ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence up by 4.6pts to 115.4 in April

New Zealand Consumer Confidence was up by 4.6pts to 115.4 in April, still a little short of its historical average of 120.

• The proportion of people who believe it is a good time to buy a major household item, a key retail indicator, lifted 4 points to +18.
• Inflation expectations bounced back to close to recent highs, while house price inflation expectations were unchanged.

• Perceptions of current financial situations lifted 7 points to +10%, its strongest post-COVID level.

• A net 31% expect to be better off this time next year, up 1.

• A net 18% think it is a good time to buy a major household item, up 4 points. This is the single best retail indicator in the survey.

• Perceptions regarding the next year’s economic outlook rose 11 points to +4%. The five-year outlook was unchanged at +15%.

• House price inflation expectations were little changed at 6%, a historically very high level. They fell in Auckland and the South Island, but lifted in the North Island outside of Auckland.

• CPI inflation expectations jumped 0.7%pts to 4.7%, back to recent highs.

Household house price inflation expectations appear to have peaked, but do not appear to be meaningfully retreating in light of recent policy changes.

Households continue to be much warier about buying a major household item than exceptionally strong house price inflation expectations would suggest they ‘should’ be, reflecting uncertainty about the economic outlook. Their self-reported wariness about spending would normally be a reliable indicator that retailers are doing it tough, but people have in fact been spending anyway. This likely reflects substitution for lost overseas holidays, the housing boom and interest-free deals – not to mention that massive fiscal stimulus deferred much of the income hit from COVID to another day. But one way or another the gap needs to close.

Latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Releases

• Latest ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Releases

Latest ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand & Asia-Pacific Consumer Confidence Data Tables

• ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Results (All 5 Questions)
• ANZ-Roy Morgan Weekly Australian Consumer Confidence Results (All 5 Questions)
• ANZ-Roy Morgan 2017 Weekly Australian Consumer Confidence Results
• ANZ-Roy Morgan Monthly Australian Consumer Confidence Results (1973-2019)
• Roy Morgan Indonesia Consumer Confidence Results (All 5 Questions)
• ANZ-Roy Morgan Asia-Pacific Consumer Confidence Results (Headline Figures)

Related Research Reports

The latest Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence Monthly Report is available on the Roy Morgan Online Store. It provides demographic breakdowns for Age, Sex, State, Region (Capital Cities/ Country), Generations, Lifecycle, Socio-Economic Scale, Work Status, Occupation, Home Ownership, Voting Intention, Roy Morgan Value Segments and more.

• Consumer Confidence – Monthly Detailed Report in Australia.
• Business Confidence – Monthly Detailed Report in Australia.
• Consumer Banking Satisfaction - Monthly Report in Australia.
• Business Banking Satisfaction - Monthly Report in Australia.

You can also view our monitor of Quarterly New Zealand Unemployment & Under-employment Estimates.