ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increased 0.9 points to 81.3 this week.
Despite the increase, consumer confidence has now spent a record 74 straight weeks below the mark of 85. The index is a large 7.2 points above the same week a year ago, but is still 0.6 points below the 2024 weekly average of 81.9.
According to ANZ and Roy Morgan, there were slight increases this week around views on personal finances compared to a year ago and an improvement in the net view on whether now is a ‘good/bad time to buy major household items’.
Now just a fifth of Australians (20 per cent - up 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 50 per cent (down 2ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Views on personal finances over the next year were virtually unchanged this week, with 31 per cent (up 1ppt) expecting their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while another 36 per cent (up 1ppt) are expecting to be ‘worse off’.
Meanwhile, just 8 per cent (unchanged) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 37 per cent (up 2ppts) that expect ‘bad times’.
Net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term was virtually unchanged this week with 11 per cent (down 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 20 per cent (down 2ppts) expecting ‘bad times’.
There was also a slight improvement to net buying intentions this week with a quarter of Australians (25 per cent -unchanged) saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 46 per cent (down 2ppts) say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ – the lowest figure for this indicator since the first week of January,
ANZ economist Madeline Dunk said the slight increase in consumer confidence came as inflation expectations recorded its largest weekly increase in nine months following the stronger-than-expected monthly CPI result.
“As a result, inflation expectations are sitting at a two-month high of 5.2 per cent,” Dunk said.
“The ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex rose for the third week in a row and is up 7.9pts over the last month. This may be linked to end-of-financial year sales, which began in early June as retailers try to attract price sensitive householders to purchase discounted products.”