ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence plunges 5.7pts to 104.3 – its lowest since early November 2020 as lockdown extended in Sydney and Melbourne goes into fifth lockdown

Current financial conditions

• Now 29% (up 2ppts) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year and 28% (up 1ppts), say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.

Future financial conditions

• In addition, a plurality of 38% (down 1pt) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year compared to 17% (up 3ppts) that expect to be ‘worse off’ financially.

Current economic conditions

• In a concerning development now less than a sixth of Australians, 15% (down 2ppts) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months while nearly a quarter, 24% (up 6ppts), expect ‘bad times’ (the highest figure for this indicator since late November 2020).

Future economic conditions

• In the longer term, just under a fifth of Australians, 19% (down 2ppts), are expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 17% (up 3ppts) expecting ‘bad times’ (the highest figure for this indicator since early October 2020).

Time to buy a major household item

• The biggest driver of this week’s decline related to whether now is a good or bad time to buy major household items with 36% (down 7ppts), of Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 30% (up 6ppts) saying now is a ‘bad time to buy’ – an overall swing of 13ppts and the worst result for this question since early November 2020.

"Consumer confidence fell by 5.2% as the lockdown in Sydney was tightened and extended and another lockdown was imposed in Melbourne. Confidence actually dropped the most in Adelaide (-9.5%) and Perth (-8.2%) and was also down sharply in Sydney (-4.8%) and Melbourne (-3.7%). The subindices that capture economic conditions and ‘time to buy a major household item’ are at their worst levels since early November 2020, highlighting some renewed caution of households – albeit nowhere near the lows seen in the early stage of the pandemic. The four-week moving average for inflation expectations has been at or above the 4.0% mark for the past five weeks, cementing the return to pre- COVID levels."