Consumer Confidence Drops as New Variant Declared

Now dropping 1.5pts from the same week in 2020, Roy Morgan reported that consumer confidence remains below the 2021 weekly average of 108.1.

Despite this drop in consumer confidence, retailers can feel a sense of relief as 42 percent of Australian consumers feel that now is a good time to buy a major household item. This is up by three ppts, making it the highest figure since July 2021.

In contrast, only 26 percent of consumers say that now is a bad time to buy a major household item. Similarly, this is the lowest figure in over four months, last reaching it in early July 2021.

“Consumer confidence fell 1.3 percent for the last weekend of November compared to the prior weekend,” said DavidPlank, the ANZ Head of Australian Economics. “News of Omicron likely impacted sentiment, with some new restrictions for international travellers being quickly imposed.

“Only 16.3 percent of respondents expect ‘good times’ for the economy over the next five years, the lowest since August 2020. Despite the overall dampened outlook, ‘time to buy major household items’ rose to its highest since early July 2021. As well, confidence in ‘financial conditions’ is holding up quite well. Weekly inflation expectations rose 0.2ppt to 4.8 percent but stayed below its recent high despite petrol prices surging 3.6 percent in the past two weeks.”

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