ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence virtually unchanged at 91.1 after two weeks of steep falls
ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged at 91.1 during the fourth week of March after dropping by 8.9pts over the previous two weeks. Consumer Confidence is a significant 21.2pts below the same week a year ago, March 27/28, 2021 (112.3). Consumer Confidence is now at its lowest since Victoria’s second wave of COVID-19 on September 5/6, 2020 (91.1).
Although Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged there were drops in those saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items which was largely offset by more Australians becoming confident about their personal financial situation over the next year.
Current financial conditions
- Now just 24% (up 1ppt) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 40% (up 4ppts), that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially (the highest figure for this indicator for nearly two years since April 2020).
Future financial conditions
- Looking forward, 35% (up 2ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year compared to just 26% (unchanged) that expect to be ‘worse off’ financially.
Current economic conditions
- Only 10% (up 1ppt), of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 30% (down 4ppts), that expect ‘bad times’.
Future economic conditions
- In the longer term, just 14% (down 2ppts), of Australians are expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years (the lowest figure for this indicator for nearly two years since April 2020) compared to 20% (down 1 ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
Time to buy a major household item
- Buying intentions have deteriorated further to their lowest since Victoria’s second wave with just 30% (down 2ppts) of Australians, saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items (the lowest figure for this indicator for over 18 months since August 2020) while 42% (up 2ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ (the highest figure for this indicator for over 18 months since August 2020).
ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank, commented:
Inflation expectations surged 0.4ppt last week to a multi-year high of 6.4%, even though petrol prices declined slightly. Consumer confidence was essentially unchanged despite this, with a slight decline of just 0.1%. Within the detail, however, sentiment toward ‘current financial conditions’ dropped to its lowest since May 2020. Consumer confidence is very weak given the strength of employment, which we think is directly linked to concerns over cost-of-living pressures. It will be interesting to see whether the measures expected in the Federal Budget provide a boost to confidence.”
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 |
