ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence at 79.9 – virtually unchanged for second straight week in early March
ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged at 79.9 this week. However, Consumer Confidence is a large 20.2pts below the same week a year ago, February 28 – March 6, 2022 (100.1). Consumer Confidence is now 3.4pts below the 2023 weekly average of 83.3.
Consumer Confidence had mixed results around the country and was up in Queensland and South Australia, down in New South Wales and Western Australia and unchanged in Victoria.
Views on personal finances were virtually unchanged this week, but there was a slight improvement for longer term views of the economy while there was a slight deterioration in whether consumers considered now a good/bad time to buy a major household item.
Current financial conditions
- Now 21% of Australians (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 48% (unchanged) that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.
Future financial conditions
- Looking forward, under a third of Australians, 32% (unchanged), expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while just over a third, 35% (unchanged), expect to be ‘worse off’.
Current economic conditions
- Only 6% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to almost two-fifths, 38% (unchanged), that expect ‘bad times’.
Future economic conditions
- Sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term remains very weak with only 12% (up 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 17% (down 3ppts) expecting ‘bad times’.
Time to buy a major household item
- When it comes to buying intentions now 19% (down 2ppts) of Australians, say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while over half, 53% (up 1ppt), say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
ANZ Senior Economist, Adelaide Timbrell, commented:
Consumer confidence remained virtually unchanged – and very low – in the week to 5 March. It was the fourth consecutive week with confidence among the worst 12 results since the COVID outbreak in Australia. Among those paying off their mortgage, confidence rebounded 2.9pts after a sharp fall the week before. Confidence among those who own their home outright and those renting declined 2.2pts and 0.4pts respectively, but still ended the week with higher confidence than indebted owners. Time to buy a major household item declined to its fifth-lowest result since the COVID outbreak, while current finances dropped to its fourth-worst result since COVID. Confidence about future financial and economic conditions rose during the week.
Related Research Reports
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.
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
