The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Index rose 0.9% on September 5/6, now sitting 22.2% lower than a year ago.
Driving this week’s increase was more confidence about economic prospects over the long-term and with more Australians, 34%, saying now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items, up 2% from the previous reading.
Even taking into account the survey was carried out ahead of the announcement of the plan for Victoria to emerge out of lockdown, the up-tick in confidence came as a positive surprise, according to ANZ head of Australian Economics, David Plank.
“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,” Plank said.
“However, 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 more negative about the near-term economic outlook though they are positive about their own ‘current financial conditions’,” he said.