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Written by Matt Brogan
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Monday, 24 January 2011 14:58 |
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Consumer confidence rose for the first time in four months during December as people felt slightly less pessimistic about the future of the economy and the jobs market, research has indicated.
The Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index stood at 53 at the end of December, up from just 45 in November, but still 24 points lower than it started 2010.
There was an improvement across all three measures of confidence in the month, but the main gains were seen to the expectations and spending indexes, with people's confidence in the present situation edging ahead by just three points to 24.
Matt Brogan comments "Buyer confidence is the key factor in getting the housing market moving again. Interest rates are still at their lowest level in living memory and those buyers who 'want' to move rather than those who 'need' to move have been holding back to see what will happen with the interest rates, house prices and the employment market before doing anything in the housing market. As consumer confidence grows we will start to see these buyers come to the market which in turn will stimulate those sellers who have also been holding back to also come to market."
Matt further adds “It will be like the proverbial 'snow ball' in that once the market starts to move again we will really see things take off. This could lead to a rise in house prices again so for those people who are holding back they may want to think about doing things sooner rather than later in order to be ahead of the market!"
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