ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up 1.4pts to 83.1 in late March in the week the RBA left interest rates unchanged
ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was up 1.4pts to 83.1 this week. Despite the increase the index has now spent a record 60 straight weeks below the mark of 85. Consumer Confidence is now 6.5 points above the same week a year ago, March 20-26, 2023 (76.6), and virtually identical to the weekly average of 83.0.
Looking around the States, Consumer Confidence was up in New South Wales and Victoria, down in Western Australia, and virtually unchanged in Queensland and South Australia.
An improvement in views on personal finances – both compared to a year ago and looking forward over the next year drove this week’s increase in Consumer Confidence.
Current financial conditions
- Now just over a fifth of Australians, 21% (up 3ppts), say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to a majority of 52% (unchanged) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Future financial conditions
- Views on personal finances over the next year are fairly evenly balanced with just over a third of Australians, 34% (up 2ppts), expecting their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while another 31% (down 1ppt), expect to be ‘worse off’.
Short-term economic confidence
- Just one-in-ten Australians, 10% (unchanged) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to nearly a third, 32% (up 1ppt), that expect ‘bad times’.
Medium-term economic confidence
- Net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term improved slightly this week with 15% (up 3ppts) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to just over a fifth, 21% (up 1ppt), expecting ‘bad times’.
Time to buy a major household item
- Buying intentions were virtually unchanged this week with 21% (up 1ppt) of Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 50% (up 1ppt), say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
ANZ Economist, Madeline Dunk, commented:
ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence rose 1.4pts last week after the RBA shifted its language in a more dovish direction and labour market data surprised to the upside, with employment rising by over 100k in February. Recent progress in inflation expectations hit a roadblock, with the series rising 0.3pts to 5.1%. Confidence amongst renters lifted 7.1pts to its highest level since early January. Despite this, renters remain the least confident amongst the three housing cohorts. Confidence is currently 3pts lower for renters compared to households paying off a mortgage.
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.
For comments or more information please contact:
Roy Morgan - Enquiries
Office: +61 (03) 9224 5309
askroymorgan@roymorgan.com
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 |
