- Consumer confidence saw a slight increase over December (+1.0)
- Index improves thanks to rising short-term (+3.3) and forward-looking (+8.8) household finance measures
- Retrospective house value measures continued to decline (-6.3) but outlook saw a mild uptick (+1.2)
Consumer confidence saw a slight uptick in December 2022, according to new analysis from YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).
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, both over the past 30 days and looking ahead to the next 12 months.
The improvement in overall consumer confidence can largely be attributed to a rise in household finance measures. Retrospective scores saw an increase of 3.3 points, increasing from 59.0 to 62.3, while outlook jumped 8.8 points from 48.1 to 56.9. In December 2022, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey suggested that inflation was lower than expected, and had started to come down from its 41-year high. While the mood around household finances is still sour – for perspective, if these scores were recorded a year ago, they would have been the worst in the history of the index – it nevertheless appears to be moving in a more positive direction.
Other areas are more of a mixed bag. Homeowners are a little more optimistic about the value of their properties over the next 12 months, with forward-looking measures increasing by 1.2 points from 103.9 to 105.1. But with six consecutive months of deterioration, short-term measures are in freefall: December saw a decline of 6.4 points, falling from 113.1 to 106.7.
Meanwhile, perceptions of job security among employees saw little movement, with short-term metrics falling by 0.7 points (from 92.6 to 91.9) and outlook by 0.3 points (from 118.5 to 118.2). Perceptions of business activity over the past 30 days moved up 1.9 points from 106.9 to 108.8, while measures for the next 12 months inched up 0.4 points from 116.8 to 117.2.
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