Consumers in the North gearing up for ‘big ticket items’

Consumers in the North are gearing up to splash their cash on “big ticket items” like holidays and furniture over the next 12 months according to a new survey that shows there has been a bounce in confidence levels.

The Danske Bank Northern Ireland Consumer Confidence Index published on Tuesday suggests that people in the North are now happier to spend money than they had been a short time ago.

Danske Bank chief economist Conor Lambe said: “Compared with the last quarter of 2017, consumers started this year feeling more confident about their current financial position, how they expect their financial position to change, their job security and the amount they expect to spend on big ticket items.”

According to the bank one of the key factors behind the more upbeat outlook has been the UK’s low interest rates while rising house prices have also made many people feel more upbeat about their personal wealth.

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However, Mr Lambe said not everyone shares these sentiments.

“As has been the case for a number of quarters now more than 30 per cent of consumers we surveyed continued to identify political uncertainty and the lack of an Executive as the factor that had the largest negative impact on their confidence levels,” he said.

Generally the bank discovered that men felt more confident than women with regards to their current financial position.

Some 22 per cent of men surveyed felt better off than they did a year ago, compared with 16 per cent of women. Some 22 per cent of women felt worse off than they did 12 months previously, compared with just 19 per cent of men.