Consumer confidence has risen to 113.9 (up 1.4pts in a week since August 3/4, 2013), according to the latest Roy Morgan poll.
The rise is the result of an increase in confidence about respondents personal finances compared to this time last year and in the next 12 months.
Now 42% (up 3%) of Australians expect to be ‘better off’ financially over the next 12 months, while 13% (down 4%) expect their family to be ‘worse off’ financially.
Australians are also more confident about their personal finances compared to this time last year with 32% (up 1%) saying they are ‘better off’ financially than this time last year, and 27% (down 3%) saying they are ‘worse off’ financially.
Now 28% (unchanged) of Australians expect ‘good times’ economically over the next twelve months compared to 31% (down 1%) that expect ‘bad times’ for the Australian economy.
Over the longer term 32% (down 1%) of Australians expect the Australian economy to have ‘good times’ over the next five years, compared to 23% (up 2%) of Australians that expect ‘bad times’ for the Australian economy.
However, an unchanged number of Australians (51%) say now is a ‘good time to buy’ major household items while 21% (up 2%) of Australians say now is a ‘bad time to buy’ (the highest since June 9/10, 2012).
Gary Morgan says: “Confidence has increased after the RBA cut Australian interest rates to a record low 2.5% (down 0.25%) last Tuesday. The rise also follows prime minister Kevin Rudd’s decision to call the federal election for Saturday September 7, made the previous Sunday.
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