ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence increased three points in the first week of 2024, jumping to 84.8, the highest score for the index since February 2023.
Consumer Confidence started 2024 8.4pts higher than a month ago in early December and is now nearly seven points above the 2023 weekly average of 78.0.
The drivers of this week’s increase were improved buying intention in the post-Christmas sales period as well as less concern about the economy’s performance over the next year and next five years.
ANZ Senior Economist, Adelaide Timbrell, said: “ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence started the year at its highest level since late January 2023. While elevated consumer confidence is typical for early January, this represented the third-largest January jump (compared to the prior year’s Q4 average) in the last 15 years.
“Renter confidence is trending sideways, but there have been sharp increases in the four-week average confidence of outright homeowners and indebted homeowners, likely due to rising housing prices and more stable rates.
“We expect consumer confidence to lift meaningfully closer to the long-term average once inflation shows further signs of declining.”
Consumers are gaining more confidence in future economic conditions, with net sentiment regarding the Australian economy in the longer term improving to start 2024 with 15 per cent (up three percentage points) of Australians expecting ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years (the highest figure for this indicator for over 15 months since September 2022) compared to under a fifth, 18 per cent (down two percentage points), expecting ‘bad times’ (the lowest figure for this indicator for nearly a year since March 2023).
Looking forward, 34 per cent (unchanged), expect their family to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year (the equal highest figure for this indicator for nearly a year since January 2023) while 32 per cent (down one percentage point), expect to be ‘worse off’ (the lowest figure for this indicator for nearly a year since January 2023).