ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence is now 0.9 percentage points away from its highest point in one and a half years, up 1.8 points to 84.1 this week.
Consumer confidence has now spent a record 85 straight weeks below the mark of 85, stretching back to early February 2023.
The index is now 4.3 points above the same week a year ago and 2.1 points above the 2024 weekly average of 82.0.
ANZ economist Madeline Dunk said the rise this week is an eight-week high, remaining just below the mid-July peak.
Now over a fifth of Australians (22 per cent - down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 48 per cent (up 1ppt) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Views on personal finances over the next year have improved this week with Australians now just in positive territory with a third of respondents (33 per cent - up 1ppt) expecting their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 30 per cent (down 2ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Fewer than one-in-ten Australians (9 per cent - unchanged) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 32 per cent (down 2ppts) that expect ‘bad times’.
Net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term was unchanged, with only 12 per cent of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 21 per cent (down 1ppt) expecting ‘bad times’.
Buying intentions also improved this week with 23 per cent (up 3ppts) saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, compared to a large plurality of 48 per cent (unchanged) that say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ major household items.
“The lift was broad-based, with current financial conditions the only subindex to decline,” Dunk said. “The future financial conditions subindex increased 3.1 points to a six-month high. Households were also feeling more confident about the economic outlook.
“Momentum has diverged across the housing cohorts,” Dunk continued. "Since late-August, the four-week moving average of confidence for households who own their home outright has lifted 1.7pts, whereas it fell 1.3pts for renters and 0.2pts for those paying off a mortgage.
“While renters remain more confident than those with a mortgage, the gap between the two groups is narrowing.”
A look at consumer confidence by State shows mixed results, with the index up in Victoria and Western Australia, but down slightly in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.