Australia has the highest consumer confidence in the developed world
Australia has the highest consumer confidence of any developed country, according to a global Nielsen survey.
While consumer confidence fell in 60% of the 56 markets surveyed in the last quarter of 2011 by Nielsen, in Australia confidence was up for the first time since July 2010.
When asked if the next 12 months would be a good time to spend money, half of Australians said it would be – up 7% on the previous quarter. This compares to just 32% globally.
More than half (53%) of Australians think job opportunities are either good or excellent, compared to only 42% average in other countries.
On personal wealth, 59% of Australians think their finances will improve over the next 12 months – compared to 52% elsewhere.
Almost one quarter of Australians will be putting money towards home improvements, decorating or new technology – an increase on the previous quarter.
However, the dollars people are looking to spend on new clothes remains stagnant at 23% – and 12% said they have no spare cash.
Chris Percy, MD of Nielsen Pacific, said: “While Australians still seem to be cautious, we have seen an uplift in consumer confidence in the last quarter. Reports of low retail spending are still concerning, but we hope, or the retailers will hope, that this increased consumer sentiment will begin to translate into better results for retailers as 2012 progresses, although we still predict a challenging year ahead for the retail sector.”
“The RBA’s surprise decision to keep rates on hold may weigh on future consumer sentiment, particularly with all of the major banks raising their mortgage rates independently of the RBA’s judgement, in a bid to protect profits.”
After Australia, the most confident developed countries are Norway and Canada. Europe is where the most depressed developed countries are, with Greece, Italy, Portugal, France and Spain down in the dumps.
