Households’ confidence in future finances turns more downbeat

Households’ expectations for their finances over the year ahead have become gloomier, according to an index.

The score on this measure deteriorated to 95.2 in September, from 97.4 the previous month, according to the consumer confidence survey from YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).

A score over 100 indicates an improving situation and one less than 100 indicates negative sentiment.

YouGov carries out over 6,000 interviews across Britain a month, asking questions including those related to household finances, property prices and job security, capturing households’ views on the past month and on their forecast for the next 12 months.

The research found improving confidence among homeowners that the value of their property is increasing.

The score looking at whether homeowners believed their house price had increased over the past month ticked up from 115.5 in August to 116.1 in September.

Workers also felt more confident about job security over the past month, although the score of 97.9 in September still pointed to a downbeat reading.

But confidence in job security for the next 12 months eased back, with the outlook falling from 118.4 to 115.1.

Sam Miley, managing economist and forecasting lead at Cebr said: “Beneath the broadly unchanged confidence index lie some areas of concern.

“One area of note is job security, with consumers becoming less confident in their future labour market prospects. This broadly aligns with wider data, notably the ongoing slowdown in the rate of earnings growth and fall in the number of vacancies.

“Forward-looking confidence over household finances also took a hit this month, despite interest rates now starting to fall amidst lower inflation.

“Looking ahead, policy announcements at the upcoming Budget will provide a clearer indication of the new Government’s approach towards the economy and will likely impact the confidence index in the months ahead.”