Nigerian households became more pessimistic about economic and family financial conditions in September 2026, while their appetite for major purchases weakened.

This is according to the latest Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Household Expectations Survey.

Overall consumer sentiment fell to -18.7 index points in September from -9.9 points in August, reflecting a weaker outlook among households.

The survey also showed that households continued to prioritise essential spending, while sentiment is expected to improve gradually over the next six months.

Major purchases remain out of reach

Households remained reluctant to commit significant portions of their income to high-value purchases, with negative sentiment recorded for houses, motor vehicles, investments, consumer durables and rent. The CBN said the prevailing buying environment remained unfavourable, with purchase intentions well below the 50.0 threshold.

  • “Households showed reluctance to spend large parts of their income on major purchases like House, Car/motor vehicles, Investments, as indicated by negative sentiment indices across all periods.”
  • “In September 2026, Households reported negative intentions for major purchases, particularly for houses and motor vehicles, evidenced by the negative outlook indices for house purchase (-68.2), car/motor vehicle acquisition (-67.3), followed by investments (-50.7), household appliances & other consumer durables (-49.5) and rent (-32.0).”
  • “The Buying Conditions Index for major purchases remained unfavourable (below the 50.0 threshold) across all three survey horizons.”
  • “In September 2026, respondents showed widespread hesitancy to purchase consumer durables, motor vehicles, and buildings and landed properties, as indicated by indices of 19.4, 15.7 and 14.8 points, respectively.”

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.

Consumer sentiment turns more pessimistic

The Overall Consumer Sentiments Index fell by 8.8 points in September, while the indices for economic conditions, family finances and income all remained negative. The CBN said the results reflected a pessimistic outlook among households, although expectations become more positive over the longer term.

  • “The Overall Consumer Sentiments in September 2026 stood at -18.7 index points compared to -9.9 index points recorded in August 2026, indicating pessimistic outlook for the macroeconomy.”
  • “The Economic Conditions index recorded –21.5 points in September 2026, indicating a pessimistic outlook on current economic conditions among households.”
  • “Family Financial Situation Index remained negative at –23.9 points in September 2026, indicating respondents’ pessimism regarding their family financial situation.”
  • “Family Income Sentiments stood at -10.5 index points in September 2026, indicating pessimism on Family income.”

The CBN said consumer sentiment was also negative over the next month and three months, at -8.7 and -0.4 index points respectively, before turning positive at 7.1 points over the six-month horizon.

High prices reshape household spending

Households reported a stronger perception of price increases in September, with the Consumer Sentiments Index for average prices of selected items rising to 33.5 points from 23.0 points in August. Food remained the dominant spending priority, alongside other essential expenses such as transportation, education, electricity and water.

  • “In September 2026, the Consumer Sentiments Index for average prices of selected items stood at 33.5 points from 23.0 points recorded in August 2026 indicating that household perceive prices to be high.”
  • “Among the selected items, households reported the lowest perceptions of price changes for food and telecommunication services.”
  • “In September, respondents prioritised basic expenditures, including food, transport, other household goods, education, and electricity and water.”
  • “Food was the dominant expenditure priority in the current period.”

The survey showed that food, transportation, other household goods and education are also expected to remain among the main areas of household spending over the next three and six months.

Earlier, Nairametrics reported that the share of Nigerian households that perceived inflation as high rose to 77.2% in September 2026, up from 67.2% in August.

In September, Nairametrics reported that over 68.4% of Nigerians earning below N70,000 perceived inflation as high in August 2026, the highest level recorded across the income categories surveyed by the CBN.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation rateeased marginally to 15.39% in August 2026 from 15.43% in July.