ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence has just nudged past 85 this week, but it’s still relatively low position has not deterred Australians from one particular spending opportunity.
The latest confidence measure of 85.3 is now 2.5 points above the same week a year ago, but 1.3 points below the 2025 weekly average of 86.5.
The slight bump up in consumer confidence came after the handing down of the pre-election Federal Budget by Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
The Federal Budget was delivered on Tuesday last week and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the Federal Election three days later.
A look across the index shows the biggest driver of the weekly increase was an increase in people feeling positive about the performance of the Australian economy over the next year.
Just over a fifth of Australians (21 per cent – unchanged) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 45 per cent (down 4ppts) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Views on personal finances over the next year were little changed on a net basis this week with 28 per cent (down 3ppts) of respondents expecting their family will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 29 per cent (down 3ppts) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Views on the economy over the next year improved this week with 10 per cent of Australians (up 2ppts) expecting ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 30 per cent (down 2ppts) that expect ‘bad times’.
However, net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term weakened this week with 12 per cent (up 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to nearly a quarter, 24 per cent (up 4ppts), expecting ‘bad times’. The latter is the highest figure for this indicator for around 18 months since November 2023.
There was also a small improvement in net buying intentions this week with only 23 per cent (down 3ppts) of Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items compared to 39 per cent (down 4ppts) that say now is a ‘bad time to buy major household items’. The latter is the lowest figure for this indicator for nearly three years since May 2022.
ANZ economist Sophia Angala said there were strong increases in households’ confidence in their current finances and economic conditions over the next year, after consecutive falls in these indices over the previous two weeks.
“Weekly inflation expectations fell to 4.7 per cent following last week’s softer-than-expected monthly CPI data, which printed at 2.4 per cent y/y in February,” Angala said.
“On a four-week moving average basis, renter confidence continues to trend up, while outright homeowner and mortgage holder confidence are down. Outright homeowner confidence has fallen sharply through 2025 so far.”
Australian travel desires soar
Despite the relatively low confidence, other Roy Morgan data shows that more Australians are keen to travel overseas in the next twelve months.
According to the data, 23 per cent of Australians plan to travel overseas in the next 12 months, up from 16 per cent in October 2022 when final pandemic-era restrictions on travel were lifted.
However, domestic travel continues to be at the heart of how Australians travel with 57 per cent of Australians planning a domestic trip in the next 12 months – up from 52 per cent a year ago.
Typically, when consumer confidence is high, or increasing, travel and travel intentions also increase, Roy Morgan stated. However, this pattern was disrupted during the pandemic – when travel and travel plans were put on hold despite strong consumer confidence.
Since October 2022, travel intentions have bounced back despite low levels of consumer confidence.
Australians’ growing intention to travel overseas is also reflected in the most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data on overseas arrivals and departures released in mid-March.
The ABS data – based on trips (rather than people) – shows that overseas travel essentially stopped during the pandemic, and gradually returned once COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
In the calendar year 2024, Australians embarked on 11.5 million overseas trips, rebounding to above 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Looking month-on-month, in January 2024, the number of trips were back to 2019 levels and by January 2025 trips were up 11 per cent on January 2024.
“It’s important to note that the growth in trips was largely driven by population growth, so on a ‘per capita basis’, overseas travel has not quite returned to pre-pandemic levels,” Roy Morgan added. “Australia’s population increased by almost 1.9 million people between 2019 and September 2024 (latest ABS figures).”
Roy Morgan head of travel and tourism Adele Labine-Romain said the latest figures confirm Australians’ passion for travel.
“While economic factors and confidence levels have certainly been influencing travel decisions for some, the desire to explore remains strong showing a promising future for travel,” Labine-Romain said.
“While the percentage of Australians intending to take a holiday overseas continues to increase – now at 5.2 million (23 per cent of Australians, up 5 percentage points from a year ago), domestic travel pursuits remain the mainstay of how Australians travel whether discovering new places or returning to familiar spots, with 13.0 million Australians planning a domestic holiday (57% of Australians) over the next 12 months.”
The travel intention data come from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth interviews with over 60,000 Australians each year.