Consumer confidence has strengthened for the third week running, up 7.7%, with gains broadly based, except for ‘current finances’ which dipped slightly, according to the latest ANZ-Roy Morgan survey.
ANZ head of Australian Economics, David Plank said the flattening in the pandemic curve and recovery in equity markets may be helping to lift consumer confidence while better-than-expected news on the labour market may also have boosted sentiment.
“Consumer confidence is now close to 30% above the historic low reached on the last weekend of March, and while recovery has been solid, sentiment is still well below average,” Plank said.
“Inflation expectations have dropped, with the weekly reading of 3.1% the lowest since the survey began measuring inflation expectations in 2010. The dramatic drop in petrol prices over recent weeks may be a major contributor to the fall.”
The ‘time to buy a major household item’ index also rose, up 8% from the previous survey.