Roy Morgan Research
August 22, 2023

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down 2.4pts to 75.8 as Australian Dollar hits lowest since November 2022

Topic: Consumer Confidence
Finding No: 9300

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence dropped 2.4pts to 75.8 this week and has now spent a record 25 straight weeks below the mark of 80. Consumer Confidence is now 9.8pts below the same week a year ago, August 15-21, 2022 (85.8) and 2.3pts below the 2023 weekly average of 78.1.

The decline in Consumer Confidence came as the Australian Dollar fell towards 64 US cents – it’s lowest level in over 9 months since early November 2022. As the Australian Dollar has declined, the price of imported energy such as oil has surged and the average retail petrol price hit $2.05 per litre last week - the most expensive petrol price for over a year since mid-July 2022.

Looking around the States, Consumer Confidence was down in the three largest States of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, but up slightly in both Western Australia and South Australia.

Driving the index down this week were declines in sentiment related to both personal finances and the fortunes of the Australian economy over the next year and next five years.

Current financial conditions

  • Now under a fifth of Australians, 19% (down 2ppts) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to a majority of 53% (unchanged) that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.

Future financial conditions

  • Looking forward, under a third of Australians, 29% (down 2ppts), expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 36% (up 2ppts), expect to be ‘worse off’.

Current economic conditions

  • Only 7% (unchanged) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to almost two-fifths, 39% (up 3ppts), that expect ‘bad times’.

Future economic conditions

  • Sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term is unchanged this week with only 10% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to just over a fifth, 21% (up 2ppts), expecting ‘bad times’.

Time to buy a major household item

  • Sentiment regarding to buying intentions is mixed this week with 18% (down 2ppts) of Australians, who now say it is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while a clear majority of 55% (down 2ppts), say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

ANZ Senior Economist, Adelaide Timbrell, commented:

Block Quote

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence fell last week, perhaps driven by some weakness in the Australian dollar. Though the four-week moving average of the consumer confidence index continued to edge higher. Among the housing cohorts, confidence fell among outright homeowners and those renting, while it was nearly unchanged for those paying of their homes. Household inflation expectations jumped to 5.5% last week from 5.2% the week before.

Check out the latest results for our weekly surveys on Business Confidence, Consumer Confidence, and Voting Intention as follows:

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

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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
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