Latest numbers from Roy Morgan reveals local business confidence climbed for the second straight month in October, spiking 1.4% to 113.1 points.
The results follow a 1.2% hike in September to 111.5, and a 3% dive in August to 110.2
Australian business confidence is now near July last year (113.6) prior to the federal government leadership change.
Business confidence is also 0.4 pts above September 2017 levels, however, 3.1 pts below the long-term average of 116.2.
Despite a slip in confidence during the year, Roy Morgan asserts 2018’s average (115.7) is the highest since 2014.
Roy Morgan CEO, Michele Levine, claims the residential real estate slowdown has clearly weighed on business confidence, coupled with the Financial Royal Commission.
“This ‘chilling’ effect on bigger businesses combined with the policy uncertainty as we face a Federal Election early next year are powerful drivers that explain why Business Confidence for larger businesses in Australia is down from a year ago,” remarks Levine.
Despite the overall trend in business confidence, levels dipped in Victoria and West Australia – the later retained the lowest of any state.
Driving October’s small increase was increased confidence about the Australian economy, with 52.2% (up 3.6ppts) expecting ‘good times’ for the local economy.
Long-term views about the Aussie economy have deteriorated slightly, with 49.5% (down 1.5ppts) expecting ‘good times’ for the local economy over the next five years .
A larger number of businesses – up 3.7ppts to 41.3% – claim their business is financially ‘better off’ versus the same time last year. By consequence, 29.4% (down 0.5ppts) affirm their business is financially ‘worse off’.
Concerning business growth, 50.7% (up 2.5ppts) believe the next 12 months will be a ‘good time to invest in growing the business’, with 37.3% (down 1.1ppts) claiming it’ll be a ‘bad time to invest’.
Further information is available on Roy Morgan’s website here.