply last week. Most of the survey was conducted before the federal election results were known. So, the reaction to the election will be captured in next week’s index.”
