ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up 1.8pts to 109.3 as more Australians say now is a ‘good time to buy major household items’

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increased 1.8pts to 109.3 on December 5/6, 2020 and is now 13.8pts above the 2020 weekly average of 95.5 and 0.3pts higher than a year ago on the comparable weekend of December 7/8, 2019 (109.0). This is the first time Consumer Confidence has been higher than a year ago since June 2019 nearly 18 months ago.

Consumer Confidence increased 1.8pts to 109.3 this week and its highest for more than a year since November 2019 driven by increasing confidence about the long-term prospects for the Australian economy and more Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy major household items’.

Current financial conditions

• Now 24% (unchanged) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year and just under a third, 31% (unchanged), say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.

Future financial conditions

• In addition, 38% (unchanged) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year compared to 13% (down 2ppts) that expect to be ‘worse off’ financially (the lowest figure for this indicator since January 11/12, 2020).

Current economic conditions

• Over one-in-six Australians 17% (unchanged) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months while 21% (down 2ppts), expect ‘bad times’ (the lowest figure for this indicator for over 8 years since March 2013).

Future economic conditions

• In the longer term, over a quarter of Australians, 27% (up 3ppts), are expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years (the highest figure for this indicator since March 14/15, 2020) compared to only 13% (up 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.

Time to buy a major household item

• In good news for retailers in the lead-up to Christmas an increasing plurality of Australians, 43% (up 2ppts), say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items (the highest figure for this indicator for ten months since February 8/9, 2020), while only 25% (unchanged), say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ (the equal lowest figure for this indicator for nine months).

ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank, commented:

“Consumer confidence rose this week as Australian’s perception of their economic and financial prospects continued to improve. The GDP release last week suggests that the economy is set for an earlier than expected return to pre-COVID levels, something that would have buoyed sentiment. The headline consumer confidence is now at its highest level in 2020. In fact, this is the first time in 18 months that confidence is higher than it was a year prior. We believe that this bodes well for year-end spending. The jump in weekly inflation expectations to an eight-month high is interesting. This aspect of the survey can be very volatile, so we will need to wait to see if the jump is confirmed by subsequent surveys. If it is, then household expectations will be at odds with official forecasts of very subdued inflation pressures.”

Related Research Reports

Latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Releases
Latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian & Asia-Pacific Consumer Confidence Data Tables

ANZ-Roy Morgan Weekly Australian Consumer Confidence Results (All 5 Questions)
ANZ-Roy Morgan 2020 Weekly Australian Consumer Confidence Results
ANZ-Roy Morgan Monthly Australian Consumer Confidence Results (1973-2020)
ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Results (All 5 Questions)
Roy Morgan Indonesian Consumer Confidence Results (All 5 Questions)
ANZ-Roy Morgan Asia-Pacific Consumer Confidence Results (Headline Figures)

The latest Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Monthly Report is available on the Roy Morgan Online Store. It provides demographic breakdowns for Age, Sex, State, Region (Capital Cities/ Country), Generations, Lifecycle, Socio-Economic Scale, Work Status, Occupation, Home Ownership, Voting Intention, Roy Morgan Value Segments and more

Consumer Confidence – Monthly Detailed Report in Australia.
Business Confidence – Monthly Detailed Report in Australia.
Consumer Banking Satisfaction - Monthly Report in Australia.

You can also view our monitor of Monthly Australian Unemployment & Under-employment Estimates.

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