‘New Year’s bump’ lifts consumer confidence

The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose by 3.6 points to 87.5 in early January in line with the traditional “New Year’s bump”.

This has left consumer confidence 2.7 points above the same week a year ago (2–7 January 2024) and 4.6 points above the 2024 weekly average of 82.9.

According to the data, consumer confidence increased in the four largest states of NSW, Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia, but fell in South Australia.

An improvement in sentiment in regard to buying intentions during the post-Christmas sales period was the primary driver of the increase for the week.

In terms of attitudes around current financial conditions, 21 per cent of Australians said their families are “better off” financially than this time last year, compared to 46 per cent saying they’re “worse off”.

Perceptions on future personal finances entered positive territory during the start of the new year with 33 per cent of respondents expecting their families to be “better off” financially this time in 2026, while 29 per cent expect to be “worse off”.

Only 9 per cent of Australians expect “good times” for the Australian economy over the next 12 months, compared to 29 per cent expecting the contrary, while 12 per cent expect “good terms” over the next five years, compared to 19 per cent.

Meanwhile, buying intentions on major household items improved at the start of the new year in line with the post-Christmas sales period with 28 per cent (up 3 points) of Australians saying now is a “good time to buy” a major household item, compared to 42 per cent (down 5 points) stating that it was a bad time to buy.

ANZ economist Madeline Dunk said: “ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence jumped 3.6pts in the first week of 2025.

”While it is not unusual for a confidence boost in the first week of the year, this represented a top-three result since the beginning of 2023.

“The ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex recorded its third highest reading since June 2022, though was below the Black Friday peak.

“We expect the upward momentum in ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence to continue through 2025, as tax cuts, rising real wages and eventually rate cuts support household disposable incomes. ANZ Research expect the first RBA rate cut in May 2025.”

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Adrian Suljanovic is a journalist at Broker Daily with more than two years experience reporting on all facets of the third party distribution channel.

Adrian has written for a range of business and finance titles including IFA, Investor Daily and Lawyer’s Weekly before joining the mortgages team in 2022.

He graduated from the University of Wollongong in 2021 gaining a Bachelor of Communication & Media with a major in Digital & Social Media.

E-mail Adrian at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.