Roy Morgan Research (RMR) last night released its weekly consumer confidence index, which surged its highest level since January 2011 to be marginally higher than three weeks ago after the new Abbott Government was sworn in.
Over the week ended 5-6 August, the RMR index rose by 4.4 points to 124.2, with all components of the survey increasing (see next chart).
According to RMR:
42% (up 5%) of Australians expect the Australian economy to have ‘good times’ over the next five years compared to 17% (down 2%) that expect ‘bad times’ for the Australian economy.
Also 37% (up 3%) of Australians expect ‘good times’ economically over the next twelve months compared to 24% (unchanged) that expect ‘bad times’ for the Australian economy.
Australians are more confident about their personal finances compared to this time last year with 33% (up 1%) saying they are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year and 22% (down 2%) saying they are ‘worse off’ financially (the lowest for nearly six years since December 2007).
Also 45% (up 5%) of Australians expect to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year compared to just 12% (unchanged) that expect their family to be ‘worse off’ financially.
An increased majority of Australians (55%, up 4%) say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while just 16% (unchanged) of Australians say now is a ‘bad time to buy’.
While the RMR consumer confidence survey is inherently noisy, owing to its weekly frequency, it does tend to correlate strongly with the monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index (see next chart).
As such, the latest lift in the RMR index is potentially significant.
