Consumer confidence rose slightly for the fourth straight week, up in Sydney and Melbourne, as both cities quickly increase their vaccination rates, but it went down slightly in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Driving this week’s small increase was growing confidence about the performance of the Australian economy over the next year and next five years, according to the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan data. However, there was a modest decline in major household item buying intentions.
ANZ head of Australian Economics, David Plank, said people are optimistic although sentiment is still some way below its long-run average.
“With Sydney and Melbourne headed towards re-opening in the next few weeks, confidence increased in both cities by 4.4% and 1.5% respectively, but the rise in Melbourne was dampened by a fall in regional Victoria of 4.1%. Confidence also declined 2.1% in Adelaide, 9% in Brisbane and 2% in Perth,” he said. “Inflation expectations remained elevated at its recent pandemic-high.”