Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 11-Feb-26

In January 2026 Roy Morgan Business Confidence slumped 7.6pts to 97.4, its lowest rating since April 2025 (96.7). The result followed a spike in inflationary pressures, with the official ABS annual inflation estimates for November at 3.4% (released in early January), and now jumping to 3.8% for the 12 months to December 2025 (released in late January). Business Confidence is now 12.3pts below the long-term average of 109.7, and down 10.8pts from January 2025. Now 27.2% (down 7.9ppts) of respondents say their business is ‘better off’ financially than a year ago, while 29.7% (down 2.2ppts) say the business is ‘worse off’ (the lowest figure for this indicator since June 2021). Just 33.3% (down 13.1ppts) expect the business to be ‘better off’ financially this time next year, while 24.4% (up 5.4ppts) expect the business to be ‘worse off’. Meanwhile, 34.9% (down 5.4ppts) of respondents say the next 12 months will be a ‘good time to invest’ in growing the business, while 36.9% (up 2.8ppts) say the next 12 months will be a ‘bad time to invest’.

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