Nigerian households became more pessimistic about economic and family financial conditions in September 2026, while their appetite for major purchases weakened, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria's Household Expectations Survey.
The overall consumer sentiment index fell to -18.7 index points in September from -9.9 points in August, a drop of 8.8 points. The economic conditions index stood at -21.5 points, the family financial situation index remained negative at -23.9 points, and family income sentiment recorded -10.5 points, all signalling a pessimistic outlook. Sentiment was also negative over the next month and three months at -8.7 and -0.4 points respectively, before turning positive at 7.1 points over the six-month horizon.
Major purchases remained out of reach for most households. The survey recorded negative intentions for high-value spending, with outlook indices of -68.2 for house purchases, -67.3 for car and motor vehicle acquisition, -50.7 for investments, -49.5 for household appliances and other consumer durables, and -32.0 for rent. The buying conditions index for major purchases stayed unfavourable below the 50.0 threshold across all three survey horizons.
Respondents also showed widespread hesitancy to purchase consumer durables, motor vehicles, and buildings and landed properties, with indices of 19.4, 15.7 and 14.8 points respectively.
Households reported a stronger perception of price increases in September. The consumer sentiments index for average prices of selected items rose to 33.5 points from 23.0 points in August, indicating that households perceived prices to be high. Food was the dominant expenditure priority, followed by transportation, education, electricity and water, with these items expected to remain the main spending areas over the next three and six months.
The CBN said sentiment across most expenditure categories is projected to strengthen slightly over the coming six months, suggesting a gradual improvement in households' willingness to spend as the outlook improves.
Nairametrics earlier reported that the share of Nigerian households that perceived inflation as high rose to 77.2% in September 2026 from 67.2% in August. In a separate September report, over 68.4% of Nigerians earning below N70,000 perceived inflation as high in August 2026, the highest level across income categories surveyed by the CBN. The National Bureau of Statistics reported that headline inflation eased marginally to 15.39% in August 2026 from 15.43% in July.
