Increasing optimism around house prices and household finances drives consumer confidence up
- Overall consumer confidence index jumps (+1.6)
- Household finance confidence improves for the past 30 days (+1.9) and the next 12 months (+1.9)
- Retrospective business activity measures (+1.0) and outlook (+2.5) also improve
- Uptick in measures tracking confidence in house prices for the past 30 days (+1.7) and the year ahead (+2.2)
Consumer confidence rose for the seventh month in a row, according to the latest research from YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). The overall index increased from 106.1 to 107.7 (+1.6), as nearly every measure saw improvement.
YouGov collects consumer confidence data every day, conducting over 6,000 interviews a month. Respondents answer questions about household finances, property prices, job security, and business activity, capturing their views on the past 30 days and on their forecast for the coming 12 months.
After slipping in January, retrospective household finance measures rebounded in March from 85.8 to 87.7 (+1.9). Outlook continued its seven-month climb upwards, improving from 93.1 to 95.0 (+1.9). Next month’s edition of the consumer confidence index should provide insight into whether or not the financial measures introduced in the Spring Budget have had a good or bad impact on these perceptions.
Most other measures saw similar levels of positivity. Homeowners, for the fourth month running, saw improvements, with scores for the past 30 days improving from 108.6 to 110.3 (+1.7), while scores for the next 12 months jumped from 119.5 to 121.7 (+2.2).
Business activity also saw an uptick, with scores for the month past increasing from 108.8 to 109.8 (+1.0), and outlook rising from 121.7 to 124.2 (+2.5). It was the same story for retrospective job security, which saw a boost from 95.2 to 97.1 (+1.9) – although measures for the year ahead declined from 116.2 to 115.9 (-0.3), making it the only metric we track that deteriorated in February 2024.