ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down 2.9pts to 77.0 after RBA raises interest rates for a tenth straight meeting
ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence dropped by 2.9pts to 77.0 this week – the lowest rating since early April 2020 in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer Confidence is now 18.8pts below the same week a year ago, March 7-13, 2022 (95.8) and 5.7pts below the 2023 weekly average of 82.7.
Consumer Confidence was down around the country this week and below 80 in all five mainland States after the RBA raised interest rates for a record tenth straight meeting, up 0.25% to 3.6%.
Views on personal finances deteriorated this week and were the driving force behind the decline in the weekly index both compared to a year ago and looking forward over the next year.
Current financial conditions
- Now 19% of Australians (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to a majority of 52% (up 4ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially (the highest figure for this indicator (52.2%) for over 30 years since March 1991 – 52.7%).
Future financial conditions
- Looking forward, under a third of Australians, 30% (down 2ppts), expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while over a third, 37% (up 2ppts), expect to be ‘worse off’.
Current economic conditions
- Only 6% (unchanged) 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 11% (down 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 20% (up 3ppts) expecting ‘bad times’.
Time to buy a major household item
- When it comes to buying intentions now 19% (unchanged) of Australians, say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while over half, 53% (unchanged), say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
ANZ Senior Economist, Adelaide Timbrell, commented:
Consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level since April 2020, after the RBA announced a 25bp increase in the cash rate in March. The sharpest decline in consumer confidence was in the current finances subindex, which dropped to its lowest since 2001. Confidence about future finances declined to its sixth-lowest since the COVID outbreak. Inflation expectations also increased post-hike, by 0.4pts. Confidence among those paying off their mortgages increased 1.7pts after a sharp drop last week and are still the least confident of the housing cohorts. Those who own their home outright and renters reported sharp decreases of 4.1pts and 7.9pts respectively.
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 |
