Roy Morgan Research
August 17, 2021

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence bounces back into positive territory after South-East Queensland emerges from lockdown

Topic: Consumer Confidence, Press Release
Finding No: 8780

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increased by 2.5pts to 101.1 this week after the short lockdown in South-East Queensland ended but the lockdown in Melbourne was extended and late on Saturday the entire State of NSW was put into lockdown.

Consumer Confidence is still well below the 2021 weekly average of 109.6, however it remains 12.5 points higher than the same week a year ago, August 15/16, 2020 (88.6).

Of the mainland States Consumer Confidence is now lowest in NSW which is the only one of these States to have Consumer Confidence in negative territory below the neutral level of 100. Consumer Confidence is second lowest in Victoria while the end of lockdown in SE Queensland has seen the jump into positive territory now with the highest Consumer Confidence of any State.

Consumer Confidence increased this week as people became more confident about their personal financial situations both compared to a year ago and looking forward over the next 12 months. There was also an increase in those saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items.

Current financial conditions

  • Now 25% (up 1ppt) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year and 29% (down 2ppts), say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.


Future financial conditions

  • In addition, an increasing plurality of 36% (up 2ppts) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, compared to only 14% (down 4ppts) that expect to be ‘worse off’ financially.


Current economic conditions

  • However, only 12% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months while 28% (unchanged), expect ‘bad times’.


Future economic conditions

  • In the longer term, just a fifth of Australians, 20% (unchanged), are expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 17% (unchanged) expecting ‘bad times’.


Time to buy a major household item

  • Also contributing to this week’s increase was a rise in Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items to 34% (up 2ppts) while just 33% (down 3ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank, commented:

"Consumer confidence rose 2.5% last week, rising back above the neutral level of 100.This recovery was driven by a 7.5% increase in confidence in Queensland as the lockdown in its south-east ended. Sentiment also rose by 7.1% in Sydney, reflecting resilience even as daily COVID-19 cases are still rising in the city. Despite the current resilience in sentiment, the persistence of the highly infectious Delta variant means there is significant uncertainty about how things will evolve over the next few weeks. The jump in weekly inflation expectations is notable and something that may trouble policy makers if it continues to rise sharply."


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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