The Melbourne Institute and Westpac Bank Consumer Sentiment Index for Australia edged up 0.1 percent month-over-month to 104.4 in December 2018 from 104.3 in the previous month. It is the third straight gain after two consecutive drops and the thirteenth month on optimist zone. The ‘time to buy a major household item’ sub-index rose 3.7%, more than reversing a 3.5% decline in November. Meanwhile, consumers were slightly less optimistic around the economy, as the ‘economic outlook, next 12 months’ sub-index rose slightly by 0.1% but the ‘economic outlook, next 5 years’sub-index retraced 1.5%, giving up some of the 9.7% jump in November. Consumer Confidence in Australia averaged 101.35 Index Points from 1974 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 123.94 Index Points in May of 2007 and a record low of 64.61 Index Points in November of 1990.
Consumer Confidence in Australia is expected to be 104.00 Index Points by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Consumer Confidence in Australia to stand at 103.66 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Australia Consumer Confidence is projected to trend around 104.00 Index Points in 2020, according to our econometric models.