Consumers expect house price fall
Thursday, 19 January 2012 11:35 AM
Consumer confidence fell to its second lowest level in seven years in December 2011, according to the Nationwide.
The building society said confidence slipped to just 38 points after a small rise in December. That's half of the average of 77 points seen since the index started in 2004, 17 points lower than in December 2010 and only two points ahead of the lowest-ever result in October 2011.
The index, done in conjunction with TNS Research International, also revealed that consumer expectations about the future fell five points to 50.
The downbeat results had a direct impact on people's expectations about the property market, with consumers expecting house prices to fall 1.3 per cent over the next six months.
Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner said: "Right to the end, 2011 was an extremely tough year for UK consumers.
"With the economy struggling to gain any sort of momentum labour market conditions became even more challenging in the latter half of the year and the unemployment rate rose to its highest level for fifteen years.
"At the same time, the cost of living continued to rise at more than twice the rate of underlying wage growth, putting further pressure on household budgets and bearing down on sentiment."
Want to be the first to know when we break a story? Follow @AboutProperty on Twitter and subscribe to our free weekly newsletter.
