Roy Morgan Research
October 25, 2022

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence drops 1.1pts to 81.1 – lowest since early August

Topic: Consumer Confidence
Finding No: 9095
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ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence fell 1.1pts to 81.1 this week and is now a large 25.7pts below the same week a year ago, October 23/24, 2021 (106.8). In addition, Consumer Confidence is now 9pts below the 2022 weekly average of 90.1.

There was a mixed picture for Consumer Confidence when looking at the States with the measure down in NSW, Western Australia and South Australia, but up in Victoria and Queensland. Across the index the questions that drove the drop related to circumstances over the next year both for personal finances and also the economy at large.

Current financial conditions

  • Now 23% of Australians (up 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 46% (up 1ppt) that say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.

Future financial conditions

  • Looking forward, now fewer than a third of Australians, 29% (down 3ppts), expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 34% (unchanged), expect to be ‘worse off’.

Current economic conditions

  • Only 7% (unchanged) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to more than a third, 40% (up 2ppts), that expect ‘bad times.’

Future economic conditions

  • Sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term is down this week with only 12% (up 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 18% (unchanged) expecting ‘bad times’.

Time to buy a major household item

  • When it comes to buying intentions now 23% (up 1ppt) of Australians, say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while more than twice as many, 50% (up 2ppts), say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ (the highest figure for this indicator since the early days of the pandemic in April 2020).

ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank, commented:

Block Quote

Consumer confidence dropped 1.3% last week, its fourth decline in a row and dipping to its lowest since early August. Inflation expectations were up 0.1ppt to 6.1%, its highest since late March when petrol prices first peaked. Cost of living pressures are most likely a key reason for the renewed weakness. Over the past four weeks, confidence has declined 7.6% as household inflation expectations have risen by 1.1ppt. Confidence for those paying off their mortgage was down 4.7%, dropping to its lowest level since the early months of the pandemic. Confidence dropped 1.1% for those who own their home, while it rose 1.6% for those renting.

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

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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
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