Roy Morgan Update September 30, 2025: Australian CBD Workforces, NRL Supporters, Consumer Confidence

In this week's Market Research Update, we present the latest data on Australian CBD Workforces, NRL Supporters, Consumer Confidence.

Welcome to the Roy Morgan Weekly update.

Roy Morgan research reveals Australia’s CBD workforces have seen strong long-term growth over the past two decades, with most now surpassing their pre-pandemic peaks.

However, Melbourne is the notable exception and remains below its pre-pandemic peak.

In 2003–04, two decades ago, fewer than one million Australians worked in CBDs. Since then, the number has more than doubled to a record 2.2 million in 2024–25.

Sydney’s CBD workforce has surged from 283,000 workers in 2003–04 to 670,000 in 2024–25, rebounding strongly after a small pandemic dip and cementing its position as Australia’s largest CBD workforce, now 93,000 ahead of Melbourne.

Melbourne’s CBD workforce expanded significantly over the past two decades, more than doubling from 246,000 in 2003–04 to 614,000 in 2019–20 – challenging Sydney for a brief period in time.

However, the pandemic had a disproportionate impact on Melbourne with worker numbers declining by nearly 100,000 within two years due to extended lockdowns and slower office re-entry.

The Melbourne CBD workforce has since recovered to 577,000 but remains 37,000 below the pre-pandemic peak – and well behind Sydney.

For more detail on other Australian CBD workforces head over to the Roy Morgan website.

Roy Morgan interviews Australians all year round asking whether they play rugby league, watch it on TV, or attend matches, and which team they support.

And this year’s results show that success matters.

For the 2^nd straight year, the Brisbane Broncos have the largest supporter base – 1,271,000, around 120,000 ahead of southern rivals the Melbourne Storm.

Both teams won tough Preliminary Finals on the weekend and will play off in this week’s NRL Grand Final on Sunday night – in Sydney.

The Storm and Broncos are two of the most successful clubs in the NRL over a long period – the last 30 or so years with the Storm playing off in their 12^th Grand Final this week and the Broncos set to play off in their 9^th Grand Final – and both teams have won several Premierships along the way.

Following the two leaders are a trio of Sydney-based clubs led by the Sydney Roosters with 502,000 supporters, Parramatta Eels with 433,000 supporters and South Sydney Rabbitohs with 403,000 supporters.

And now a look at the weekly indicators, ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increased 1.7 points to 86.3 this week while Prime Minister Albanese was overseas.

Consumer Confidence was interviewed entirely before today’s decision by the Reserve Bank to leave interest rates unchanged.

The Reserve Bank’s decision was widely expected after the ABS released an elevated inflation reading for August last week – the highest official inflation for over a year.

The rising official inflation may well have had a role in influencing ANZ-Roy Morgan Inflation Expectations which also increased, up 0.1% to 5.1% - the highest for nearly two months.

And now to Mortgage Stress.

Unfortunately today there was no relief for mortgage holders with the Reserve Bank electing to leave interest rates unchanged. The Reserve Bank next meets in just over a month on Melbourne Cup Day.

In August, Roy Morgan estimate of mortgage stress was at 27.9% in August – an estimated 1.42 million Australians. That is down slightly from June after the Reserve Bank cut interest rates in mid-June by 0.25% to 3.6%.

Despite three interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank this year over a quarter of Australians with a mortgage remain ‘At Risk’ – the longest period of mortgage stress in the history of this index.

New data from Roy Morgan shows the number of Australians using skincare products has grown significantly over the last five years with 14,382,000 Australians now using skincare products compared to just over 13 million in 2021 – an increase of over 1 million Australians over the past five years – And it’s driven by men.

The number of male skincare users has increased from 4.2 million in 2021, to 4.9 million today; an increase of 700,000 men (16.7% growth for men over five years, compared to a 7.0% growth among women).

If we consider population growth, the proportion of women using skincare is actually lower now than five years ago.

As more Australians buy skincare products, the number who do have a skincare routine has grown significantly from 7,671,000 people in 2021, to 8,649,000 today.

This is a rise of 979,000 over the last five years – up by 12.8% and clearly faster than general population growth.

The growth among men has been even faster and almost 2.2 million men now say they have a skincare routine, up by 20.7% over the last five years.

And now a look across the Tasman to the political situation in New Zealand – and it can’t get much closer.

In September the governing National has regained a slight lead on 31.5%, up 2.5% from a month ago, just ahead of Labour on 28.5%, down 5.5%.

However, the pattern of support for the other parties means there is little to split either side of politics.

The National-led Government is now on 48.5% including support for National on 31.5%, ACT on 9% and NZ First on 8%.

This compares to the Labour-led Parliamentary Opposition on 47.5% including Labour on 28.5%, the Greens on 13.5% and the Maori Party on 5.5%.

Although the Government is slightly ahead, the end result is that if these support levels were repeated at next year’s election both sides would win 60 seats in the Parliament – leading to a tie between the right and left.

Clearly, the political situation in New Zealand is tight just over a year before the election.

Concerningly for the Government, the latest New Zealand GDP figures released in September show the economy shrinking in the most recent quarter and GDP down 1.1% compared with a year ago.