ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence up 0.9pts to 91.1 before Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed extension of Victorian lockdown

ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increased 0.9pts to 91.1 on September 5/6, 2020 and is now 22.2pts lower than a year ago on the comparable weekend of September 7/8, 2019 (113.3) and 2.6pts below the 2020 weekly average of 93.7.

Driving this week’s increase was more confidence about the economic prospects for Australia over the long-term and more Australians saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items.

Current financial conditions

• Now 24% (up 1ppt) of Australians say their families are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year and 36% (up 1ppt) say their families are ‘worse off’ financially.

Future financial conditions

• In addition, 33% (down 1ppt) of Australians expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year compared to 20% (up 1ppt) that expect to be ‘worse off’ financially.

Current economic conditions

• Only 5% (down 2ppts) of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next 12 months while 46% (down 2ppts), expect ‘bad times’.

Future financial conditions

• In the longer term, just over a sixth, 17% (up 1ppt) of Australians are expecting ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next five years compared to 18% (down 2ppts) expecting ‘bad times’.

Time to buy a major household item

• An increasing proportion of Australians, 34% (up 2ppts), say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, while 37% (down 2ppts), say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.

“The consumer confidence survey was carried out ahead of the announcement of the plan for Victoria to emerge out of the lockdown. Even taking this into account, the up-tick in confidence comes as a positive surprise. We had thought the release of the weak Q2 GDP report during the week, with the media in particular focusing on the confirmation that Australia is in recession, would have dampened sentiment overall. The jump in ‘future economic conditions’ may indicate that a number of people think the economic situation is close to the bottom. Indeed, sentiment in this category is now close to the neutral level of 100. People are much more negative about the near-term economic outlook, however, though they are positive about their own ‘current financial conditions.’”