ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down 0.5pts to 110.4

Current financial conditions

• Now 27% (unchanged) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year and 28% (down 2ppts), say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.

Future financial conditions

• In addition, 36% (down 3ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year (the lowest figure for this indicator for over five months since November 7/8, 2020) compared to only 14% (unchanged) that expect to be ‘worse off’ financially.

Current economic conditions

• Less than a fifth of Australians, 19% (down 2ppts), expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months while 17% (unchanged), expect ‘bad times’.

Future economic conditions

• In the longer term, just over a fifth of Australians, 22% (down 2ppts), are expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 11% (down 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.

Time to buy a major household item

• In good news for retailers an increasing plurality of Australians, 43% (up 2ppts) say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 25% (unchanged), say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

"The very positive news about the labour market in February, with a strong gain in jobs and the much bigger than expected drop in the unemployment rate have not boosted consumer confidence. The torrential downpours and overflowing dams causing flash floods along parts of the east coast possibly dampened sentiment, as evident from the index falling 5.9% in Brisbane and 2.6% in Sydney. Along with the harsh weather conditions, the JobKeeper program approaching its end may also be causing some apprehension."