ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence virtually unchanged at 81.7 in mid-March before final pre-Budget meeting of RBA
ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged at 81.7 this week. The index has now spent a record 59 straight weeks below the mark of 85. Consumer Confidence is again 5.2 points above the same week a year ago, March 13-19, 2023 (76.5), but 1.3 points below the 2024 weekly average of 83.0.
Looking around the States, Consumer Confidence was up in New South Wales and Queensland, but down in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.
Current financial conditions
- Now under a fifth of Australians, 18% (down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year (the lowest figure for this indicator so far this year) compared to a majority of 52% (down 1ppt) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Future financial conditions
- Views on personal finances over the next year are balanced with just under a third of Australians, 32% (down 1 ppt), expecting their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while another 32% (up 2ppts), expect to be ‘worse off’.
Short-term economic confidence
- Just one-in-ten Australians, 10% (down 1ppt) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to nearly a third, 31% (unchanged), that expect ‘bad times’.
Medium-term economic confidence
- Net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term improved slightly this week with 12% (up 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to a fifth, 20% (unchanged), expecting ‘bad times’.
Time to buy a major household item
- Buying intentions were unchanged this week with 20% (unchanged) of Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 49% (unchanged), say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
ANZ Economist, Madeline Dunk, commented:
ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence was broadly unchanged last week. Meanwhile, inflation expectations fell to their lowest level since February 2022. This is likely to be welcomed by the RBA, given the Board’s focus on inflation expectations remaining anchored.
Confidence amongst households paying off a mortgage declined 6.4pts to its lowest level this year, despite expectations the RBA will keep the cash rate on hold today. Confidence amongst renters remains weak, declining 1.8pts. The situation is a little better for those who own their home outright, with confidence rising 5.5pts.
Check out the latest results for our weekly surveys on Business Confidence, Consumer Confidence, and Voting Intention as follows:
Roy Morgan Business Confidence Statistics
ANZ – Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Statistics
Federal Voting – Government Confidence Rating
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 |
