Roy Morgan Research
March 28, 2023

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence virtually unchanged at 76.6 this week – fourth week in a row below 80

Topic: Consumer Confidence
Finding No: 9195
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ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was virtually unchanged at 76.6 this week. Consumer Confidence is now 14.5pts below the same week a year ago, March 21-27, 2022 (91.1) and 5.1pts below the 2023 weekly average of 81.7.

Consumer Confidence has now been below 80 for four straight weeks averaging 77.5. This is the first time the measure has been below this mark for four consecutive weeks since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, however the four-week average at that time was only 71.9.

Consumer Confidence was mixed around the country this week and was up slightly in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland but down in Western Australia and South Australia.

Views on personal finances and whether now is a ‘good time to buy major household items’ improved slightly this week but views on the performance of the economy going forward were down slightly.

Current financial conditions

  • Now 21% of Australians (up 2ppts) 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’ financially.

Future financial conditions

  • Looking forward, under a third of Australians, 30% (unchanged), expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while over a third, 36% (down 1ppt), expect to be ‘worse off’.

Current economic conditions

  • Only 5% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months (the lowest figure for this indicator for over two years since early August 2020) compared to two-fifths, 40% (up 1ppt), that expect ‘bad times’.

Future economic conditions

  • Sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term remains very weak with only 10% (down 3ppts) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years (the lowest figure for this indicator for nearly a year since June 2022) compared to 21% (unchanged) expecting ‘bad times’ (the equal highest figure for this indicator so far this year).

Time to buy a major household item

  • When it comes to buying intentions now 19% (up 1ppt) of Australians, say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while over half, 53% (down 2ppts), say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

ANZ Senior Economist, Adelaide Timbrell, commented:

Block Quote

Consumer confidence was practically unchanged last week and remained below the 80 level for a fourth consecutive week. The index, in six of the past seven weeks, was among the 12 worst results since the COVID outbreak. Confidence among those paying off their mortgage rebounded 2.9pts after a 4.3pts fall the week before. Confidence among renters and outright homeowners declined 0.5pts and 1.8pts respectively after increases last week. Confidence in ‘current economic conditions’ and whether ‘it is a good time to buy a major household item’ have been below 70 for the last seven weeks. Confidence in ‘future finances’ rose a little as ‘inflation expectations’ eased.

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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