- Overall index increases by 1.4 points
- Improvements across all but two measures
- Outlook for house prices rises (+5.2), as do retrospective measures (+1.6)
- Business activity measures for past 30 days (+2.0) and next 12 months (+1.2) rise
- Britons less optimistic about household finances for the year ahead (-1.4), and workers more worried about job security (-0.5) compared to January 2025
February 2025 saw an increase in UK consumer confidence, according to the latest data from YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). The overall index rose from 111.1 to 112.5: a jump of +1.4 points and, since last month saw a decline of -1.4 points, a return to the scores seen in December.
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.
All but two measures saw improvement in February. One outlier was outlook for household finances, which deteriorated from 100.7 to 99.3 (-1.4) – putting it back in overall negative territory after a brief reprieve in January. This may reflect the cost pressures facing UK consumers: recent reports indicate that food inflation has hit a five-month high. That said, retrospective household finance measures saw some improvement, rising from 92.7 to 94.2 (+1.5).
The other was retrospective job security, which saw a decline from 98.5 to 98.0 (-0.5). But the corresponding forward-looking measure suggests that workers are more optimistic than they were a month ago – outlook among employees jumped from 115.4 to 117.5 (+2.1).
Otherwise, this month’s index finds the country in a better mood than it was in January. Workers were more likely to report improvements in business activity for the short-term – with scores jumping from 109.6 to 111.6 (+2.0). Scores tracking attitudes towards the next 12 months also rose from 122.5 to 123.7 (+1.2).
And homeowners were in particularly good spirits compared to January. Measures for the past 30 days show an uptick from 117.6 to 119.2 (+1.6). Outlook was even better, increasing from 131.4 to 136.6 (+5.2) – the highest it has been since April 2022.
