ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence down 5.4 points to 63.1 – a new record low for Consumer Confidence after the Reserve Bank raises interest rates to 4.1%
ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence was down 5.4 points to 63.1 this week driven by falling confidence about personal finances and whether now is a good or bad time to buy major household items. Consumer Confidence is now a large 21.1pts lower than a year ago, March 17-23, 2025 (84.2), and now 13.7pts below the 2026 weekly average of 76.8.
This is a record low level for Consumer Confidence in the index stretching back over 50 years since 1972 – below the COVID-19 pandemic low of 65.3 reached six years ago on March 28/29, 2020.
An analysis by State shows Consumer Confidence falling in most States including in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia, but up slightly in South Australia in the week Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas secured an easy re-election victory.
Driving this week’s decrease was less confidence about personal finances compared to a year ago, and looking forward, and less confidence that now is a good time to buy major household items.
Fewer than one-in-seven Australians, 14% (down 1ppt), say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year (a new record low for this indicator) compared to a majority of 57% (up 5ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’, – this is a record low net result (-43%) for this indicator.
Net views on personal finances over the next year deteriorated significantly this week with 18% (down 3ppts) of respondents expecting their family will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year (a new record low for this indicator), while well nearly half, 49% (up 6ppts), expect to be ‘worse off’ (a new record high for this indicator).
Net sentiment regarding the economy over the next year deteriorated again this week with only 6% (up 1ppt) of Australians, expecting ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to over half, 54% (up 5ppts), that expect ‘bad times’ – (this is the highest figure for this indicator for over five years since August 2020).
Net views regarding the Australian economy over the next five years were virtually unchanged this week with 9% (up 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to nearly a third, 31% (unchanged), expecting ‘bad times’.
Net buying intentions were down this week with only 14% (down 2ppts) of respondents saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items (the lowest figure for this indicator for six years since March 2020) compared to 55% (up 8ppts) that say now is a ‘bad time to buy major household items’ (the highest figure for this indicator for over two years since November 2023).
ANZ Economist, Sophia Angala, commented:
ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence fell to its lowest since records began in 1973. The impacts of the Middle East conflict on oil prices and the economic outlook are likely behind the drop, along with the RBA’s decision last week to increase the cash rate to 4.10%.
With very large increases in petrol prices through March, inflation expectations rose to an all-time high last week. Household confidence in their current and future finances weakened sharply, as did the ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex, which is at its lowest since late March 2020 when pandemic lockdowns were announced.
Concerns around upside inflation risks and urgency to keep inflation expectations anchored are likely to support a final 25bp rate hike by the RBA in May, taking the cash rate to 4.35%.
Check out the latest results for our weekly surveys on Business Confidence, Consumer Confidence, and Voting Intention as follows:
Roy Morgan Business Confidence Statistics
ANZ – Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Statistics
Federal Voting – Government Confidence Rating
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 |
