ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence has dropped 1.3 points to 85.8 in mid- January, with buying intentions down for a second straight week – the only index to register consecutive weekly declines.
Consumer confidence is now 1.4 points above the same week a year ago, and 2.9 points above the 2024 weekly average of 82.9.
Alongside softness in buying intentions, the index this week also shows increasing concerns about personal finances over the next year.
Under a quarter of Australians (21 per cent - down 1ppt) say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year compared to 48 per cent (down 1ppt) that say their families are ‘worse off’.
Views on personal finances over the next year were down this week due to a rise in negative sentiment with 34 per cent (unchanged) expecting their family will be ‘better off’ financially this time next year while 31 per cent (up 3ppt) expect to be ‘worse off’.
Just under one-in-ten Australians (9 per cent - down 1ppt) expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 27 per cent (down 2ppts) that expect ‘bad times’.
Net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term was down slightly this week with 12 per cent (up 1ppt) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years compared to 20 per cent (up 3ppts) expecting ‘bad times’.
There was also a slight dip in net buying intentions this week with 25 per cent (down 2ppts) of Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items compared to 46 per cent (unchanged) that say now is a ‘bad time to buy major household items’.
ANZ economist Sophia Angala said the positive impact of the New Year appears to be waning, but noted the positive is that the index is still up by 1.9 points from the end of December.
“The ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex has fallen 7.2 points since the start of January,” she said. “This may be affected by the rise in households’ weekly inflation expectations, which rose to its highest reading since June 2024, despite official data on inflation falling.
“Coverage of the drift lower in the AUD/USD last week may be impacting households’ inflation expectations.”
Amid the fall, consumer confidence was down in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland whilst remaining unchanged in Western Australia and South Australia.