U.K. Consumer Confidence Holds at Highest Since April 2008
U.K. consumer confidence held at the highest level since April 2008 as evidence mounted that Britain is emerging from recession, GfK NOP said.
An index of sentiment was unchanged in July at minus 25, the market researcher said in an e-mailed statement today in London. The reading is up from minus 39 a year earlier.
The report adds to signs that the worst slump in a generation is easing after Nationwide Building Society said house prices rose for a third month while mortgage approvals increased. Bank of England policy maker Andrew Sentance said last week the bank may pause its plan to stoke growth by buying bonds if forecasts next month point to an improvement.
“Consumers remain tentative and are waiting to see what happens,” Rachael Joy, an analyst at GfK, said in the statement.
The group’s indexes on shoppers’ personal financial situation over the last 12 months and in the coming year fell one point. Gauges on the general economic situation in the last year and on the climate for major purchases rose one point cash advance loans. A measure of the general outlook for the next 12 months showed no change. GfK questioned 2,001 people from July 3 to July 12.
The average cost of a home rose 1.3 percent to 158,871 pounds ($262,000) in July, Nationwide said yesterday. Prices are down 6.2 percent from a year earlier, the smallest annual drop since May 2008.
U.K. mortgage approvals climbed to a 14-month high of 47,584 in June, the Bank of England said July 29.
Sentance said policy makers will decide whether to extend the plan to print money and buy bonds after they assess new quarterly forecasts on growth and inflation. They’ve spent 125 billion pounds of the 150 billion pounds authorized by the Treasury.
The bank will announce its next decision on the asset- purchase plan and the key interest rate on Aug. 6. All 37 economists in a Bloomberg News survey forecast no change in the benchmark rate from the current 0.5 percent.