Property market fears have failed to dent confidence – Brand Index
A decline in homeowners’ optimism about the property market has led to a fall in our monthly YouGov / Cebr Consumer Confidence Index for the first time since December 2012.
However, looking at the latest set of data from our Household Economic Activity Tracker (known as Heat) suggests that consumer confidence is becoming more broad-based, with positive signs in other areas.
The Consumer Confidence Index stands at 113.8, a fall of 0.6 points in the last month.
This is the first time the Index has fallen since December 2012 and is the highest month-on-month decrease since October that year.
Our figures show that expectations for house values fell for the third consecutive month.
This cooling in people’s confidence in the property market follows a year and a half of steady increases.
There are good signs elsewhere, particularly in the workplace. Job security is now at its highest point since YouGov started collecting data on it in 2009.
Employees’ expectations for business activity in the workplace are now at record levels.
So while there are good signs, there remains a worry over whether workplace confidence will lead to an increase in people’s income and therefore stronger household finances.
If this were to happen, there’s no doubt we would see this reflected in people’s household finances and, therefore, consumer confidence.