GAINESVILLE, Fla. – April 29, 2009 – Consumer confidence among Floridians surged six points to 71 in April amid indicators of flattening housing prices statewide and news that the economy has not worsened, a new University of Florida survey finds.
“The size of the increase comes as somewhat of a surprise,” said Chris McCarty, director of UF’s Survey Research Center at the Bureau of Economic and Business Research. “We had expected confidence among Florida’s consumers to move up and down in a fairly narrow window.”
“In balance, consumers seem to have absorbed most of the bad news and are at least not seeing things getting much worse,” McCarty says. “Perhaps we really have seen the bottom in terms of Florida consumer confidence, which was back in June of last year.” In that month, consumer confidence sunk to 59, its lowest level in the index’s 25-year history.
All five of the index’s components rose in April. The biggest jump was in perceptions of whether it is a good time to buy big-ticket items, such as cars and appliances, which jumped 15 points to 77.
Perceptions of U.S. economic conditions over the next year climbed nine points to 69, while perceptions of U.S. economic conditions over the next five years rose three points to 82. Perceptions of personal finances a year from now increased five points to 85, while perceptions of personal finances now compared with a year ago rose two points to 44.
Massive interventions by the federal government, the Federal Reserve and governments around the world have had obvious effects, McCarty said. At the same time, stock markets around the world have rallied, and some economic pundits characterize it as the beginnings of a recovery, though bad news could still derail the process, McCarty says. If housing prices nationally begin to stabilize, it would help establish the value of some the toxic assets held by banks and indicate how deeply the recession has hurt the global economy.
“Consumers seem to characterize the economy by those events in their personal lives and in the news that are changing the most, whether those be good or bad,” McCarty says.
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