Welcome to Paradise!

Fla.’s consumer confidence up 2 points

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Nov. 26, 2014 – Consumer sentiment among Floridians hit a post-recession high of 86 in November, an increase of two points over October, according to a monthly University of Florida (UF) survey. “The last time sentiment was this high in Florida was March 2007, over 7 ½ years ago,” said Chris McCarty, director of UF’s Survey Research Center in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research, which conducted the survey. Bureau of Economic and Business Research,

Of the five components comprising the index, three increased, one decreased and one remained unchanged. Survey takers’ perception that they are better off financially now compared with a year ago increased two points to 75, but their expectations of personal financial gains a year from now fell a point to 82.

The survey also shows that confidence in U.S. economic conditions over the next year rose three points to 85, while faith in the national economy for the next five years remained unchanged at 86.

Finally, respondents’ view that now is a good time to buy big-ticket items, such as appliances, rose three points to 100, the highest that component has been since February 2007.

November’s confidence rise was unexpected.

“We had been expecting a slight decline in sentiment in the November reading related to the election,” McCarty said. “Since 2006, the index had fallen in the November of a presidential or mid-term election, in part due to the even split between Democrats and Republicans in Florida. Given the close race for governor, we expected a decline.”

While confidence among Democrats did decline, he said, “it was not enough to outweigh increased confidence overall.”

Improving economic conditions in Florida also helped lift public confidence. The state’s October unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percent to 6.0, which is slightly higher than the national rate of 5.8 percent. The state added 34,000 jobs since September, while the labor force rose by 22,000. Read More – Florida Realtors

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *